The story of Hewitt Young Electric started in 2003 when it was started by first cousins, Greg Young, and Bob Hewitt. The Young’s and Hewitt’s have a long-standing history with Local 86 having sent many family members through the apprenticeship program. Through working tirelessly alongside his father, Bob learned that a workday isn’t just the eight hours the rest of the world advertised to him. He learned if you want to be successful, you must plan out your days, get to work early, and push yourself to outwork your fellow electricians. Prior to starting HYE, both Bob and Greg were asked to join a new, out of the ground, minority electrical contracting business. As small percentage owners, they did not have much say in the direction of the company. Within less than one year the new business was failing badly. All other members of the newly formed business jumped ship leaving Bob and Greg to finish out their remaining jobs. It was at this point, that Greg and Bob decided they wanted more and founded Hewitt Young Electric, LLC.
HYE started in Greg’s basement. Bob and Greg would perform electrical work during the day and head back to Greg’s to bid work and organize paperwork into the late hours of the night. After about a six-month grind, they were able to move into their first warehouse and office space at 1237 East Main. Not long after that, they hired their first admin: Beth Lifka, and first electrician: Randy Hope. The biggest challenges they faced in the early days were cash flow and steady work. The cousin duo chased work in Kodak and eventually reverse auction bids commenced.
The first four years in business were extremely tough. The cousins did not know if they would make payroll, have enough money for benefits, let alone have enough money to put food on the table for both of their families. Every time things were tight, they didn’t give up. They pressed on and they found a way!
In 2006, Cody Hewitt joined HYE. He started out part-time in the warehouse working during school breaks. After graduating from college he joined full time in January 2012 as a project manager.
In 2008, HYE expanded to our current headquarters on Maple and Syke Street. Cash flow was good, our customer base was growing, our fleet of vehicles increased, and we even purchased our own dump truck! 2009 was fair, but 2010 public and private work were hard to find. HYE suffered a 20-30% drop in sales. Jump to 2011 and HYE was on the rebound! Work opportunities increased. We started doing private work in schools, universities and continued with the HVAC controls. This gave Bob and Greg the opportunity to turn the business into what they had hoped for all along.
After completing a large MV underground job at SUNY Geneseo, Sam Beniamino was hired as the leader and creator of our Site Division. Sam has spread our capabilities as an electrical contractor and established a promising reputation for us amongst the site industry.
In 2015, Greg decided it was time to retire. Bob continued to push forward in 2016 and today he handles most of the HVAC control jobs and building & maintaining customer relationships. In January of 2017, Cody took over as CEO! Cody has spent the last several years working to build a strong, cohesive, and highly motivated culture for our employees. Through 2019 Cody plans to continue to pursue a culture where each employee feels individually valued because after all, “It’s Always A Great Day at Hewitt Young!”
