Archibald Electric overcomes challenges to thrive | News, Sports, Jobs

First, he opened a business in a very competitive market in Fort Dodge, a market with several long-established electric companies. Second, he bought a building to house his business and his wife’s hair salon. And he was just getting started in the spring of 2020, and everyone remembers what happened next — the pandemic.

Despite everything, Archibald’s efforts pay off and his business flourishes and expands.

Archibald Electric, located at 22 S. Third St., now has 14 employees and a recently opened location in Des Moines, which is also gaining traction.

“We certainly had a lot of established companies to compete with,” said Archibald. “But we have a good group. I think our guys are the best in town. I have extreme OCD, which is good. I really stress that everything has to be perfect.”

Archibald Electric offers residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural electrical services. It also offers 24-hour emergency services. And it offers sales and installation of residential generators.

“We have a good balance between the work in those areas,” he said. “We have a lot of different projects going on. We also work on cooking equipment. We do almost everything.”

Archibald graduated from Iowa Central Community College and then went to work at an ethanol plant, after which he went to work at one of the gypsum plants.

While working those jobs, he worked long hours to get his license. When his schedule unexpectedly changed to nights, he decided to start his own business.

“Opening a business is definitely scary,” said Archibald, who graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School in 2008. “I opened a new business, we bought a house. And I had three kids. There were a few nights I came home and thought I’d just go back to working for someone else, but I didn’t want to. It was hard and stressful, but it was good. I always like a good challenge.”

He started with just himself doing all the work, then he added a few employees at a time, including his father and brothers, and now he has over a dozen employees here and is looking to add more in Des Moines.

“It is a very good field to work in,” he said. “You can get paid well for it and it’s rewarding. And you don’t have to go to university for a long time.”

Archibald currently has a number of people completing apprenticeships with his company. He would recommend any high school or college student to consider a career as an electrician.

“If you earn good money and you can enjoy your work, that’s nice,” he said. “Last week we had a few guys out working who were soaked with sweat and tired, but it’s such good camaraderie.”

When Archibald wanted to open his own business, he said he didn’t want to be anywhere else but Fort Dodge.

“It was very important that we opened our business here,” he said. “I grew up here and we have family and friends here, which helped get the business started.”

He looked at his current building a few months after it opened and felt it was a good fit for his business and his wife’s salon. The building where the salon is now located used to be an old coffee shop.

“I felt like this would be perfect for her salon. We remodeled it and this was a store, so it actually worked out perfectly. But that added to the stress,” he said. “It’s still stressful, but it’s going well.”

His wife, Jenna, owns J & Co. Style Studio, located at 18 S. Third St.

Looking ahead, in addition to opening the Des Moines location, Archibald anticipates the need for a larger location in Fort Dodge.

“We will definitely need a bigger place in the coming years,” he said. “I have my eye on some land so we can build a bigger store, but I’m not in a hurry. We like this location and we own the building across the street and my wife’s business is next door, which is nice.”

Archibald said they are in the process of setting up a website for the business, but for now they can only be reached through Facebook or by calling the office at 515-571-8490.