Holiday Lights in the Park!

This is the last week to enjoy the amazing Holiday Lights in the Park! NEI is a proud sponsor of this wonderful event benefiting the St. Paul Police Foundation.

NEI would like to take the time to recognize dedicated employees like Cindy Pleau – Let me introduce you; 

Cindy Pleau is our St. Paul Office Administrative Assistant and her roles include maintaining daily office duties and making sure all aspects of NEI are running well. In her free time she enjoys reading murder mysteries (so watch out! her words) by MN authors. She also enjoys running, gardening and flowers. We asked Cindy why she enjoys working for NEI Electric and her response was “The variety of my work duties, keep my days busy and fulfilling. The staff & electricians are wonderful to work with.”

"Safety is about Kim" - Story about Construction Safety

This is a story about construction that hits home for everyone that works in the construction industry. The elements of NEI Electrics safety program include: planning, training, evaluation, inspection and investigation. 

“Safety is about Kim” 

My wife grew up in a small town in northwest Wisconsin called Deer Park, she had two older brothers but no sisters.  One of Tammy’s parent’s friends had a single child, a girl named Kim about Tammy’s age.  Kim and Tammy became best friends growing up and still are today.  As with all of us, we move around a little bit and meet new people but Kim and Tammy still are great friends, sisters basically.  Kim was living in the Twin Cities when she met Tom and they started dating. Tom was a good guy, worked hard, tried a couple different jobs as he was getting established and finally settled on a career as an electrician with a union contractor in the cities.  They kept dating, got more serious and eventually got married at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, lots of fun, some gambling, shows, staying out too late… the kind of good time any of us would want with some of our friends.  A couple years go by, Kim and Tom have their first child, a petite little girl named Marlena; about a year and a half later they had their second child, a son named Vincent, a headstrong little guy, born within two months of my oldest boy.  Life was pretty good, we’d all get together, let the kids play and have some beers.  Kim and Tom started building a big, beautiful, new home in River Falls; that Tom and his brother were basically building themselves.  Christ, the future was bright for them! 

Tom was a good guy and always a hard worker.  He was just about finished with his electrical apprenticeship and was working at Washington County Courthouse, on a large expansion project where he was being given more and more responsibility.  One day, while working under the direction of a journeymen, they began working on an electrical busway, live.  No one took the time to perform any lock out tag outs, shut the power off, put on arc flash gear or anything to protect themselves.  On October 25th of 2007, Tom was reaching into the panel, his screwdriver arced across another terminal and there was an explosion.  Tom was blown back from the panel and started on fire; he had 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body. The journeyman he was working with was also burned but not as severely.   He had many burns on his hands from trying to put the fire on Tom out.  Tom was transported to Regions Hospital in St Paul where he was admitted into the burn ward.  Most of Tom’s body was bandaged due to the extensive burns.  He really couldn’t move or talk from the bandages and could only see out of one eye when he wasn’t heavily sedated.  Over the next two weeks in the Regions Burn Unit, Tom went through five separate surgeries to try to repair internal damage. I’ve never had an experience like this but I’ve heard the treatment and cleaning or removal of the burnt skin is one of the most painful things someone could endure, the kind of thing that makes you want to die… but Tom wanted to live.  

Kim, Marlena and Vinny would be by the bedside, just to be with him for days and days, hoping and praying for him.  Occasionally, Tom would gain consciousness and see them there, out of his eye and then sob and cry uncontrollably. I can’t imagine what my friend was feeling, maybe something like 
“How did I let this happen?  What will happen to my family?  What will happen to me?  Will I see them grow up?  Will I ever hold my wife in my arms again and tell her I love her?  Will I see my kids graduate?  Go to their weddings?  Hold my grandchildren?  What did I do?”  After 14 days in the burn unit, Tom’s body couldn’t fight any longer; on November 7th he passed away.  The electricity that hit his body caused internal organ damage that they couldn’t get under control or heal in time. 

I promise you, Tom is in heaven blaming himself for everything that wasn’t done that day, looking down on his wife who just had her husband stolen away from her, that couldn’t eat or sleep or not cry at everything that reminded her of him and his children that would have to grow up without him as their father and struggle to understand why he won’t ever come home and why the other kids have a dad.  This is something a 4 and 3 year old shouldn’t have to do. 

Do you know what?  This was all preventable!  Rushing to get something done and taking shortcuts to do it, made Kim lose her husband and Marlena and Vinny lose their father.  I can’t imagine what this did to Kim and her children but I’ve seen her and her kids in pain and it’s not fair to any of them.  I spoke to Kim and had her look at this before sending it out to make sure it was OK.  She agreed to it, because if her story makes a difference to one person, it’s worth telling.  If it makes one person think twice before not wearing PPE, tying off or making sure something is locked out, it’ll be worth it. 

Please don’t ever think something like this can’t happen to you.  I’m sure Tom thought this would never happen and believe me, he was a good guy that you would have all liked but it only takes a split second for something to happen that can change or end your life, the life of someone around you or the life of those you love.   

Safety isn’t about the fancy abbreviated terms and metrics we track, it’s about Kim. 

Design Build Project - Children's Administration Building

Check out the impressive lighting at the new Children's Administration Building! NEI Electric was the proud Design Build Electrical Contractor. The project included; service upgrades, new energy efficient LED lighting, voice evacuation fire alarm system, and new UPS power distribution for critical network systems.

Estimator - St. Paul, MN Location!

Join the NEI Electric Team! We are looking for an Electrical Estimator to join our St. Paul, MN office.  Estimator experience preferred.  We offer competitive wages, and a full benefit package.  NEI is a 60 + year old electrical contractor that performs electrical construction and electrical service work in the greater Minnesota and Wisconsin area.   Join our fun and friendly work environment.

Send resumes to customerservice@neielectric.com no phone inquiries please.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! We are proud to have LEED accredited professionals who are able to design projects to LEED standards. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, provides standards for the construction of environmentally sustainable projects. NEI Electric is dedicated to offering our customers options for energy savings!

Administrative Assistant - St. Croix Falls, WI

Administrative Assistant – SCF -WI

OUR COMPANY:

NEI Electric is an established electrical contractor with four offices in the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin.  NEI Electric provides commercial and industrial businesses with excellent customer service resulting in long term relationships. Our employees are well trained, conscientious, community minded people and our Saint Croix Falls, WI Office is in need of a quality individual to add to our staff.

OUR OPPORTUNITY:

The primary functions of this role includes, but not limited to: Provide clerical and secretarial support to one or more people within a specified department or project.

JOB DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

·         Type all types of documents - letters, reports, memos, lists, etc. May entail producing confidential documents

·         Maintain and set-up filing systems. Photo-copy documents as required

·         Answer phones, take and forward messages

·         Schedule meetings per supervisor’s request, reserve location, distribute agenda, etc.

·         Maintain supervisor’s calendar

·         May take and transcribe dictation. Prepare final documentation from written format

·         Insure routine work items (daily, weekly, monthly data reports or similar items) are received

·         Maintain/order sufficient stock of office supplies.

      Perform additional assignments per supervisor’s direction

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

·         High school degree or equivalent

·         Minimum 1 year office/ secretarial or clerical experience

·         Proficient with Microsoft Office (Excel/Outlook/Word/Adobe)

·         Construction experience is preferred

·         Excellent written and oral communication skills

NEI Electric offers an excellent salary, benefit package that includes medical, dental, 401(k), flexible spending plan, and vacation time. 

Send resumes and salary requirements to customerservice@neielectric.com

NEI Electric's Building Information Modeling (BIM)

NEI Electric has been using BIM since 2009 to help make our installation of the electrical systems as efficient as possible.  We currently have (2) in-house CAD/BIM Operators and have an annual subscription with Autodesk so that our programs are always up to date (AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, etc.).

NEI uses BIM to coordinate structural openings in the floors, assist with equipment layout in the electrical rooms and coordinate above ceiling installations with the Mechanical Contractors, Engineer, Architect and the General Contractor. Our CAD/BIM Operator assigned to the project will attend 1-2 coordination meetings a week on-site or virtually. We typically model at a LOD 400 Level, including all panelboards, light fixtures, cable tray, conduit 1 ¼” or larger, and conduits racks of 3 or more.

Ultimately to NEI, the goal of a BIM project is to save the owner money by reducing or eliminating costly rework on the project. Initially it would appear that the cost for BIM only adds to the cost of the project; we have found that this is not true. BIM is a method that really is a formal exercise that includes all disciplines in the coordination of the project; it actually guarantees to the owner that coordination has been completed. Historically the BIM activity is completed by the field employees prior to and during construction.

With BIM the contract drawings are accurate and complete, reducing rework and avoiding cost overruns and lost time.

Projects that recently were completed using BIM:

        United Hospital Mother/Baby, Saint Paul, MN $2,900,000

     JAMF Software, Eau Claire, WI $1,500,000

    Oakleaf Surgical Center, Altoona, WI $3,450,000

    Spooner Hospital, Spooner, WI $2,245,000

    United & Children’s Hospital Tower, Saint Paul, MN $9,500,000

        6-story Core & Shell

        UH Emergency Department Interior Build-out

                 CH 3^rd & 4^th Floor Interior Build-out

Written By: Matt Troendle, LEED Green Associate

NEI Electric CAD/BIM Operator 

  

St. Paul, MN Location - Full Time Electrical Estimator / Project Manager.

NEI Electric St. Paul, MN Location is hiring a full time Electrical Estimator / Project Manager. The primary functions of this role includes, but not limited to: Provide overall administrative and technical management on construction project site from estimating and bid preparation through final acceptance by client. Join our team! https://shar.es/1hKv3t

Serving the Twin Cities and Western WI... AND North Dakota!

At Plains LPG Services in Hankinson, ND we have completed a new load-out building with accuload installation and load bays including new skids with pressure and temperature transmitters. In addition to many new devices we also completed a new 800amp plant service and controls upgrade.

St. Paul Pipefitters- Job Complete!

Check out one of our recent projects! The St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455 Training and Certification Center was just completed this last year.