Business Spotlight: Faith Technologies Inc.

Wisconsin-based Faith Technologies Inc. officially began in 2002, but its local history goes deeper than that.

Bob Lynn, vice president of Faith Technologies and division manager for the company's Springfield and Tulsa locations, says his involvement began in the 1980s, when his electrical company began doing work for what was then SKC Electric. In 1986, he joined SKC, taking his crew with him.

In the late 1990s, he says, the company merged with Encompass Services Corp., which had business interests nationwide. And that, Lynn says, didn't go so well.

"The corporate structure just wasn't working the way we wanted it to, and we thought we could do better," Lynn says.

"It got kind of rocky there for a while," says Rick Quint, president of Walton Construction's Springfield division, who first worked with SKC in 1992 on the Grand Village Shops project in Branson.

Quint says because of Lynn's leadership, his company didn't experience some of the troubles happening nationwide for Encompass. "We never noticed any difference," he says. "We always dealt with Bob Lynn and his staff, and it was more of an even keel for us."

In 2002, a group of employees executed a buyback of SKC and Town & Country Electric from Encompass and formed one company. But they didn't know what to name it.

"It was kind of a contest, name-that-company type of situation, I guess," Lynn recalls. "They came up with the name of Faith because we had the faith that we could be successful."

Apparently, their instincts were right. The company, which has 15 offices in six states and about 1,500 employees nationwide, is ranked 26th among Electrical Construction Magazine's Top 50 Electrical Contractors, according to www.faithtechnologies.com.

Faith Technologies' local division has been involved in some of the region's largest projects. Senior construction project manager Dave Klein ticks off a list: Branson Landing, Taney County Justice Center, Sight and Sound Theatre and, most recently, the Springfield-Branson National Airport terminal. Projects under way include BKD's downtown headquarters, CoxHealth's emergency department and ambulatory surgery center, and military barracks at Fort Leonard Wood.

It's enough to keep Faith Technologies' roughly 70 employees busy - for now. Klein notes that one of the division's primary goals through this down economy is "being able to get enough work to keep our people going," he says. "We've got a lot of quality people out there, and we don't want to lose them. Our goal is continued growth, even in the downturn."

To set the stage for growth, Faith Technologies relocated in August 2008 to a 12,000-square-foot facility at 1820 N. Barnes Ave. The previous location was about 8,000 square feet. "We're geared at this place to do about 30 percent more work than what we're doing right now," Klein says. "So we're pretty well set up. ... We just need the economy to cooperate, and we're there."

General contractor Quint, who also has worked with Faith Technologies on the Springfield Expo Center, Dixie Stampede and several industrial park projects, says, "They're a pretty tough competitor when it comes to the electrical side. Unfortunately, we oftentimes have to take the cheap price, but what you really hope for is that somebody with the cheap price has got the quality people at the same time. (Faith Technologies), over the years, has proven it can be competitive and always provide good service."

That level of service may help the company reach this year's revenue goal of $19 million - up from $15 million in 2008 revenues.

"We're not allowed to use the excuse that there's a bad economy," Klein says.

"So we don't use the 'R' word," Lynn adds, referring to recession.[[In-content Ad]]