Universal Electric Ltd. looks set to go from strength to strength in 2008, having won the specialty contractor award at the Construction Association of Bermuda last year.

The electrical sales, service and engineering firm, which is based just off Serpentine Road in Pembroke, was voted number one by the peers in its category, to follow up on the success of picking up the 2005 Minister's Award from the National Training Board.

And general manager Ray Beaulne said Universal Electric will be aiming to build on its success by diversifying and expanding into new areas in the future.

The company was incorporated in 1965 and was the only electrical contractor on the Island apart from Belco at the time.

It started off originally doing the electrics for the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, before going on to carry out work on a range of hotels from the former Club Med and Sonesta Beach Resort to the Fairmont Southampton Princess and branching out to service the needs of some top re/insurance companies on the Island.

"There was a major expansion in the late 60s and 70s in hotels and Universal was involved in them and from there they grew into the city of Hamilton," said Mr. Beaulne.

"This property here in Midsea Lane was acquired and the building built in 1975 and we have been at this located for about 32 years now."

Mr. Beaulne joined Universal Electric as assistant general manager in 1993 and was promoted to the post of general manager in 2000, with the company then being taken over by major shareholder and chairman Patrick Jones in September 2005. "We have diversified at least from our core business of electrical contracting into the fire alarm industry, where we have a large division which support our contracting division and supports Uninterruptible Power Supply, generators and data service solutions," Mr. Beaulne.

"We represent some fantastic products such as Creston - a home automation product which provides audio visual, security and lighting for the smart home."

In fact, according to Mr. Beaulne, one of the big electric gadgets to really take off over past few years has been the home automation system, allowing homeowners to control everything from the heat and light of their house to their music and video systems, all at the touch of a button.

"What we found and what evolved from 1995, when it became readily available on the market, was our first exposure to it and what we have seen is that it was strictly a Tucker's Town product, so to speak, for these high-end homes and now we are finding, with research and development costs being reduced industry-wide, the overall costs are coming down and the average homebuyers are looking at it and thinking maybe they could integrate various components of it into their homes, such as lighting, home theatre and distributing music throughout the home," he said.

"But, the important thing is that we are not here just to provide for that big job where we are doing everything, but we are also doing the groundwork and are working with clients so that we are making provisions for installing their systems for years down the road.

"We are not making the immediate sale at the time, but, hopefully they will come back to us in five years when they are ready to make the investment in the new systems."

Whatever the trends in the marketplace, Universal Electric has been there to capitalise on them, most recently with the Island's big construction boom opening up the market for new-build installations to savvy electrical contractors, said Mr. Beaulne.

"With the construction boom, we have been very fortunate in participating in it and we have been busy in the last five or six years doing so," he said.

Another big coup for the company, said Mr. Beaulne, was the acquisition of the Elite Group, which not only provided it with a wealth of talent including field engineers and electricians, but also the use of Tegg Preventive Maintenance solutions.

"We are very excited about building that side of the business with our commercial clientele," he said.

"It can be used to do thermographic scans on electric distribution systems to locate hot spots and predict with relative accuracy when they will fail and make recommendations for remediate work and we have seen things happen such as fires in commercial establishments as a direct result of a thermal problem like a loose connection and we are trying to mitigate that first before it occurs for our clients."

During his time at Universal Electric, Mr. Beaulne, has seen a lot of changes, of which the company's apprenticeship programme is one of the biggest. Around 60 to 70 people have passed through the scheme run in conjunction with Bermuda College since 1999, with 20 of those still plying their trade at Universal Electric, while others have gone on to start up their own businesses. "I think one of the most exciting things for me are the technical training programmes that we have implemented," he said.

"In 1998, I was very involved in establishing the apprenticeship programme and we continue to develop it and are increasing the training exposure for our people.

"There is a lot of specialty training that is required and we make the point of investing in our people and getting them trained, so they can support our clients.

"We have got some real success stories that have gone on to open up their own businesses and from within Universal people have gone on to be promoted to management.

"But, we are always on the lookout for young Bermudians and we are very aggressive in participating in job fairs to recruit them."

But, similarly, he believes the biggest challenge the company faces, as an employer, is recruiting and retaining young Bermudians looking to get into the industry.

"The biggest challenge that we face right now is going to be resources and talent and finding it and keeping it," he said.

"With young Bermudians, we are competing with the insurance industry and local business that are trying to attract these people as well, and it is difficult.

"But, the rewards are there if they stay with it and we are constantly looking at the benefits we offer to make them more attractive and competitive."

And with the construction industry seeming well set to continue its rich vein of success, Universal Electric will be seeking to align itself firmly in that marketplace for some years to come.

"With the increase in the number of buildings going up in Hamilton, they are becoming more and more sophisticated, and we are looking to position ourselves to fully service those buildings and clients," said Mr. Jones.

"We are certainly proud of winning the award and hopefully it is a reflection of our commitment to offer the best possible service to contractors as well as our client base."