Mountain States Specialty Contractor of the Year: Ward Electric Plays to Its Strengths
Two brothers carry on the Ward family’s electrical construction legacy as this Mountain States Firm of the Year celebrates 20 years in business
Ward Electric personnel discuss conductor stringing operations on a 12-mile, 69-kV transmission project, while part of the crew works to set up the pulling equipment.
Family-owned Ward Electric Co. specializes in transmission and distribution work for substations, solar and wind projects and storm repair.
The Colorado-based contractor, which opened with just four people in 2005, has grown to more than 550 employees across six locations, including Mountain States offices in Denver, Grand Junction and Longmont, Colo., and additional offices in Kansas and Nebraska.
Second-generation owners, brothers Mark Ward, CEO, and Matt Ward, the company’s president, say much of the company’s growth over the past year has come from fire mitigation work and increased efforts to bolster the electric grid’s resilience during periods of peak demand.
The contractor reported regional revenue of $110 million in 2024, up from $77.62 million in 2023, and is ranked 13th on ENR’s list of Top Specialty Contractors in the seven-state region.
The contractor’s foundation arm, JoyForWARD, honors Joyce Ward, the brothers’ late mother, who co-founded Ward Electric with their father, Mike. Since its inception in 2022, the foundation has distributed more than $850,000 to organizations focused on education, health care, veterans, youth and special needs in the community.
Regional Editor Jennifer Seward sat down with Mark and Matt to learn more about the Mountain States Firm of the Year. The following Q&A has been edited and condensed.
Ward Electric Projects at a Glance
Mountain Peak Power Plant in Keenesburg, Colo., is expected to add 162 MW of peaking simple-cycle natural gas energy generation to United Power’s system. This plant was built to supply power to the grid and help meet energy demands during peak consumption times. Ward Electric handled the elaborate switchyard build-out, expanding both the substation’s footprint and capabilities.
A wildfire mitigation project for Xcel Energy is upgrading the power line infrastructure along Colorado’s Front Range by replacing poles with taller, wildfire-specific models, upgrading to larger, more resilient conductor wire and installing non-spark cutouts and lightning arrestors, all designed to meet strict wildfire standards and significantly reduce the risk of fire ignition from power lines.
What is driving Ward Electric’s growth?
Mark: The [population] growth along the Front Range has helped. That, along with our safety, our quality and our people, has enabled us to add different services and acquire additional customers. [Recent work has included] fire mitigation with Xcel Energy and pole replacements with United Power and Core Electric—from system upgrades to capital upgrades and new development growth.
Matt: High voltage is our niche. Seventy percent of what we do is distribution work, 25% is transmission work and the other 5% is commercial/industrial. Our projects have been as large as $38 million [for Western Spirit] and as small as $3,500. They’re all over the place. Sometimes we’ll complete 3,000 to 4,000 work orders in a year. [With high voltage work, one pole consists of one work order.]
Also, the data center and AI boom is real, and it takes a lot of power to get those underway. Our work is customer driven, so as United, Core and Xcel have new customers, they contract with us to build those centers.
Mark: We did a big substation upgrade for United Power in Keenesburg, a natural gas power plant that generates about 160 plus megawatts of power.
What does wildfire mitigation entail?
Matt: Removal of the old copper wire and putting up new poles, new insulators, new wire. We use a different style of fusing and special apparatuses that don’t spark to the ground when a cutout fails. Manufacturers have come up with new things in recent years to eliminate sparking, [and] it’s an ongoing effort to replace the old copper weld that’s been up there since the ’50s and ’60s.
Mark: We replace it with a covered conductor so that if tree branches fall on it or something, it won’t spark. And we’ve been adding new devices that will send a signal back to the control center when there’s an issue with the line—like high winds—and that will automatically turn it off. Our other projects are overhead to underground conversion work—burying it underground for road widenings or new developments.
“Mark and I look at our people as our biggest asset, so we put a lot of time, effort and training into our people.”
—Matt Ward, President, Ward Electric
What is it like to work at Ward Electric? Matt: Mark and I look at our people as our biggest asset, so we put a lot of time, effort and training into our people. We have various safety programs, whether it’s pull-top rescue or first aid/CPR. And just today we had a thank you barbecue for all the guys at Xcel, and tomorrow we’ll have one at United Power. We’re doing employee appreciation programs all month.
Mark: We also offer education reimbursement [for skills training and leadership development] and ongoing training throughout the year. We value our employees and hope that in turn leads to less turnover. Internally, we are continuing to incorporate different ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems, so your data goes to everybody without hands touching it multiple times. Externally, we look at the best tools ergonomically for our field crews. For example, a battery powered tool reduces the stress on their shoulders. And we even look at how the electric vehicles and work trucks play into this industry. For example, there’s a hybrid mix bucket truck with an aerial device that increases safety because there is less noise, so the communication from the air to the ground is increased.
What challenges are you managing?
Mark: The age gap is a real concern; there’s a very large age gap in our industry between the generation that’s coming up on retirees.
Matt: The labor shortage for our skilled industry is real because not just anybody can do it.
