Arizona Contractor & Community Fall 2015 V4 I3 | Page 26

JFK Electrical Contracting Construction Around Arizona Questions with CEO John Krecek Katie Mayer J Images courtesy of JFK Electric ohn Krecek wired his first home when he was just 12 years old. Today, the third-generation electrician is founder and CEO of JFK Electrical Contracting in Gilbert. He talked with us recently about his family’s history in electrical contracting, some of his toughest jobs, and why more young people should consider a job in construction. ACC: You’re originally from Pennsylvania. What brought you to Arizona? JK: I worked as an estimator for a union contractor and in January 1981, after sliding around on ice, I phoned a friend in Arizona and he informed me that he was outside shooting a game of basketball. At that moment, I said “I’m moving to a warmer climate.” I traveled down the East Coast and across the country stopping off for interviews along the way, and I decided to stay and make this my new home. My wife moved here a few months later. ACC: You’re a third-generation electrician. Tell us how your grandfather got into the industry. JK: I don’t know for sure, but he was smart enough to know that this was a field that would grow. He was a superintendent for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) following the Great Depression. In 1941, he wired a farm in Ligonier, Pennsylvania for electricity when word came over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Around 1943, he went to Hanford, Washington to work on a top secret atomic project. The funny thing is that they did a big search into his background for a security clearance and he, a cardcarrying Communist prior to this time, was not considered a security risk and went out West. ACC: How about your father? JK: Dad joined the Local Union after his return from the Navy, where he learned the trade as a ship electrician. He worked with the Local Union at different companies for more than 35 years. He was a quiet man and was passionate about his work and trained a lot of apprentices over the years. ACC: You followed in his footsteps, but also became the first generation to start your own business. Tell us about that. JK: I’ve been doing electrical work for more than 40 years. I wired my first house, which was my grandmother’s house, when I was 12. My dad would drop me off in the morning and teach me what to do and then go back and check my work. When I moved to Arizona, I was working for an electrical contractor as an estimator and then managed their service division. On my 30th birthday, I announced that I was going to start my own electrical contracting business. My wife Deb and I set up the office in our home in Mesa. We ate a lot of hot dogs for that first year. ACC: Tell us about your company’s most prominent and interesting jobs. JK: We did the electrical in the Grunow Medical Clinic in the early 1990s. You couldn’t touch the lobby because of all the old stone. I have an old switch gear that we took out of that building and painted John Krecek and his father Francis John Krecek and it’s now the b X