I got my electrical apprenticeship at 21 after a half-finished engineering degree and two years of selling car audio at Best Buy. The apprenticeship was at a mid-size commercial firm doing tenant build-outs and service upgrades across Tampa Bay. I spent eight years there, got my journeyman at 26, my masters at 29, and ran service and panel upgrades for the last three of those years as their lead.
What I saw inside that company — and almost every electrical firm in Tampa Bay — was the same frustrating pattern. Apprentices running jobs solo. Panels labeled with a Sharpie on masking tape, or not labeled at all. Wire runs stapled flat against joists. Junction boxes left unmade. Inspections punted. And yet every invoice somehow had "master electrician on site" written on it.
In 2014 I left. Bought a used Ford F-150, printed my license number on the door, and hung a shingle. The name "Watt & Co." was more aspirational than literal — it was just me and a buddy for the first 18 months. But the name was the pitch: watts, done properly, by a company that actually cared about its name.
Eleven years later we're seven licensed electricians, three apprentices in a real state-registered program, and one absurdly organized project manager named Dana. No subs unless we've worked with them for five-plus years. Every crew member is W-2, not 1099. Everyone gets training days and the tools they need. The result: my techs don't leave, and the customers get the same face on repeat visits.
We'll never be the biggest electrical company in Tampa Bay. That was never the goal. The goal is to be the one your neighbor tells you to call when you're buying the old bungalow and you need someone honest to tell you whether the wiring is going to burn the place down. That's the company we are, and it's the company we'll stay.
Master Electrician