Electrical Contractor Magazine

07/07/2025

Construction employment is in flux—discover which states saw gains and which saw losses between April 2024 and April 2025.
https://hubs.ly/Q03tR5WX0

General concerns about the direction of the economy since the turn of the year, including the effect of tariffs, has affected construction employment at the state level, according to an analysis of federal employment data by the AGC.

07/05/2025

Will the newest advancement in EV technology come from molecular engineers? “Your car battery will be a new battery…(via) redox chemistry,” says Minghao Zang, research associate professor at UChicago PME.
https://hubs.ly/Q03tQZdR0

Researchers have created materials that react to heat, pressure or electricity like any other material when they’re in their stable state, but their reactions are just the opposite when they’re in a metastable state.

07/03/2025

Hands-on learning is all the rage these days. Read about Rosendin's Camp Build for middle schoolers in McKinney, Texas here:

A free, one-day event in mid-May sponsored by the Rosendin Foundation’s TRF Camp Build for middle school students in McKinney, Texas, offered hands-on learning with the purpose of developing interest in the electrical trade.

07/02/2025

Contributor Mark C. Ode returns to his North Dakota roots—with an electrical project in a barn in Scottsdale, Arizona. Read about what he learned from the experience.
https://hubs.ly/Q03tQyvC0

When I had been an electrical contractor for about six years, I received a phone call from George in Scottsdale, Ariz. He had a major building project in Scottsdale and had heard really good comments about the electrical work we did.

06/30/2025

Could prefab make the difference for your business? Contributor Jared Christman finds out.
https://hubs.ly/Q03tP_Mc0

With shrinking margins, tighter schedules and a deepening skilled labor shortage, electrical contractors are increasingly embracing prefabrication not as a trend, but as a core business strategy.

06/28/2025

Calibration, calibration, calibration: the real secret to power testing. https://hubs.ly/Q03tPv6q0

A contractor recently called me to help him out of a troublesome situation. He was working at a service provider on a fiber-to-the-home project, testing the optical power at the head end, splitters and subscriber. 

06/27/2025

Crime rates go up in the summer, but contractors need to look out for theft all year long. 🦸🏻 Read more about theft prevention from Susan DeGrane here.

Tools and equipment are huge investments for electrical contractors. Keeping these assets safe requires well-planned efforts. 

06/26/2025

What does competitive rowing have to do with service and maintenance? Find out! 🚣 https://hubs.ly/Q03tS34d0

The very first intercollegiate sport? Not football. Not basketball. Not baseball, soccer or lacrosse. In fact, not a game based on playing with a ball of any size or shape. It was rowing.

06/26/2025

"The U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is funding research at Georgia Tech to come up with an alternative to sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6) used to protect circuit breakers from overloads and other faults." 🧪 Read more from Lori Lovely here:

The U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is funding research at Georgia Tech to come up with an alternative to sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6) used to protect circuit breakers from overloads and other faults.

06/24/2025

EVs are taking over more and more of the road. Read this story by Rick Laezman for more about EV charging in multifamily housing. 🏢 https://hubs.ly/Q03tnsBz0

Focusing on access in the affordable multifamily housing sector, a new study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) highlights how some developers have cleared hurdles to install charging infrastructure in their projects.

06/20/2025

What was once futuristic is now everyday. 🤖 Jared Christman gets into five new technologies revolutionizing the job site here.

Back then, job site construction tech meant a smartphone in your pocket. The term “reality capture” was not used, and for those who were trying to innovate, a job walk meant holding an entry-level 360 camera over your head.

06/19/2025

"Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won,
you earn it and win it in every generation." - Coretta Scott King

Happy Juneteenth from ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR!