Fisk Electric
Houston
Founded 1913
In 1899, one 1.5mW generator began lighting up the homes in Houston. Just 14 years later, a young and tall Houstonian named John R. Fisk started his own company — Fisk Electric Co. — in 1913 with a personal loan of just $25.
In the beginning, Fisk worked out of his friend’s shed to serve the “Heights,” a community northwest of downtown Houston. Each day, John would carry a roll of wire, his ladder, and cutters on a streetcar to install electrical illumination and power wiring in houses and buildings previously lit by natural gas. As fans, elevators, pumps, and appliances became powered by electricity, Fisk’s business began to grow. The company wired the many homes and small businesses in the early years.
“John Fisk’s dedication, hard work, and quality installations earned him a solid reputation in the rapidly growing electrical business,” says Orvil M. Anthony, Jr., president of Fisk Electric. “That reputation of delivering quality to its customers is still the cornerstone to Fisk’s continued success 105 years later.”
Over the past century, Fisk Electric expanded beyond the Houston marketplace by opening new offices and breaking into different market segments. Another key to Fisk’s success is the company’s no-nonsense approach to job-site safety.
“Safe work practices are the very foundation of everything we do at Fisk,” Anthony says. “The reason is simple: Our employees and the people we work with and for are Fisk’s most important assets.”
As such, Fisk recognizes its employees for their years of service to the company. Some electricians, who started their apprenticeships with Fisk, have worked for the contractor for more than 50 years. Additionally, many managers have spent their entire careers at the company.
Fisk grew from a one-man operation in 1913 to more than 3,800 employees in 2009. Today, it employs more than 1,800 across the locations served by the company. In addition, Fisk has grown its service offering from residential wiring to cover nearly all electrical industry market segments. The contractor plans to expand into new markets as they become relevant to the electric industry, Anthony says.
“It’s a rare event when a company’s lifespan exceeds the 100-year milestone of continuous operation,” Anthony says. “This accomplishment requires a company to remain true to the core values of the past and yet to adapt and reinvent its service offerings to meet the changing needs of today’s customers. At Fisk, the constant change of the industry we love keeps all of us striving for excellence and reaching for the next 100 years.”
