Up Close With Jay Morris

By Shirley Coyle, LC

After leaving the auto business in 2006, Jay Morris and his wife, Pamela, started working on energy efficiency projects in their home state of Texas. What started as 7L Energy would later become Negawatt Partners. They moved to T8 retrofits jobs in 2008 – eventually getting into the lighting business by helping 20 to 30 small cities in Texas with their retrofits by writing grants and doing their lighting installs. By 2009, Jay was looking at LEDs – “Big prices, but big rebates too, which helped us grow our business tremendously.” When the rebate dollars started drying up in Texas, Jay got word of rebate funds available in Arkansas. “We were a sales team, subcontracting the install work in Texas – but to meet the rules on jobs over $50K in Arkansas, we had to become an electrical contractor to bid. It was the best thing that ever happened to us!”

Asked about the challenges he has faced, Jay offers that “the big challenge has always been to secure quality help – whether it’s sales people or on the construction side. We’ve grown and added a lot of people, taking several leaps of faith between 2016 and 2022, and so far, all have worked!”

Jay reflected on the issues facing the lighting management industry: “As long as we have cheap, Chinese products, there will always be contractors that sell strictly on price. That creates a problem. They make very nice profits for a year or two, and are out of business before the issues with their cheap materials show up, and legitimate businesses like Negawatt Partners are left to clean up the mess. Pricing is an issue for customers, and access to capital is a problem for people, but you have to make sure your company does what it says, backing up your work and honoring your warranty.”

One of the keys to Jay’s success has been the company’s focus on working with schools, municipalities and counties: “With their AAA credit ratings, we know we’re going to get paid for our products and labor, and these projects keep our teams busy for several months.” Lighting as a Service (LaaS) on stadium lighting retrofit installations has also been a winning play for Negawatt Partners: “We do an LED conversion, with no upfront cost for the installation – instead, the customer pays a semi-annual fee over fifteen years, with our company maintaining the system and providing warranty for the duration of that period.”

When asked to what he would attribute his success, Jay offered that, along with hard work and a lot of luck, surrounding himself with people that enjoy and pursue the same vision has been critical. His advice for young people coming into the industry is threefold: “Always keep an open mind. Always be willing to continue to learn. And, the customer is always right!”

Jay commented on the great value provided by NALMCO: “The friendships and business acquaintances that have come from being a member have added tremendous value to our company! Being able to meet leaders in NALMCO has helped generate new service income for us, and the certifications are very helpful for the service guys. I’ve even gotten some, too. To me, the day you quit learning is the day you die!”

While Jay initially did the travel and work on his own in Arkansas, he eventually convinced his wife and daughter to relocate to the beautiful surrounds of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Jay and Pamela now live on Lake Hamilton. “So, no matter how bad a day we’ve had at work, I can go home, get on my boat to go ride around the lake, and I’ll be calm within fifteen to twenty minutes!” chuckles Jay. Perhaps Jay’s next sales campaign will be to get a future NALMCO event held in his lovely, adopted community of Hot Springs, Arkansas!