by Christy Heitger-Ewing
When Joel Walsman recently met with a 60-year-old family-run electrical contracting firm, he smiled because it’s run by three sons who are all now in their 70s. The interaction was special because he felt as though he had gotten a glimpse 50 years into his own future. Walsman, founder and CEO of Jefferson Electric, works closely with his father, the company’s CFO. And he has four sons, all of whom want to be electricians like daddy when they grow up.
Walsman started Jefferson Electric in 2011, a full-service electrical contractor in downtown Indianapolis for residential and commercial wiring whose unique expertise is renewable energy – both solar energy and battery storage.
Those at Jefferson Electric describe themselves as professionals, innovators, and family. They hold countless master licenses and multiple solar professional certifications. For instance, they are currently the only regional contractor certified in the technology for the TESLA Powerwall 2, a lithium battery for residential energy storage. They also do TESLA vehicle electrical vehicle charging.
“TESLA goes through a stringent vetting process so it’s definitely a note of recognition for us and speaks well to consumers,” says Walsman.
In addition, Jefferson Electric is the most certified renewable energy company in the state of Indiana. They also boast impressive honors. For example, Andy Spohr, their fourth-year apprentice, recently won the national championship for electrical apprenticeships for both residential and commercial wiring.
“He’s literally the gold medalist for the nation!” says Walsman. “That’s a huge achievement.”
But it all circles back to the people, as people are their number one priority. Daily the staff at Jefferson Electric focuses on relationships, reliability, quality, and integrity.
“We think these are the tenets of excellence because excellence isn’t just how we do the technical aspects of our trade. It’s also wrapped up in a significant way in how we value people and interact with our customers,” maintains Walsman. “At the end of the day, we can be awesome at the task and poor at relationships and no one would ever call us excellent, regardless of how many accolades we received.”
The company recently extended their three-year workmanship warranty to a lifetime warranty because it’s in line with their values, both internal and outward facing.
“We hire lifetime team members to serve lifetime customers,” says Walsman. “Therefore, we wanted to offer a lifetime warranty to prove that we’re in it for the long haul!”
Many electric companies will offer either a solar energy professional installer as their credential or perhaps an electrical license. Jefferson Electric brings a much stronger scope of credentials to the table.
“With our solar energy, we provide asset management services. So basically, when we install a solar array for a customer, we also monitor that solar array for the lifetime of the array,” explains Walsman. “If there’s a malfunction, we’re calling the customer. The customer doesn’t have to call us because we have access to monitor the efficiency and production.”
Jefferson Electric is located at 2114 East Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46201. Contact them at
