BY JESSICA SCHLUTER
Max Painter is more than just an electrician. He’s a runner, an Army veteran, a family man, and for the past 18 years, a business owner.
Painter is the owner of MX Electric. He opened the business 18 years ago.
“We were so small at the beginning I just ran the office out of my house,” Painter said.
“The last three years we’ve moved into some bigger buildings, but we’ve always rented.”
Over the past 18 years, he has rented office space and storage space in Champaign but now, MX Electric has a permanent place to call home in Ogden.
“This building came available, and I said ‘I don’t think it works for me because most of our work is in Champaign’ but then I saw the building and I fell in love with it and I was like ‘I think we’re moving to Ogden!”
Painter grew up in Villa Grove, but for the last 18 years he has been a St. Joseph resident. He’s excited for a shorter commute to work.
“It’ll be a lot more convenient for me to be able to stay late and work on stuff.”
Painter is renovating the building before moving in. The front area will be offices for him and a few staff members.
The new building is visible from 150 in Ogden and he has already noticed an uptick in interest even though they are not officially moved in there yet.
“This gets a lot of foot traffic, and people will walk right in. I bet we’ve had 10 people just walk in the door.”
According to Painter, MX Electric does a mix of commercial and residential work.
Over the last 18 years, the number of employees and the volume of work has ebbed and flowed.
Painter says he landed a big project at the beginning and it led to quick, but misleading growth.
“I started too big, and I probably had ten employees when I first started.”
“The money was just not there, and I was union at the time and what I was paying my guys- I’m sure I did not make a dime but I felt like I was making a lot of money.”
“I actually got a pretty big head. I just drove around and didn’t hardly do any work anymore.”
Painter says the recession was a wake-up call for him.
“Then the recession hit and it about wiped me out. I almost didn’t come back. I’m just lucky I’ve got good friends and good family that helped me out.”
“A lot of people went through a reevaluation at the point. I had to get back to pushing quality at that time.”
MX Electric stayed in business, just with a smaller staff.
“It was just basically me and my brother-in-law and a few other guys for a long time.”
As projects come and go, the number of employees changes but Painter says there have a few core guys who stick around.
One of those people is his brother-in-law. Painter feels lucky to have someone beside him who treats the business as his own.
“My brother in law has been with me for probably 12 of the 18 years and he is just fantastic.”
Painter enjoys the residential projects just as much as the commercial.
“We don’t want to completely give up residential. Commercial will come and go with the economy but residential will always be around.”
Painter delegates the commercial bidding to another employee who is skilled at it, but he does a lot of the residential bidding himself.
“We still stay pretty busy with residential. I like meeting new people, I think it’s fantastic.”
“I do a lot of the go out and estimate residential. You just never know who you’re gonna meet.”
The main thing that Painter and his guys try to keep in mind each day is quality.
“Our big thing is quality and cleanup and customer satisfaction.”
“Electricity is one of those things that you want to feel safe, and if you don’t, we want to make it right.”
“I try to push to my guys to do it right the first time and then we won’t have to go back.”
Painter values customer satisfaction, and he knows the value of local connections and good word-of-mouth.
“Make good connections, align yourself with the right people.”
He tries to be responsive on community Facebook pages when people are looking for a recommendation for an electrician, or when others recommend him themselves.
“There’s two or three ‘Call Max’ people, and if I see it or get tagged, I’ll respond and ask what we can do to help out.”
Painter has learned a lot in the last 18 years, and he continues to learn.
“I learn something every day, truthfully. A lot of them are hard lessons to learn.”
“I’ve been in business long enough that I know that nothing is a guarantee.”
Painter knows that continued success comes from pushing quality and making sure customers are satisfied.
“I want you happy. If you’re not happy, we’re not done.”
