How Rogers Electric’s serial reinvention sets it apart from every other electrical contractor in the US
Founded in 1983, Rogers Electric has been in business for 43 years, but longevity alone doesn’t tell the story of its success. Over the course of its history, Rogers Electric has proven itself forward-thinking, strategic, and nimble across diverse markets, as it adapts its services to the needs of the market.
Now established as the nation’s premier provider of electrical and lighting services, the business started small, with just five employees and limited capital. As Chris Rogers, son of founder Lin Rogers and current Vice Chairman at the business reveals, his father’s connections with local contractors around Atlanta led to the business’ entry to the retail market.
“It was the mid-80s and a big period for retail expansion. Rogers Electric partnered with another business, Abrams Construction, which was working with Home Depot, and basically, we rode the retail expansion wave of 1985-to-2000, working on new stores for Home Depot across the US.”
Having worked on approximately 750 new builds for Home Depot stores nationwide, Rogers Electric established a national footprint and reputation for its work in the construction sector. In its first major pivot, the organization capitalized on its national reach and launched a service business in 2000. “This built off the new construction projects we did with Home Depot, and we have evolved into a multi-site service platform,” explains Chris. This added comprehensive services for rollouts, maintenance, and lighting for all major industries to the portfolio. “Today we have around 500 vehicles across the country servicing all types of sites, and Amazon is one of our largest customers.”
Forward-thinking approach
Having been a trailblazer in the retail space, and established a significant service business, in its next pivot, Rogers Electric turned its attention to large scale logistics, industrial and data center facilities. Using its design-build and design-assist capabilities, it began undertaking work on significant projects. Prime examples being the Galleria in Atlanta, which is repurposing an old traditional mall, and Trilith LIVE, a 530,000-square-foot entertainment complex featuring a state-of-the-art theater with capacity for up to 2,800 guests, two 25,000-square-foot sound stages, a nine-screen luxury cinema, outdoor plaza, production suites, meeting rooms, and 150,000 square feet of creative office and support space. “We’re now working on a $45-million California logistics facility requiring a major electrical redesign, and Project Hummingbird in southern Georgia, which will be the largest single site project that we’ve done to date, valued at around $100 million,” adds Chris. The business is also working on a $65-million battery plant, and its largest data center award, which Chris predicts could grow to a value of $300 million.
Reflecting on the range of projects, Chris highlights Rogers Electric’s skill at anticipating where the market is going and ensuring it is maintaining pace with trends. “We are nimble, and great at making transitions, so when we see a boom approaching, we’re ready. From retail, to service, to restaurants, hospitality, large logistics and data centers – our forward-thinking approach has allowed us to stay relevant and execute across a changing market.”
Consistently staying ahead of trends requires a comprehensive talent strategy. “We’ve focused on educating our employees, to ensure that they have the skills required – retail and data centers have different requirements, and we make sure everyone is fully trained. We have also been able to attract some phenomenal talent into the business which strengthens our offering.”
This talent strategy is essential because staff also play a huge role in representing Rogers Electric on the service side. While it has national reach, it prides itself on local responsiveness. “We maintain about 14 offices nationally and they train, manage and supply the local teams within that market. We operate with a fully local model for service.
“From a project perspective, our leadership will travel to sites for a period, to ensure that they can share their experience with the local teams – we have over four decades of expertise to draw on, and we’ve found that hybrid approach is invaluable.”
Safety strategy
Staff safety onsite is a top priority for Rogers Electric, with safety embedded into its day-to-day culture. “We have a dedicated National Safety team operating from Atlanta. But because the US is so large, we also have roaming safety teams that provide continuous technical support for our trucks and construction sites.” With large scale projects, a dedicated safety person is allocated to all sites, and a strict no-hot-work policy helps minimize any incidents. “We are also implementing a significant camera initiative in all our vehicles. Our service business fleet clocks up about 1800 hours a day on the road, so safety in that area is paramount. This system will remind you to slow down if you’re speeding or alert you if you’re distracted, so it is impressive,” Chris notes.
Technology adoption is a big part of Rogers Electric’s ongoing strategy. “Some of it is centered around AI, and some is designed to ensure the people on the ground have access to the right information. On the new construction side, we use a host of primarily Trimble products, as well as Bluebeam.” These tools help Rogers Electric improve accuracy in areas such as estimation, changes, and planning. “We have been doing this for around 25 years and that gives us a huge amount of data,” Chris continues. “We now have a big AI project underway designed to analyze the data and help us learn from individual sites or what people have done in the past. It highlights problems or identifies the best staff for a type of work, or a store that has a particular problem. The insights we have been getting have been interesting.”
Operational excellence
Looking to the future, Rogers Electric is working on continued growth across all segments. “For 2025, our revenue was just over $500 million, driven by large logistics and data center expansions, where there is strong momentum,” Chris states. “We’ve always taken the approach that we can double our revenue every five years, so we are aiming for a 15 percent+ annual growth trajectory, based on what we’re seeing in the market.”
On a clear, achievable path to achieve $1 billion by 2030, Rogers Electric’s continued growth remains upheld by its philosophy: anticipate what’s next, adapt to deliver, and execute to the highest standards.
From the retail boom of the ‘80s and ‘90s, through the service economy of the 2000s, into the logistics revolution and now the AI-driven data center expansion, Rogers Electric has demonstrated the rare combination of strategic foresight and operational excellence. It continues to prove that by being proactive, strategic, and nimble, a business can evolve, adapt and thrive.
