ROME — National Electrical Systems, Inc. (NESI) started and has a long history in Boonville, but the company also has some roots in Rome. That’s part of what made Rome the perfect choice as the site of the company’s new headquarters. On Aug. 28, NESI moved from its 4,800-square-foot former headquarters facility on Route 12 […]
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ROME — National Electrical Systems, Inc. (NESI) started and has a long history in Boonville, but the company also has some roots in Rome. That’s part of what made Rome the perfect choice as the site of the company’s new headquarters.
On Aug. 28, NESI moved from its 4,800-square-foot former headquarters facility on Route 12 in Boonville to 7,200 square feet of space at 1501 E. Dominick St. in Rome, where the company leased and renovated the former O.J. Gulla Pools & Spas, Inc. building from property owner David Gulla. Lease arrangements were not disclosed.
“It gives us room to expand and grow,” NESI President and CEO Edward Stratton says. The old building, he explains, just didn’t have enough room to accommodate all its growth over the years and didn’t have a layout that was conducive to expanding. Neighboring business Lee Buick/GMC purchased the Boonville building for an undisclosed sum, Stratton adds.
NESI got its start in Boonville in 1973 when Stratton’s father opened Allen Electrical Supply. The business expanded over the years and began marketing to the farm industry, incorporating as Dairymens Industrial Supply Co. in the early 1980s. In 2006, the company opened a Rome retail branch under the Disco Electrical Supply moniker.
Stratton says the company started seeking federal contract work around 1989, bidding on, and winning, electrical supply projects. That division of the business, based at the Boonville headquarters, continued to grow, and the company incorporated as National Electrical Systems, Inc. in 1990 to reflect better the federal-contracting business it had become, he says. In 2004, the company sold its Disco location, which eventually closed, to the employees. The financial arrangements were not disclosed.
“We do turnkey projects as prime contractors for different levels of government,” Stratton says. Currently, NESI is working on a project in Texas for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to upgrade the electrical grid at the federal prison in Seagoville.
NESI works with numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NASA, the Department of Defense and all branches of the military, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Projects include generators, transformers, substations, switch gear, SF6 breakers, and service contracts, while on-site services include field testing, training, inspection, repairs, equipment removal, and equipment relocation.
NESI has supplied and installed multiple emergency power systems for various states at locations including hospitals, federal prisons, and railroads for organizations including the Texas Transtar System, Virginia Rocky Gap Tunnel System, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. NESI has also worked on several wind-power projects.
The company performs a lot of highly technical work, Stratton states, and he hopes the move to Rome will help attract the caliber of employee the company needs to continue to grow.
“It’s difficult to hire the level of expertise we need when we’re outside a metro area,” Stratton says. The new location’s close proximity to Griffiss Business and Technology Park, home to many government entities, should also be a benefit, he adds.
The new structure features office areas for the company’s various departments, including estimating and project management, as well as a conference room and a break room for the firm’s staff. NESI has about 15 full-time employees, Stratton says, but employment figures fluctuate because some project employees are part of the company’s payroll while others are subcontractors.
NESI is already looking to expand its employment numbers as it searches for a full-time electrical estimator, Stratton says. He expects to hire more employees over time as the business continues to grow. He declined to share revenue figures, but says the company has generated continued growth over the past five years.
Stratton hopes to boost that growth by networking with large federal contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. As that growth continues, he will consider opening additional locations around the country to better serve and support NESI project teams at job sites around the nation.
NESI (www.nesi-ny.com) is an engineering, procurement, construction, and management company that serves as a prime contractor for the federal government primarily, but also works with state, county, and local governments across the United States and around the world in locations including the Antarctic, Egypt, France, and Africa.
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