People Powered: Gaylor Electric Is ABC's 2025 Contractor of the Year

What do you call a company that puts people before profits? A company that values lifelong education over low overhead? A company that does nearly $1 billion in annual business while its leadership stays firmly connected to the boots on the ground bringing its projects to life? You could call that company Gaylor Electric—and in 2025, you can call Gaylor Electric Associated Builders and Contractors’ Contractor of the Year.

In 1984, John Gaylor was working for a union construction contractor in his home state of Indiana when he began to recognize the need for an electrical contractor that encouraged open competition and a free-enterprise approach to construction based on merit. His determination to provide top-notch performance for clients and build a reputation as an employer of choice laid the foundation for what became Gaylor Electric. Forty years later, Gaylor stands steadfast in its commitment to ABC’s mission and values, including safety, quality, workforce development, community engagement, advocacy and the merit shop philosophy. It is the first company in ABC’s 75-year history to have earned the Contractor of the Year award twice.

The first Gaylor company-wide meeting “took place with about 30 people in an office the size of a two-car garage,” according to CEO Chuck Goodrich, who joined Gaylor as an intern in 1991. Today, the Indianapolis-based design-build electric contractor—which also offers 24/7 electrical support and utility service—has a workforce of approximately 3,500 employees spread across 16 offices in seven states. It is consistently ranked among the top national construction industry leaders and serves several high-profile clients including Amazon, Nike, GE, Starbucks and Hyatt, to name a few.

Whether working on small, fast-paced builds or multi-million-dollar, multi-year projects, Gaylor’s commitment to developing strong business relationships keeps clients coming back time and time again. The secret to all that success? For Gaylor, it’s putting its people first—and a firm belief that individual strengths, brought together, result in exceptional outcomes.

HOW TO W.I.N.

For a company of its size and scope, Gaylor’s business plan is shockingly simple: It’s just a page long, combining company vision with employee purpose and focusing on what Gaylor calls “the three be’s”: be like-minded, be connected and be productive. Sure, there are some specifics in the small print, and there’s certainly still a focus on being measurement-accountable. But by and large, the emphasis is on the W.I.N.—"what’s important now.”

“Sometimes you can get way too focused in the future, and a lot of times it's sitting right in front of you. So I don't write a three- and five-year business plan. I write a one-year business plan,” says Goodrich. “I don’t know enough to figure out what's going to happen in two or three years. I barely know enough to understand what's going to happen in one year.”

Goodrich and Gaylor Chief Values Officer Michael Fort worked with an outside consultant to draft the first iteration of the plan in 2007, which ended up being sixteen pages long. “It was a great starting point, because we had every single thing written down for every single team, like a checklist they could mark off. But we realized that wasn’t what we wanted our focus to be,” Fort says. “We really wanted to get it to a place where we could share our whole business plan in 30 seconds. And as a former full-time minister, I can tell you—it’s a lot harder to give a good sermon in five minutes than it is in 30 minutes.”

Over time, the team whittled the plan down page by page. Through a series of client interviews, four common themes emerged: Gaylor was seen in the marketplace as having reliable resources, reliable outcomes, reliable insights and genuine care for people. “These four things have become the cornerstone of our business,” Fort says. “When a client takes us on, they know they’re going to be able to measure our performance off of our reliability and how we care for people. And that’s how we’re going to be measuring ourselves, too.”

But it’s not just for the clients—Fort believes the plan also helps employees to realize their individual purpose and have a clear view of how their role benefits the organization as a whole. “Our employees can look anywhere on that one-page business plan and see what’s going to keep them in the starting lineup—what’s going to provide them a career as opposed to just a job they’re getting paid for,” he says. “People love getting caught doing things right. And so our plan is laid out to help our people do things right.

Another key element? Transparency. Gaylor holds quarterly virtual meetings with all 3,500 staff members to give an overview of the company’s performance. “Transparency is everything,” Goodrich says. “I tell people all the time: You have as much information as I do to make the decisions that need to be made for this company.”

Fort echoes his sentiment. “Right results encourage people. And that's what the heart of this is,” he says. “A person asked me once, ‘How do you feel about living in a glass house?’ And my response was, when you’re doing things right, you don’t care who’s watching. And that’s the whole thing with [Gaylor]. We’re very transparent, because we’re proud of who we are.”

THE BEST WORST THING

In an industry that struggles to maintain a large enough workforce to meet construction demand, Gaylor has taken a different tack when it comes to recruitment: educate, educate, educate.

“We are an attraction company, not a recruiting company. Yes, we’re short on electricians. But we want to become a company that people want to come to. Our goal is to change the world, one person at a time,” Goodrich says.

To that end, Gaylor empowers each of its project teams to make decisions based on the unique strengths of its members, creating a culture where all opinions—top-down and bottom-up—are voiced and valued. The company also encourages each and every employee, from the field to the C-suite, to complete 32 hours of continuing education per year through its internal, online learning platform, Gaylor University. And it’s not limited to job-related skills: Gaylor University contains hundreds of courses on everything from electrical skills and leadership development to personal finance management and total human health—all managed by an eight-person education team.

“We’re going to focus on an apprentice, and we’re going to help make that apprentice not only the best apprentice but also the best person they can possibly be,” says Goodrich. “I look at it like this: If you educate someone and they leave, so be it. But the worst thing that can happen to a company is if you don’t educate your people and they stay.”

“One of Chuck’s favorite sayings is ‘always be a student of the company,’” says Gaylor President Jim Crews. “Incorporating 32 annual hours of continuous learning for each employee into our strategic plan has been instrumental in ensuring we are continuously giving our entire workforce opportunity for growth and development.”

Tera Klutz, the company’s chief financial officer, echoes that sentiment. “If I was going to be a recruiter for Gaylor, I would say when you come work for us, you’re going to join a championship team. We’re going to train you up, and if you’re motivated, you’re going to have avenues to get promoted,” she says. “No matter where you are in your career—whether you’re brand new or very seasoned—Gaylor will give you the tools to get wherever you want to go and make sure you never stop growing.”

“Education is the key to making everybody in your organization better,” Goodrich reiterates. “And of course, when the people get better, the company gets better.”

MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

Every decision made at Gaylor can be traced back to one piece of the company’s cornerstone: genuine care for people. Safety is a core value—the company has achieved the highest level in ABC’s STEP Safety Management System, Diamond®, indicating a safety incident rate at least 50% below the national BLS average for its peers. That stellar safety record starts with a directive to simply be present and pay attention—from the physical, tangible risks present on a jobsite to the more elusive mental and emotional risks that require close working relationships to spot. Cultivating those relationships is at the heart of company culture, a mentality that allows leadership to step in, and not step on, when something’s not right.

When asked what Gaylor does to go above and beyond when it comes to employee safety, health and wellness, Crews says this: “My first reaction is, we’re not going above and beyond. We just feel this is what everybody ought to do, and we do it consistently because we believe in our people and we believe in taking care of our people.

“Every time Chuck sends an email to all the employees, he ends it with ‘Stay safe and take care of one another.’ And that’s just it. It’s just taking care of your brother.”

And it doesn’t stop at the company level. Gaylor is deeply entrenched in the communities it operates within, providing financial support to causes its clients and employees care about and always seeking opportunities to lift up those around them. Perhaps the most remarkable way Gaylor serves the community around its Indianapolis headquarters? They’ve built a fully accredited high school located inside their manufacturing shop on the Noblesville, Indiana, company campus, providing a second chance for students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional classroom. Students attend regular state-certified classroom instruction in the mornings, and in the afternoon learn basic electrical work on the manufacturing floor. Upon graduation, many are offered a job with Gaylor.

“That is pure Chuck Goodrich. And one of Chuck's passions in life is eliminating generational poverty,” Fort says. “A lot of these kids come from pretty economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It’s not that they don’t have talent. It’s that they need an opportunity to prove that they do have talent, and we’re providing that opportunity.”

How many companies have their own fully accredited high school in the building? Not a lot. “You have to be willing to make the investment without expecting a return,” Klutz says. “But you’re going to get a return. It may not even be monetary, but you’re going to get a return because that kid’s going home with a smile on their face, having achieved something that day.”

“It all comes back to our intentional purpose: that we want to have a positive community impact while changing the world, one person at a time,” echoes Crews. “We ask ourselves, ‘How can we take people who maybe don't think they're the best and help them to be the best they can be?’ And that right there is the culture of Gaylor.”

THEY KNOW THEIR ABCs

It takes a pretty special set of circumstances to do something that has never been done before—and for Gaylor Electric, being the first company in history to win ABC’s prestigious Contractor of the Year award twice is no exception.

“I do not believe we would be where we are today without ABC. Very few companies achieve that level of recognition, and for us to have earned it twice—it’s superior,” Fort says. “We'll soon break a billion dollars. And it's something we've worked toward for years. That does not hold the significance that being Contractor of the Year does.”

Goodrich describes an inextricable link between ABC and Gaylor: “The foundation of Gaylor Electric is the merit shop philosophy. When I think of ABC I think Gaylor Electric, and when I think of Gaylor Electric I think ABC. They literally cannot be torn apart,” he says.

Truthfully, you can’t get more ABC than Gaylor. The company has more than 1000 apprentices in ABC programs across the country, and there’s a Gaylor employee on nearly every ABC National committee, from health and safety to the Free Enterprise Alliance. The company is an ABC Top Performer, an ABC Accredited Quality Contractor and, as mentioned earlier in this piece, has achieved the highest level in ABC’s STEP Safety Management System,® Diamond. The company has won numerous ABC National Excellence in Construction® Awards and National Safety Excellence Awards. Goodrich served as chair of the ABC National Board of Directors in 2017, and the company has also produced several ABC Construction Workforce Award and National Craft Championships winners.

“To win the national Contractor of the Year award just after our company’s 40th birthday, in the 75th year of ABC's existence, may just be the biggest honor of my professional career,” Goodrich shares through tearful eyes. “I’ve done some really cool things [in my career], but when I think about winning this award, it’s just fantastic. I’m so thankful for all the folks who have seen what Gaylor has done, but most of all, I just want everybody to understand how much gratitude we have for Associated Builders and Contractors.”

For a company that’s reached the proverbial peak, it’s hard to imagine what Gaylor could do with another 40 years in business. But ask Goodrich, and he’ll tell you: Gaylor is just getting started.

ABC's Contractor of the Year award is sponsored by CNA and IMA Financial Group.

TALKING POLITICS

John Gaylor founded Gaylor Electric with a goal of becoming the best merit-shop electrical contractor in his market—and had a firmly held belief that in order to do that, he couldn’t sit on the sidelines and let politicians determine what was best for the construction industry. He became a vocal advocate for political activism from the local business community—so much so, in fact, that he’s credited with coining ABC’s political rallying cry: “Get into politics or get out of business!”

Gaylor instilled that same sense of duty and vocal activism in his successor, Chuck Goodrich, who even went so far as to run for (and win) state office in Indiana, serving from 2018–2024. He authored several bills on education and workforce development, most notably helping pass legislation that allowed Indiana high school students to graduate while completing a technical career-oriented program.

Tera Klutz, who herself spent more than 20 years in public service—most recently as State Comptroller—before coming to serve as Gaylor’s CFO, says: “I wasn’t familiar with ABC until I came to Gaylor, but from my vantage point, they are instrumental in advocating for us on the local, state and national level. They are using their voice as a major association to explain the consequences of current or proposed laws and how those laws help or hurt the free market. Legislators don’t have time to look at all the laws, so it’s critical to have an organization like ABC that helps educate our lawmakers and has the best interests of our industry at heart.”

HALLOWED HALLS

Take a tour of Gaylor’s production and innovation facility, and you’ll see a whole lot of hardworking folks among a whole lot of pipe and wire. But look up, and something else might catch your eye: Like a collegiate basketball arena, the walls of the shop hold massive celebratory banners honoring each of the company’s ABC National Craft Championships and Construction Workforce Award winners.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—we’re changing the world one person at a time,” Goodrich says. “These banners are proof of that.”

1. 1994
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Silver
   Jeff Corbett
2. 1995
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Silver
   Steve Dees
3. 1997
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Bronze
   Paul Northrop
4. 2011
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Gold
   Pawel David
5. 2014
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Gold
   Spencer Hoffman
6. 2015
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Bronze
   Shawn Flanagan
7. 2016
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Bronze
   Eli Hannoy
8. 2016
   ABC National Craft Champion
   Gold
   J.R. Christenberry
9. 2016
   ABC National Craft Instructor of the Year
   John Lupacchino
10. 2017
    ABC National Young Professional of the Year
    Justin Baker
11. 2017
    ABC Careers in Construction Safety
    Jorge Omar Diaz
12. 2017
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Paul Yankauska
13. 2017
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Gold
    J.R. Christenberry
14. 2018
    ABC National Craft Professional of the Year
    Richard Brown
15. 2018
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Lucas Anderson
16. 2019
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Shad White
17. 2019
    ABC Careers in Construction Safety
    Liam Anderson
18. 2019
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Bronze
    Scott Fulks
19. 2019
    ABC National Craft Champion Team
    Gold
    J.R. Christenberry
20. 2020
    ABC Craft Professional of the Year
    Ron Cayton
21. 2022
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Gold
    Raymond Dean
22. 2022
    ABC National Safety Champion
    Raymond Dean
23. 2022
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Gold
    Aaron Swisher
24. 2022
    ABC National Craft Champion Team
    Silver
    Eric Waterman
25. 2022
    ABC National Safety Champion
    Eric Waterman
26. 2022
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Alan Rich
27. 2023
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Kaidyn Speer
28. 2023
    ABC National Safety Champion
    Kaidyn Speer
29. 2023
    ABC National Craft Professional of the Year
    Jared Foster
30. 2023
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Gold
    Tyler Perkins
31. 2023
    ABC National Craft Champion Team
    Bronze
    Aaron Swisher
32. 2023
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Bronze
    Donovan Isaac
33. 2023
    ABC National Craft Champion
    Silver
    Geoff Scheffee
34. 2025
    ABC National Young Professional of the Year
    Ray Wallace

SEE ALSO: TRADING UP: ABC'S 2023 CRAFT PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR, JARED FOSTER