The WireNut Biographies
| Bob Urban grew up on a farm outside the small town of Bison, KS - population 235. He began his electrical career in 1972. After just 4 years as an electrician he obtained a Master's electrical license and started Urban Electric in 1977, out of his home in Great Bend, KS. For the first few years Bob ran all service calls himself out of a ‘76 Ford truck. At night he performed all of the bidding and estimating on electrical service projects, both large and small. Urban Electric continually grew over several years until one day Bob decided he wanted to relocate to his birth state of Colorado. "There's nothing not to love about Colorado", stated Bob, "I fell in love with the state the first time I saw it." So, in 1987 Urban Electric relocated to Colorado. By 1990, Urban Electric began to focus on industrial projects such as water treatment plants and less on commercial and residential projects. However, throughout his career he continually noticed that electrical contractors considered working with homeowners a thing of last resort, something they would do only to keep their electricians employed when they were out of construction work or were in-between construction projects. "Contractors would send construction workers into customers' homes in-between jobs; they still do." Bob says. "Construction electricians don't have the necessary training or mentality for this. They're used to heavy physical work, not finish work. You can't just pull an electrician off of a job and send him out to Mrs. Smith's house. The electrician is accustomed to construction work so he'll be inefficient at Mrs. Smith's house and he won't have the right parts. Things come up all of the time and construction trucks just aren't stocked for Mrs. Smith's house. In the end, Mrs. Smith ends up getting overcharged for the work because the electrician didn't have the parts or the experience and charged by the hour. Besides, most guys I've seen over the years just aren't house-broken. This isn't fair to customers or electricians. The bottom line is: there's a big difference between construction electricians and service electricians. You really need a specialist with a van stocked for service work." There was a definite need in Colorado for an electrical company that caters directly to homeowners with high quality residential electrical services. Bob saw this need and was looking for the right person to help him "raise the bar" in the electrical industry. Along came Rob... |  |
| Rob Urban, the eldest son of Bob, grew up in Great Bend, KS. At the age of 18, he joined the Navy as a Sonar Technician and traveled the globe listening for Soviet submarines. During the final days of the Cold War, Rob worked many long, hard nights diligently listening to and tracking every twist and turn of allusive Soviet subs. Eventually, the Cold War ended and Rob attended to the University of Colorado where he graduated with a degree in Business/Finance. After college, Rob joined UBS (formerly PaineWebber) as a financial advisor. During the tech boom of the late 1990's Rob moved to San Jose, CA with his wife and joined Merrill Lynch. He advised many senior executives and founders of numerous technology companies on personal wealth management, financial planning, stock option strategies and estate planning issues. "I've always been interested in technology. Not for what it is, but for what it can do in the future. I'm always thinking 10-20 years into the future. This is what excites me. Moving to Silicon Valley was a great fit for me. "Eventually, Rob returned to Colorado and joined Bank of America as a Vice President - Investments. Over time, Rob realized, as he watched his father's industry, that the electrical industry was about to change in a big way. "It was apparent to me that the electrical industry was about to make a shift from the way things used to be. People are so busy nowadays that they need an expert to help them. Times have changed too. When I was young we never locked the doors or windows. There was really no need to. You just can't do that anymore. You can't invite strangers into your home either. Those days are gone. I think in a few years it probably won't even be legal to send a service technician into a customers home unless he/she has been thoroughly screened and background checked. We background-check all of our electricians before they are hired. They're also tested for things like honesty, dependability, and work-ethic. Only 1 in 50 electricians that apply to The WireNut get hired. That's a real challenge given the fact that we're a fast-growing company. This is our duty to our customers and we don't cut corners. Our employees won't accept mediocracy because doing their best for every customer gives them a sense of pride and makes them feel like they've made a difference. It's time to raise the bar in the electrical industry. No more excuses. That's why we started The WireNut in the first place. |  |
| Trent Urban grew up in both Great Bend, KS and Colorado Springs, CO. Trent helped his father in the electrical industry during summers and when time allowed. In 1997 after college and those many younger years of helping his father, Trent began his full time career in electrical at Urban Electric. Following years of gained experience, Trent worked into the position of lead project supervisor for many of the more complicated projects that Urban Electric performed including building system controls for the end-user and the specialized needs of these customers. After just 6 years in the industry Trent obtained a Master Electrical license and became Operations Manager of Urban Electric. Bob and Trent Urban worked together to refine and grow the companies market presence in the municipal and water delivery industry that Urban Electric specialized in. Throughout this time at Urban Electric, Trent witnessed the predominantly poor customer service and lack of attention to detail that was the industry norm. This poor customer service was a direct result of the lack of service training that the electrical industry was plagued with. Customer care and respect for a customers home were just not in the vocabulary of most electrical contractors since they prioritize the larger high-rise construction projects. Homeowners deserve much more than this, hence a challenge presented itself. The specialized experience that Trent received at Urban Electric helped him act as a part-time consultant for The WireNut until the time in 2008 when Trent joined The WireNut full-time. Trent is now Operations Manager and heads up customer service, company training, overall management, and improving the experience that customers have grown to rely upon when hiring The WireNut to take care of their daily electrical needs. Everyone at The WireNut is proud of the 2009 BBB Excellence in Customer Service Award that we worked so hard to win. The service levels that won us this BBB award are the basis that we improve upon daily in order to be the best at what we do and raise the expectations of our customers. "If we don't take care of our customers better than the next guy then we don't deserve them anymore than the next guy", says Trent. |  |
Read more at Electrical Services
In Denver Metro, call (303) 227-1411
In Colorado Springs, call (719) 227-1411
In Boulder County, call (720) 565-1101
In Pueblo County, call (719) 565-1101
Contact The WireNut
Let the professional Colorado electricians at The WireNut get started on your next electrical repair or service job today. You can also reach us with any electrical repair or service questions through our Contact Us page.In Denver Metro, call (303) 227-1411
In Colorado Springs, call (719) 227-1411
In Boulder County, call (720) 565-1101
In Pueblo County, call (719) 565-1101
