Western Electric: Home grown, service proud and region wide

March 25, 2007
By Joe Hyde
Special to LIVE!

The signature “WE” logo stands for the company name, “Western Electric,” but owner Fidel Morales Jr. sometimes worries that a casual glance at the logo may confuse people not familiar with his business. “Occasionally we have someone refer to us a “We Electric,” Morales said with a laugh.

Western Electric, with its signature billboard truck fleet sporting the giant, red logo with the “W.E.” has been serving the entire southwest Texas region in the electrical trades since 1984. Western Electric’s niche is as a residential and small commercial electrician and air conditioning service and repair. “We have an advantage because not only are we handling new installs and repairs of air conditioning units, but we are also electricians. That means there is no ‘blame game,’” Morales explained.

Morales, a 1981 graduate of Del Rio High School attributes the high school trades education program for his start as an electrician. “I liked electronics and wanted to be a TV repairman. In fact, I worked for a neighbor since the seventh grade repairing TVs. But at some point, it got cheaper to buy a new TV than to repair one,” Morales said. “And that’s when I went through the electrical trades course at Del Rio High.” His experience in learning a trade in school makes him passionate about the quality of education offered today in the public schools. Morales is now a customer of the public schools, where he recruits his technicians.

After high school, Morales worked for several electrical contractors, moving up to the position of foreman in a short period of time. “While working as a foreman, I noticed that the company always sent out the slowest technicians to the residential customers to get more money because they always billed by the hour. Then they’d send the quickest technicians to the building contractors because they were usually working under a fixed bid,” Morales said. “Do you think that is fair to the customer?”

This gave Morales an idea for working a niche of providing more value to residential customers who need electrical repairs, or needed to add electrical wiring and finishing for home additions.

“We bill by the job, not the hour,” Morales said. For example, suppose a customer calls indicating that they have no power in part of their house. Morales said his company charges an initial $49.50 diagnostic fee. “Then we give the customer a firm price on how much it will cost to fix, before the work is done,” Morales said.

In the electrical contractor trades, there are several levels of certification: apprentice, journeyman, and master electrician. Morales holds the master electrician certification and is responsible for the training and professional development of his team of electricians. “You have to be certified to work here,” Morales explained. “And I am really big on training.”

Skills testing isn’t Morales’s only demand of his team. “All of our techs are invited into your home to work. We do a complete drug screening and background check on every person before they are hired,” Morales said. “We are very careful of who we bring onboard here, and demand high standards in personal appearance and conduct” Morales said. Work crews are not allowed to smoke on the job, either.

Morales said he pays for the testing fees for the first certification exam. In addition to certification in the electrical trades, Morales holds certifications as a sign electrician and in air conditioning. He encourages his employees to pursue those trades as well, and also requires air conditioning certification.

“We carry the American Standard brand of air conditioners,” Morales said. American Standard is what Morales considers as the gold standard in air conditioning. In the hot Texas heat around here, durability and reliability of a strong brand like American Standard are important to his customers.

Morales is kept very busy working on all makes and models of air conditioners, especially now that the weather is turning warmer. “I believe everyone should have their air conditioning unit professionally serviced at least twice a year. It’s like changing the oil on your car, and could mean the difference of your air conditioner lasting five or 15 years,” Morales said. Besides that, Morales asserts, if your coils are dirty, motors aren’t properly lubricated, or you don’t have enough Freon, the air conditioner will have to work harder because it is less efficient. “And that costs you more money in electricity,” Morales said.

Western Electric offers a “Super Tune Up” for air conditioners for residential customers for $75, where they will provide the semi-annual service needed to maximize efficiency and increase the life of the unit. For $100, Western Electric offers a service plan for air conditioners that includes two “Super Tune Ups,” one for the summer and a second for the winter.

Elia Morales, Fidel’s wife, handles the office operations of Western Electric. “Yes, I am the book keeper, dispatcher, and sometimes the electrician’s apprentice. I also manage the rentals we own” Elia said. “We’re still negotiating my salary,” she joked.

Elia, who graduated from Del Rio High School in 1984, said she was drawn to Fidel because he reminded her of her father. “My dad, Rudy Cervantez, had his own business and I was always with him, helping him,” she said. “Fidel used to walk me home when I was in third grade. He was in the sixth grade. We would stop by the store and he’d buy me a 10-cent Coke. Remember when Cokes were 10 cents?” Elia asked.

As Elia got older, she started looking at Fidel in a different light. “I noticed that Fidel was a hard worker, and I helped him start the business before we were married, when I was still a senior in high school,” she said.

“I still remember our first truck back then. Every morning it had four flat tires.” Elia joked.

The Morales’s have a son, Fidel III, who graduated from Del Rio High School last year. He is currently working for the family business while he completes basic college credits offered at Southwest Texas Junior College. He hopes to attend Texas A&M University next year.

Fidel Morales is amazed by the growth of the region. His measure of the growth is anecdotal, based upon the number of calls he gets from “big box” retailers who are moving into malls and shopping centers, or building their own buildings. “I am especially amazed at the number of big box retailers moving into Eagle Pass,” Morales said. His company services most of the national retailers throughout southwest Texas, including Eagle Pass, Uvalde, in addition to Del Rio. “We’re known to them because we’re insured and bonded,” Morales said. That is an important benefit, said Morales, where the hot real estate market has spawned a lot of new contractor companies. “A lot of these guys don’t even carry worker’s comp,” Morales said.

“If you hire ‘cheap Charlie’ and they don’t have worker’s comp, guess what? Your homeowner’s policy has to pick up the tab if they are hurt,” Morales said. Western Electric is completely insured, including carrying worker’s compensation insurance. Morales laments the costs of general liability insurance, particularly for the air conditioning side of his business. “It’s expensive because of the mold issue. If the air conditioner isn’t working properly, mold can grow and ruin the house,” Morales said.

Western Electric serves the entire region, from Eagle pass to Sonora. Trip charges may apply to service calls outside the Del Rio area. Western Electric is located at 903 E. Ogden St, Del Rio. Call for details at (830) 774-7149. Also, see the company’s Web site, www.westernelectricandair.com.