Joel Hicks is the owner of Encore Electric, a premier electrical company that provides integrated solutions to residential and commercial clients across the Twin Cities.
A native Iowan, Hicks grew up in the small town of Oskaloosa, which is located an hour southeast of Des Moines.
For Hicks, life in the 641 was simple.
As a teenager, when he wasn’t in school, he was learning how to build houses.
“Throughout the school year we would work on the home, and then by the time summer rolled around the construction of the home was completed,” Hicks recalls.
“Doing those builds was actually what initially sparked my interest in the trades.”
After high school, Hicks thought he wanted to teach agricultural education, so he went to college for a few semesters, but then he realized lecturing students and grading tests wasn’t how he wanted to impact the community, so he left university and returned to Oskaloosa, where he fell back into the trades.
Right away, Hicks worked part-time for a local general contractor, and he also spread fertilizer for a co-op, but it wasn’t until he later worked at a plant that he met an electrical contractor who would alter the trajectory of his career.
“That man, he took me under his wing and taught me the finer points of the trade,” Hicks says, and for the next eighteen months, Hicks absorbed the nuances of electrical work.
While life in Oskaloosa was consistent and enjoyable, Hick’s wife was offered a job in the Twin Cities, so the couple transitioned out of their 11,000-person hometown and moved to a Midwest metropolis, where Hicks quickly became an apprentice at a different electrical company.
“When I started, that company was small. It was me, another apprentice, and three journeymen at the company,” Hicks says.
For the next decade, Hicks continued to refine his skills as an electrician, but in 2023, after many conversations and introspection, Hicks, who by then had become a master electrician, opted to leave the comforts of his employer and start Encore Electric.
“The company I was with was small at the beginning, and then over time they grew exponentially. As a result, the culture shifted,” Hicks shares.
“But beyond that, I always wanted to have my own electrical company. I knew what I was capable of doing, and so it was a perfect time for me to go out on my own.”
Adds the humble yet cerebral Hicks:
“Oh, and I also recognized that I wasn’t getting any younger.”
With two kids and a mortgage, Hicks delved into the unknown, leveraging his vast experience to capture market share in the Twin Cities electrical market.
In the two years since founding Encore Electric, progress has been incremental.
Residentially, the electrical entity has worked on projects that have required all different types of voltage.
Commercially, Hicks has done electrical remodels in office spaces for hair salons and medical device companies, helping those businesses optimize the electrical configurations in their respective units.
Encore Electric also wires charging stations for Teslas and other electric vehicles.
They even do holiday lights as well, partnering with JellyFish to install permanent lighting for homeowners who want to bedazzle their home’s exterior, without having to pay someone to come out every year to reinstall the lights.
“The cool thing is, JellyFish lights are controlled by an app on your phone,” Hicks says of the system that retails anywhere between $6,000-8,000 (depending on size of home), but long-term offers a better ROI for homeowners who annually pay to install new holiday lights.
“Plus, with JellyFish, you can always change the color of your holiday lights, and program them so they turn on and off at different intervals throughout the course of the year.”
In fact, Hicks is such a proponent of JellyFish that he has installed that system on his own residence.
“My wife graduated from Iowa State, so we will change the colors to red and yellow when they play, or to purple and gold when the Minnesota Vikings play,” Hicks says with a laugh.
“The lights are also perfect for July 4th, Halloween, Christmas, and any other event, so if you like different aesthetics, then it’s an excellent investment.”
Still, even if you’re not a fan of holiday lighting adorning your home, the next time you’re in need of electrical work, Encore Electric is still a viable service provider, simply because as a new business, they can offer exceptional service at a price point that pales in comparison to their competitors who have their brands splashed onto billboards across the Twin Cities.
“Being a smaller company, we can do things for less than some of our bigger competitors, and frankly, that’s because we don’t have the same amount of overhead,” Hicks says.
“The fact that I don’t have a big team or an elaborate marketing campaign allows me to offer our clients the same service, at a fraction of the price.”
Adds the Oskaloosa native:
“Having used to work for one of the big companies here in the Twin Cities, I know exactly how they operate, and why their prices are substantially higher than those of smaller companies. I’m not a big believer in chasing the lowest price, but if a client can receive the same quality of service for less money, then I think it’s to their benefit to work with a company like mine.”
At the same time, it’s not just financially where Hicks tries to distinguish Encore Electric.
By hiring Encore, clients get a personalized experience where Hicks is the individual answering initial calls, walking customers through the sales process, and then performing the work.
In essence, he is just a phone call away, and if he’s working at your home, he may be only a few feet away.
“That’s an experience that clients simply can’t get when they work with massive companies,” Hicks emphasizes.
When working with Encore Electric, there are also no surprise surcharges because Hicks works methodically and meticulously to ensure that the price he quotes his clients is the price they will pay when the work is completed.
“Prior to the job beginning, the customer knows what I’ll be doing and how much they’re going to pay. That alone doesn’t sound unique or special, but unfortunately, there are electrical companies who will spring unexpected expenses onto their clients. I don’t operate that way because I don’t believe that’s fair to the customer, and that’s not how I would want to be treated.”
Looking ahead, Encore Electric will certainly be working to expand their book of business and hire additional staff, but Hicks also doesn’t want to compromise on the core tenets of his business, namely customer service.
“Over the course of the next decade, I would like to get to the point where we have several vehicles and about five different electricians, but I don’t want to get any bigger than that,” Hicks details.
“I really like what I’ve built so far, and while I recognize that I will eventually have to expand and evolve how I do things, I never want to move away from those foundational principles that are centered around delivering an outstanding experience for my clients.” QS
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