A decade ago, Victor Fuchs decided it was time for Las Vegas-based Helix Electric of Nevada to open an office in Northern Nevada. The electrical contracting company was founded as Helix Electric Inc. in 1985, but Fuchs wanted to grow Helix’s footprint across the Silver State and as a result founded Helix Electric of Nevada in 2001.
Ten years after opening an office in a small warehouse in Sparks, Helix Electric of Nevada is now the largest electrical contractor in the Truckee Meadows. The company recently moved into a nearly 19,000-square-foot new flex industrial building at 1900 S. McCarran Blvd., after operating from an outdated office on Matley Lane for several years. The new building is equally divided between office and warehouse space and has 13 enclosed offices, 21 cubicles, and conference rooms. The warehouse, meanwhile, includes space that is used for company-funded employee training.
“The morale for our people moving into this facility is way greater than I ever anticipated,” Fuchs said. “It makes it well worth the investment and commitment.
“Our philosophy is to invest in our people,” he added. “If we take care of our people, we will be successful. If we give our people the best benefits, and opportunities for growth, that will make our company successful. We made a commitment to our people with this facility to be here for the long term.”
Fuchs said work in greater Reno-Sparks and Tahoe Reno Industrial Center comprised about 25 percent of gross revenue for Helix Electric of Nevada in 2023. However, the move into more spacious offices positions Helix Electric of Nevada to achieve targeted growth of 40 percent over the next five years, he added.
It’s all part of that long-term strategy to capture market share in Northern Nevada, Fuchs said. Instead of just surfing this extended development wave that began around 2013, Helix committed to planting its flag in Northern Nevada for the long term by opening an office and staffing it with local employees.
“That was our plan when we came here,” Fuchs said. “We are one of the few electrical companies that came to Reno during this boom cycle and decided to make it our home. All of our employees here are local, and we made a commitment to serving a local market and are committed to local vendors.”
Fuchs said the ramp-up in growth for Helix Electric of Nevada has been rooted in service. Helix Electric Inc. of San Diego, is one of the largest electrical contractors in the country. Although Reno can be an insular market where longtime local general contractors tap long-standing relationships for their projects, Helix Electric of Nevada leaned on the experience of key individuals who had been with the company for a long time to move to Reno to help establish the office and win work, Fuchs said.
As the company began gaining a foothold in Northern Nevada, it hired Florida resident Cody Kinnison to spearhead efforts at Helix’s Reno office.
“We were in it 100 percent,” Fuchs said. “In order to grow, Helix Electric of Nevada had to become a local contractor. We joined all the major organizations and took on many charitable causes throughout Northern Nevada.”
Customers began taking notice, Fuchs added.
“They saw the difference,” he said. “We bring a lot of value-added services. We aren’t just riding the wave. We invest in people, systems, and the structure of the company. We bring a different dynamic – we brought the experience and services of a larger company into a local market, and that’s how we got local customers.
“Today, I am proud to say that when we meet with customers that we haven’t done business with, we can show them our work with the major players in town.
Notable projects and clients include Reno Experience District, Switch, and the design-build office conversion for Redwood Material’s Carson City headquarters. Most notably, however, the company was the preferred electrical contractor for Tesla’s Gigafactory and at one time had nearly 400 employees working on site, Fuchs said. Helix Electric of Nevada also has extensive experience as a design-building engineering contractor serving Reno’s burgeoning multifamily market and build-to-suit industrial projects.
“We are very good at design, and we provide engineering that helps owners and developers move their designs through to completion,” Fuchs said. “Between Reno and Las Vegas, we have more than 20 engineers on staff, which is larger than some engineering firms.”
Helix Electric of Nevada currently has a headcount of more than 800 employees, with approximately 200 living in Reno. The company also has a satellite office that opened in Salt Lake City. Fuchs said that revenue could potentially grow another 40 percent with all the new business and construction projects coming into Northern Nevada.
“The market here is dynamic,” Fuchs said. “It seems like every other day we hear of a new data center coming or another building going up. In the next month, we have meetings with several potential data center customers, and those clients are coming to us because of our skill set, experience and reputation.”
In order to meet expected growth internally, Helix Electric of Nevada last year invested more than $500,000 into Helix University, an internal effort to provide continuing education classes where company experts teach newcomers key aspects of electrical work. Classes are taken during work hours or on weekends.
“Some people go to college and pay fees to learn; others go to technical college. We provide training free of charge to our employees,” Fuchs said. “Training could be something basic, like bending conduit, or highly technical, like earning medium- and high-voltage certifications.
“It’s part of our budget and our culture, and it’s very important,” he added.