Another large contractor closes it's doors

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hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
One falls, another rises.

Where was Wallmart/Sam's 30 years ago and where was K-Mart at the same time?

IES had taken over a lot of others, small and large, here in TX.

Don't get me wrong, but their closing does help us, because we get back business that we lost to them when Nardelli took over the orange box. We self perform most of our work, where they sub'd a lot of their's. Quality control is hard doing that, if your subs are overrun with work from their regular customers paying full price, their not going to care so much if your work gets done at the rate you agreed to.
 

datatech2550

New member
I worked at McBride for the past 11 years. 2 weeks ago everyone was called into a meeting at 8:00 Friday morning and let go. The DFW branch had been doing very well, but apparently the other branches around the country were having problems.

No one seems to know why the entire company was closed and not just the under-performing branches. Dallas did $15 million last year, seems somebody would have bought the branch given the opportunity.
 

nosey

New member
McBride Electric Inc

McBride Electric Inc

Does anybody know if McBride Electric Inc filed for bankrupcy or not and if so what chapter? I know they stoped operations on 3/26 and sent all emplyees home.
 

davidmor

Member
Wow, I am stunned hearing that McBride has closed shop. I worked as an estimator for 6 years at McBride, 3 years in Orange County CA and 3 years in the Denver Co branch back in the late '80's. They were a great company to work for, very employee friendly and customer centric at that time. I look back at that 6 year period as a bright spot in my career and I attribute my success in business since leaving directly from what McBride taught me about how to run a service business.

It is sad to see what has happened to them. It really sounds like things went downhill when they were bought out. If I remember correctly David DiLoretto was the branch manager of one of the Texas branches, I think Houston when I was working there. It has been quite some time so I could have that wrong. This is some sad news for me to hear. I really had a lot of respect for Lloyd McBride, Marc and Mike McBride and the company. Back then, McBride Electric was one of the good guys.

Does anyone know if Lloyd is still alive? I got to meet him several times when I worked there. He was a great guy.
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
When I was a service tech for Bryant-Durham, we did contract service calls for a McBride Lighting. Any connection there? This was a maintenance outfit that called us to do service calls. Had to call in when we arrived and left. Had to call for authorization to run out for materials, etc. They often tried to price the job by what the customer told them, customers were usually store managers or secretaries who had no clue how to accurately describe the problem they had. "A light doesn't work" , "Some plugs work and other's don't", "we need a new 220 plug for this new machine". "Like I said, it's 220". They sometimes thought we were playing them if we needed to go out for stuff. I explained to them that the jobs are often ill described and we have no clue of any special items needed. Have to get there and see. And service locations were often a ways from the supply house.
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
"Size means nothing" when it comes to mis-management. We had a large contractor who always payed his bills and provided excellent customer service. The owner died, and his college educated son took over the business. First thing he did was start a "desiged" slow pay proceedure, kind of like the general contractors use:D ! Cut back every aspect of their operation. Two years they closed their doors !
Seen more than 1 business go down when the kids take over. The ones that survive well are where the kids worked at Dad's side and learned well from him. Sure, they make some changes, but basically they know Dad had the basics right. The kids who think Dad knew nothing shake everything up from top to bottom and wonder why customers quit showing up. We have a lighting store in our area that went through that. Use to be great. Now they are most everyone's last resort. They never have things in stock, orders take weeks or months and are usually short an item or 2. I went in needing a simple socket to repair a light. Not in stock. Clerk was so embarassed, he robbed a socket from a fixture and sold it to me cheap.
 

davidmor

Member
When I was a service tech for Bryant-Durham, we did contract service calls for a McBride Lighting. Any connection there? This was a maintenance outfit that called us to do service calls. Had to call in when we arrived and left. Had to call for authorization to run out for materials, etc. They often tried to price the job by what the customer told them, customers were usually store managers or secretaries who had no clue how to accurately describe the problem they had. "A light doesn't work" , "Some plugs work and other's don't", "we need a new 220 plug for this new machine". "Like I said, it's 220". They sometimes thought we were playing them if we needed to go out for stuff. I explained to them that the jobs are often ill described and we have no clue of any special items needed. Have to get there and see. And service locations were often a ways from the supply house.

McBride Lighting and McBride Electric were two different companies. When I worked in the Denver branch of McBride Electric, we always were getting calls from customers confusing our two companies. There was some distant relation between the families but they weren't the same and we competed against them just like any other contractor.

As for the statements about the sons running it into the ground, that simply isn't true. The two sons ran the company from the mid '80's until the shut down which was close to half of they life of the company. I knew both of them (as well as their dad Lloyd) and they were respectable and smart guys. They treated their employees very well and while I was there, did a great job of expanding the operation in a systematic and organized manner. I don't want to blindly stick up for them because I was gone when the company died, but I also don't like hearing mis-statements like the sons ran the company in the ground by people who never knew them, or never worked for them. I have a lot of respect and good memories of the McBrides from my years there.
 
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