Company History

J & M Electric was founded in 1951, in Ephrata, Washington, and has operated throughout eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho performing electrical construction, service and maintenance work for a wide variety of clients and projects in all phases of the industry.

In 1979, J&M Electric was purchased by present management, and J&M Electric, Inc. is the successor corporation. Since that time, the company has continually strived to take on new and different types of electrical construction and maintenance. The company is a licensed electrical contractor in Washington, and is presently prequalified by the Department of Transportation to perform, as a prime contractor, projects for illumination and general electrical work in the amount of $3,900,000. J&M Electric has been involved in electrical contracts ranging from commercial projects such as Discount Tire in Wenatchee, Washington, and Staples in Moses Lake, Washington, to large-scale industrial projects such as Norco’s Air Separation Unit in Moses Lake, and Eka Chemicals which is also in Moses Lake. J&M’s public resume includes a three-story office remodel for the USBR, various projects for the Moses Lake School District, and extensive work at hydroelectric facilities, including Grand Coulee Dam, Chief Joseph Dam, and Priest Rapids Dam. Other customers of J&M Electric, Inc. include: Basic American Foods, Takata, Simplot Foods, REC Silicon (formerly ASiMI), Guardian Fiberglass, and Tyson Foods (formerly Iowa Beef Packers).

At J&M Electric, Inc, we pride ourselves on our ability to gather information, develop management relationships, and prepare our productive staff to complete tasks that are specific to every job we do. With these skills, we feel that we are able to adapt our staff and our company to any job we take on. Our skill set includes residential service work and troubleshooting to medium voltage industrial cabling. We regularly work with industrial motor control, PLC and field device wiring, low voltage data cabling, commercial and architectural lighting fixture systems, distribution equipment installation, metering, and troubleshooting and repair of myriad types of electrical systems. Most recently, we utilized our adaptability in completing two unique projects. One being the installation of all process area lighting at the 500,000 square-foot Guardian Fiberglass plant in Moses Lake, where we installed over four hundred fixtures and associated circuiting, and the second being the electrical portion of Norco’s Air Separation Unit in Moses Lake, where we installed rigid conduit, underground conduit, power and control conductors, and electrical equipment for a 3,000 horsepower electric motor and an 8,000 horsepower electric motor. While we pride ourselves on the unique jobs we have completed, we have a continuing commitment to taking on and successfully completing an even wider range of electrical jobs.

A key element of our management philosophy is that all management and office staff people are committed to providing support to our field forces to allow maximum productivity. Work in the field takes priority to administrative duties so that we may provide our customers with the highest quality and most timely service.

Don Swartz, II, President and General Manager of J&M Electric has 30 years of experience in electrical construction management, including cost accounting, project management, and general management. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington in Building Technology and Administration, and a Master of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Finance.

Currently, J&M Electric, Inc. is headquartered in Moses Lake, and performs work throughout eastern Washington. Our operations are supported by a three-bay warehouse and office space, a fleet of service vans and light trucks, a heavy-duty line truck, several job trailers as well as a range of electric tools to assist in the numerous functions we perform.