About Us

History

We offer our customers over 50 years and four generations of experience. Tri-County Electric started as Robert Engel’s vision that the Ann Arbor area would be a safe and prosperous place to raise a family and build a business. Since 1971, his dream and company has endured the ebbs and flows of the economic climate and has grown to be the largest privately owned, locally founded Electrical Contracting firm in the Ann Arbor area
that has not been bought and sold on the market.

Family

Bob and his wife Joan, their children, grandchildren, along with Joan’s Dad, brother, sister and many friends all have worked at one point and time for the company. Business is an extension of family, and this creates a unique working environment. There is a closeness that exists unlike other businesses which other employees are welcomed to be a part of. There is much at stake and this personalizes the commitment to succeed. Fortunately and strategically, as the family has grown, so has the business.

Financial Capacity

With a bonding capacity of 20 million dollars and annual sales averaging 8-13 million, we are financially sound to sustain the cash flow demands of this market. We have excellent credit with all of our Material Distributors, Subcontractors and Union benefits are always paid on time. We have a solid credit line in place and no history of litigation.

Expertise

On staff we have an Electrical Engineer, BIM Coordinator and an award winning Lighting Designer with Lighting Certification from the NCQLP. We also have a core group of Union Electricians with 20+ years of experience each. Many hold a Master’s license, all have State licenses, all are active in continued education having up to date working knowledge of National, State and local Electric and Building Codes and are OSHA30 trained. In addition, we have a cohesive relationship with Local 252 officers and work together to ensure its extended labor pool is available to meet the challenges of manpower fluctuations common to the aggressive schedules of today’s construction patterns.

WBE certified Owner

Second generation, woman owned, the reins of Tri-County Electric have passed from Bob, to Joan Engel and now to Beth Ann Rentschler. Beth Ann holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She has worked at Tri-county over 35 years before, during and ever since graduating. She is the senior estimator and oversees all company operations as president. Together with her husband Lyle who holds the Masters license for the company, the family business continues to grow and thrive.

16,000 Square Foot Facility

Our office is located 10 minutes from Ann Arbor where we have a 16,000 sqft facility with warehousing capacity mirroring most supply houses. We have three truck dock bays to facilitate deliveries from semis carrying million dollar light fixture packages and double ended substations as well as everyday parts. We stand by our commitment to finishing on time and will do everything in our control to have the material for each project we are a part of available when needed.

Management Team

With the resources in place, and the staff to make it happen, assurance that the job will meet and exceed our customers’ satisfaction materializes through careful planning and execution is the mission of our Management Team. We are here to look ahead, set goals, communicate issues, coordinate and work as a team, follow through and finish. Through our multi-tiered Management plan on site and in house, our clients have access to and direct communication with our Field Superintendent, General Foreman and/or Foreman assigned to their project as well as an onsite or in office Project Manager. Senior Management receives regular correspondence and conducts regular staff meetings to monitor job progress and is on call to assist as needed. Through Pre-task analysis, 3 week look-ahead schedules, material procurement status reports, RFIs, cost impact logs, testing reports, inspections, commissioning books, O&Ms, LEED & MHDS forms, safety and job specific training, BIM coordination, we will make it happen. Being organized, thorough and timely is policy to support a quality install and ensure customer satisfaction.

Specialized Services

The cliché “no job’s too big or too small” applies to Tri-County. We are here for your 1 Thousand dollar projects up to 10 Million dollar projects. We offer Preconstruction Services including budget analysis, cost effective alternatives, lighting design including energy efficient LED lighting savings plans, ROI and photo-metric details. Fully designed, code compliant, PE sealed permit and coordination drawings with load calculations, short-circuit and ARC fault analysis are a service. Our in house CAD designers work side by side with our Electricians to provide 2 and 3D modeling to troubleshoot and coordinate our equipment and raceways with other trades, eliminating interferences and identifying space constraints prior to installation.

Hospital & Care Facilities & Medical Equipment

From your low voltage system lighting systems and controls, interfacing with telecom and AV systems, fully installed fire alarm, pre-action and security systems and mechanical controls, to 13,200 Volt primary loops and substations, normal power and emergency generator systems, we are staffed with certified professionals to safely and efficiently meet your electrical needs. We work in occupied spaces including critical life safety hospital and care facilities without disruption to services or operations interfacing with Medical equipment installations for MRI, CT scanners and Linear Accelerators and patient assistant Nurse Call, Wandering and Intercom systems.

Auditoriums, Stadiums, Performance and Sports Facilities

Performance and Sports facilities with Auditoriums and Stadiums require special lighting, controls and sound system installations. We have extensive experience in these installations as well as Pools and labs. Grounding and bonding requirements will be met or exceeded to keep the end users safe.

Residential

Residential single family homes and multi-family homes are where Tri-County’s roots took hold. Today, we continue this service and have expanded to specialize in hi-rise metropolitan housing projects. We have been on the design/build team for numerous downtown Ann Arbor residential and multi-use complexes and are in the market to partner with more developers.

Retail

Retail projects are always under fast paced schedules and, in Mall settings, often off hours. We will accommodate your needs and have the project done on time, guaranteed.

Tributes

Credit for being where Tri-County Electric is today goes to its loyal, dedicated, hard working, top notch employees. We have been blessed with the best and thank all for their efforts and support. A special tribute goes out to our retirees and founder. You are missed and never forgotten.   We will strive to work with the heart and passion these “family” members brought with them. Here’s to you – in remembrance, Robert Engel, Joan Merrell and Chick Lenga, in appreciation, Jim Tobias, Don Frasure, Ed Colone, Dean Bennett, Tom Hovatter and Brian Kerr. Thank all of you.