Extended Family: CWC Electric

Photos by John Burns

CWC Electric is truly a family business. What started as a husband and wife team in 2012 has grown into an extended family endeavor.

The company, which specializes in commercial and residential electrical installation, repair and troubleshooting, was actually a second career for both Chuck and Natalie Hogan. Chuck was a firefighter for over 20 years but worked as an electrician on his days off from the department. Natalie was a Special Agent with the Kansas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

While they each enjoyed their jobs, both of them had grown up in families who owned small businesses,so they shared an entrepreneurial spirit and the willingness to tolerate taking calculated risks. Making the decision to leave well-established careers was both terrifying and exhilarating.

“We convinced our son-in-law, Brian Russell, to make the move with us. Without his help and support, we would not be where we are today,” Chuck said.

LEAP OF FAITH

Initially, they started the business with Castlewood Construction owner Mike Kennedy, who shared a similar vision for how to better serve customers.

“Knowing things would be tight for a while, we cut our personal budget and found ways to live on less money,” Natalie said. “That first year was half of the income we’d had before, but we knew it would be worth it.”A few years later, Mike offered to sell his share of the business and Chuck and Natalie became the sole owners. Along with son-in-law Brian, they started to grow the business. But real growth came after their son, Joel Hogan, moved back to Topeka to raise his family.

“Hiring Joel as our third master electrician was the fuel that fired substantial growth for the business,” Chuck said.

FAMILY MATTERS

Each family member’s work is very specific, without a lot of overlap in responsibilities. Chuck primarily meets with customers and provides estimates on larger projects, schedules the work and orders inventory. Natalie is in charge of all office duties and accounting. Both Joel and Brian are Field Supervisors, responsible for overseeing projects and training employees.

“I could not have done it without Natalie,” Chuck said. “I do nothing with the numbers side, the accounting. She does all of the hard work. She’s as invested in this as I am, so I have that trust.”

Chuck says the key to their success has really been excellent customer service and great communication internally. He believes having family working in the same business improves that communication.

“I fully trust Joel and Brian to be honest and treat my customers well because they have a vested interest in the company. My customers will become their customers when I retire. I personally trained both my son and son-in-law, so my high standards are their high standards,” Chuck said.

Working with family has some other benefits as well. When a bicycle accident in 2018 left Brian clinging for life in the hospital, the entire business shut down that day and phones went unanswered as everyone gathered at the hospital to support one another.

“For several days we didn’t know if he would survive or how severe his disabilities would be if he did live,” Natalie said. “If you want to talk about the stresses small family-owned businesses face, this would be the most severe you can imagine.”

The next day, the company was back up running, family members cycling through responsibilities at work and spending time at the hospital. Other employees stepped up to fill in the gap while Brian was off work for several months as he recovered. And despite such an extreme setback, the business continued to grow and flourish.

“Though me, my wife, son-in- law and son are all related, we have been blessed to hire many others who we consider family,” Chuck said. “We are a close-knit company who care about each other and our customers.”

The story has a happy ending in that Brian is back riding a bike (though modified to accommodate his range of motion) and working.

MUTUAL RESPECT

Chuck says the advantages of working with family greatly outweigh the disadvantages.

“My wife and daughters all complain we talk too much about work at family gatherings,” Chuck said. “At times, we might have differences of opinion but because of our mutual respect we are always able to reach satisfactory resolutions.”

Married 38 years, Chuck and Natalie have three grown children and seven grandchildren, five boys and two girls, ranging from 1 to 12.

“I have seven grandchildren. It is my hope that at least some of them will follow in my, and their father’s, footsteps,” Chuck said.