Dooley Electric Company Inc.

After 92 years in business, Dooley Electric Company Inc. (Dooley) has established itself as one of New York City’s leading electrical design and installation companies. Now, with a resurgence of young talent, there’s no stopping Dooley’s potential for further growth. The third generation, privately-owned electrical contracting firm has nearly a century of experience in multiple markets, ranging from health care to industrial, commercial to educational and municipalities.
Robert J. Hemsing, now president of Dooley, comes from a long line of electricians. “The company was founded in 1921 by the Haslinger and Dooley families,” reveals Hemsing. “My grandfather started working for John Dooley, one of the original founders, and then my father joined in the late 1960s. When John Dooley passed away in the mid-1980s, my father and my uncle purchased the company together.”
It wasn’t long before Hemsing followed suit, joining Dooley alongside his father and uncle. “I’ve always liked building and being hands on,” he shares. “Most people sit at a computer all day, but we get to enjoy a full creative process from design to constructing the end product. That’s what gives me the biggest sense of pride: being able to see the final result.”
Dooley has been delivering world-class results for the better part of a century, offering a wide range of preventative maintenance programs from basic, routine maintenance to comprehensive battery maintenance, thermo-scanning, cleaning, load-bank testing and arrangement for equipment services. “We’re on-call 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year and our 5,000-square-foot warehouse is fully stocked at all times so we can meet your electrical needs, whatever they may be,” Hemsing says.
A Dynamic Environment
Today, Dooley remains based in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving all five boroughs of one of the busiest markets in the industry. “We have about 90 professionals in-house and over the years, we’ve really become known for going the extra mile,” notes Hemsing. “We take great pride in doing high quality work 100 percent of the time.”
Dooley’s regional presence gives customers the benefit of a local company, while the firm’s financial strength offers the stability of a national firm. “Our experience in electrical contracting and communications gives us the ability to provide our customers with a variety of services, including electrical repairs, communication projects, engineering and maintenance,” adds Hemsing.
The company supports some of the largest commercial, corporate, industrial, municipal and health care clients in New York City. “Our location affords us the ability to react quickly to the dynamic construction environment within the city,” explains Hemsing.
Dooley’s position as a key player in the Big Apple has landed the company some outstanding high-profile projects, from the FDR Four Freedoms Park to the North Shore LIJ Cohen children’s and women’s hospitals, the Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, F.A.O Schwartz and Lennox Hill Hospital infrastructure upgrade and generator installation.
However, one of the most significant projects Dooley has been involved in to-date is the Freedom Tower. As the centerpiece building of the brand-new World Trade Center complex now under construction in Lower Manhattan, Dooley performed extensive control wiring for the 105-story tower.
“We also do a significant amount of health care work,” details Hemsing. “We just completed the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and the Long Island Jewish Women’s Health Facility. We also have a $4 million, 20-story commercial space right on Park Avenue that just broke ground and a $3 million fire alarm system at 432 Park Ave.”
Additionally, the company is gearing up for a large-scale solar installation in Brooklyn at a new Whole Foods Market parking lot. “This market is growing rapidly and we’re prepared to take on more of these types of projects,” Hemsing continues.
Making Experience Count
No matter the job, Dooley has the trusted team to bring it in on time and on budget. “When operating as a project manager, our crews report directly to our home office where the firm’s principals oversee each project,” adds Hemsing. “We employ skilled electricians, some with 30-plus years of experience, coupled with a comprehensive safety program, which includes a union-approved safety certification putting us at the forefront of competence within our industry.”
Dooley puts its experience to work by self-performing nearly everything. “We install all system infrastructure and equipment,” explains Hemsing. “The only services we have to subcontract are materials and programming or implementation. We generally work with a small network of four to five companies that sell switch boards or lighting fixtures. We keep it competitive and go for the best price, but we want to make sure there’s enough work to make it worth the subcontractor’s while.”
Hemsing admits the past few years have been exceptionally challenging, even for a company as old as Dooley. “We’ve cut our overhead and become as lean as possible,” he shares. “Fortunately, we have the health care market and municipality sectors to fall back on when private work disappears.”
Despite recent challenges, Hemsing says Dooley is now well-positioned to get back on track and set a course for growth. “I’d like to see us grow about 20 percent in the next couple of years,” he notes. “We’ve been going through a bit of a transition. My father is retiring as one of our senior project managers, but we have great young talent and a lot of viability at this point.”
Dooley continues to add to its trusted reputation earning a place on New York Construction Magazine’s Top 80 Specialty Contractors and good standing with many respected industry associations, such as the National Electrical Contracting Association (NECA) and the Local No. 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) chapter.
After nearly a century, Dooley Electric Company Inc. is poised for growth with the next generation of gifted and eager professionals ready to step in and uphold a 92-yearlong tradition.