BIC December 2014 - Jaeger Electric profile

Far left photo - Stacey Jaeger.

Right photo, L-R: Laurie Jaeger, Kari Burley, Deena Badger

35 Years and Counting Devitt & Forand | 50 Years | 8

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Written and photographed by Tiffany Burns

un by four siblings, Jaeger Electric provides services in the commercial and industrial markets. ThroughThrough out Western and Central Canada, the company is especially well known for its work at airports, specializing in airfield lighting control systems, signs, wind towers and flight information displays.

Jaeger Electric is one of the few electric service companies in Calgary that installs different systems beyond the purely electrical. Jaeger has years of experience installing fibre optic systems, parking systems (ticket submitters and gate arms), street lighting, public address systems, fire alarm systems, generator systems, temporary generator systems, backup battery systems, underground duct systems, narrowcast media systems, audio/video systems, variable message signs, access control systems and closed-circuit TV. Jaeger Electric has been crafting a reputation for solid, reliable work since 1979. That reputation is inextricably linked to the company’s founder and namesake, Bruno Jaeger.

“I can be somewhere I’ve never been before, wearing a Jaeger Electric jacket,” says his daughter Kari Burley.

“Strangers will walk up to me and say, ‘Jaeger Electric? I knew Bruno.’”

Bruno Jaeger was well known in the industry. His famfam ily emigrated from Germany in 1953, when he was just nine years old. By the 1960s, he was working as

an electrician in Calgary. In the ’70s, Bruno was hired as the electrical superintendent for a local electrical company overseeing the construction of the new airport terminal. When the project was completed, the building owner suggested he start his own company to provide the maintenance.

With four children, aged one to 14, it was a risk to start up on his own, but Bruno decided to take the leap. In 1979, he founded Jaeger Electric. The airport and its tenants have been major clients for Jaeger Electric ever since.

Bruno’s three daughters and one son grew up living and breathing Jaeger Electric, regularly regaled with their father’s tales of exciting new projects. His son, Stacey, was particularly fascinated. At the tender age of six, he started to go to work with his dad after school and Saturday mornings. He was immediately hooked. Stacey even spent his spare time in junior high reading the electrical code book. No comic books or thrillers for him. Or lingering over schoolbooks, for that matter.

“I always liked electronics,” says Stacey, now president of Jaeger Electric. “I was always messing with something.

I could create a doorbell or turn on a light with a piece of tinfoil and a couple of wires.”

Nor could his three sisters resist the electrifying force field of the family company. Laurie Jaeger, the eldest child, remembers a time at age 18 when her dad got a service call well past midnight. “He woke me up and I went with him.”

Today she is the vice president and controller.

Kari Burley, the second eldest sister, is project manager and safety manager. Deena Badger, the baby of the family,

Jaeger Electric | 35 Years | 1 75

The company has approximately 40 full-time staff and a fleet of over 30 vehicles and equipment. Although the company moved into a 7,500-square-foot building in 2005, the growth in contracts has resulted in Jaeger Electric outgrowing their space.

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Congratulations to Jaeger Electric on 35 years in business!

We wish you continued success.

is the credit manager. She also runs human resources.

In 2003, Bruno passed away. Some clients thought the company couldn’t run without him, but Stacey, Kari, Deena and Laurie banded together to prove any doubters wrong.

Now, as it has been since the company was founded 35 years ago, business is booming. Since their father’s untimely death, the Jaeger siblings have quadrupled sales. The company has approximately 40 full-time staff and a fleet of over 30 vehicles and equipment. Although the company moved into a 7,500-square-foot building in 2005, the growth in concon tracts has resulted in Jaeger Electric outgrowing their space.

With that challenge came a new opportunity. After renting space for decades, the company has acquired land in Balzac, where it is building a 14,000-square-foot commercial space. Not only will the extra room allow the company to continue to grow (they have the ability to add on another 14,000 square feet), they will be able to offer leasing to multiple tenants.

“With a new office and yard space we’ll be able to expand office staff to handle more projects – and bigger projects,” says Stacey.

The new building will be a milestone beyond the traditional business sense.

“It’s a big move,” says Deena. “We’ve been working so hard for the past 11 years since dad died, learning the processes. Moving into a new building – that we own – is a huge accomplishment for us.”

Jaeger Electric is handling all the electrical and mechanical in the new building, of course. On track for

Jaeger Electric | 35 Years | 2

lightning-fast completion, the company expects to move in next August.

One of the ways Jaeger Electric has attracted clients is its technology savvy. Stacey credits the company’s ability to stay ahead of the curve as a prime ingredient keeping the company moving forward.

“We installed the first fibre optic cable at the airport in 1994,” says Stacey. Running between two buildings at the airport, fibre optic was a natural choice over copper, and helped pass data for longer distances.

Stacey also left incandescent bulbs in the dust a decade ago. Jaeger Electric has been installing LED (light-emitting diode) lights at the airport for 10 years, well before many other companies adopted the long-lasting technology.

“The cost is a little bit higher, but the maintenance is cheaper.

So in a way we’re putting ourselves out of work.” Stacey laughs and explains that LED lights have 15-year warranties on them.

“They don’t need us to maintain it whereas an existing fixture is going to need maintenance every three years.”

Half of the contracts at Jaeger Electric are maintenance,

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Congratulations Jaeger Electric!

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Jaeger Electric | 35 Years | 3

“We took the dream he built and expanded on that. This is the legacy we’re going to leave for our kids.” but don’t expect the workload at the company to slow down due to LED lights. Jaeger Electric is moving forward with solar panel installation, with four out of only 28 people in Alberta certified in Construction Electrician Solar Photovoltaic Systems. To test the technology, Jaeger Electric installed solar into four of its own construction trailers, to provide green electricity.

“I have one trailer that’s over three years old now – the first one we built,” says Stacey. “It has never been plugged into an outlet.”

He plans to expand Jaeger’s solar offerings, in keeping with a mainstay of the company’s business plan: diversity.

“We do a lot of different systems besides just general electrical,” says Stacey. “We do fibre optics, parking systems (ticket submitters and gate arms), flight information systems, access control systems, closed-circuit TV. A lot of companies don’t do all that. We do it all. We even do the majority of our own excavation.

“We come in and excavate and install the ducts, install the power cable and make all the final connections,” he continues, “whereas other companies subcontract that out. We can handle projects from start to finish. People don’t have to hire one person to do this and one person to do that, and coordinate it in between.”

The company also has a strong commitment to safety, holding a Certificate of Recognition (COR) from the Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA). Jaeger has a health and safety program in effect that is adhered to by all employees both in the field and in the office, along with a full-time safety officer to ensure the program is followed by all employees. Jaeger holds a current Alberta Workers Compensation Board (WCB) account. All employees have standard first aid certificates, Workplace Hazardous Materials Information

Kari Burley

Deena Badger

Laurie Jaeger

System (WHMIS) and Construction Safety Training System.

Select employees also have formal training in articulated boom lifts, scissor lifts, confined space entry, H2S Alive, Lock out / Tag out (LOTO), skid steer and forklift operating.

Many of the work systems incorporated by founder Bruno Jaeger are still in place.

“We often go back to how dad did it,” says Deena. “So often we realize it still works. Even though it was 20 or 30 years ago, it still works.”

The siblings credit their strong family upbringing as the glue that helps them work together – as well as their ability to recognize their differences.

“We all have different strengths,” says Laurie.

“My version of a family-run business is that they care,” says Deena. “They care about the business, they care about the service they give out. When I’m looking for a different service, I try to support familyowned companies.”

Laurie’s two daughters, Melissa and Kim, have both joined the company. A cousin works in maintenance and new installs, and Deena’s husband works in service, but the Jaeger Electric family isn’t limited to those who are directly related.

“Some of our employees have been here more than 20 years,” says Kari. “They’re as much a part of the family as our siblings are.

That’s the atmosphere that attracts people to us. I have clients who call me today – who started calling dad 30 years ago. They can still call me today, and still get the same person they always get, who knows their building and knows what’s been done before.”

Bruno’s electric legacy is growing exponentially.

“When dad was running the business, he was just one person,” says Kari. “Now there are four of us. We can take on more work and larger projects.”

As they celebrate 35 years and look forward to the next 35, Deena says their dad would be proud.

“We took the dream he built and expanded on that. This is the legacy we’re going to leave for our kids.” •

Stacey Jaeger

www.jaegerelectric.com

403.250.5990