Rex Moore Electrical Contractors & Engineers

Benjamin Rex Moore founded Rex Moore Electrical Contractors & Engineers (Rex Moore) in 1922 with a commitment to building relationships and performing high-quality, safe, electrical work. The family-owned and -operated business is now in its fourth generation; David Rex Moore, Benjamin’s great-grandson and current president of Rex Moore, is now leading the business.

On the outside, much has changed since the early days; however, Rex Moore’s core remains the same. Rex Moore performs electrical and integrated systems engineering, construction and maintenance. The company’s unique production system and design-build capabilities offer turnkey solutions and added value to clients.

Unique Performance

Rex Moore draws upon nearly a century of field construction experience to create design solutions that best meet clients’ goals for functionality and cost effectiveness. “We are one of the few true design-build firms with a dedicated in-house engineering team of more than 40 professional engineers, designers, CAD operators and a seasoned field staff,” explains William C. Hubbard, executive vice president of Rex Moore. “Our diverse team is able to provide a constructability element to every design.

“With the Rex Moore Production System [RMPS], our company is able to provide unmatched value to clients through standardized designs and prefabricated assemblies,” Hubbard continues. “The RMPS is proven to minimize rework, reduce material lead times and field installation hours, resulting in improved quality and shortened schedule durations.”

According to Moore, Rex Moore is at the forefront of the electrical construction industry. “This is, in large part, due to a transformation in the last decade from a traditional electrical contractor to one that embraces lean manufacturing methods in virtually every aspect of daily operation,” he elaborates. “The RMPS outlines a new approach that has forced the management team to reinvent our business model and adopt new concepts and internal operating practices. For example, Design for Manufacturability, Assembly and Installation [DFMAI], standardized installation methods and assemblies, lean manufacturing concepts, value stream mapping, kitting and workflow analysis are common operating practices within the company today.”

Rex Moore primarily serves clients in the western United States with offices in Sacramento, Hayward, Fresno and Truckee, Calif., as well as Reno, Nev. The business has worked all over the country, however, with ongoing projects currently in Hawaii and Tennessee outside the usual range. As such, the company has established a leading position as one of the country’s 50 largest electrical contractors and one of the 10 largest merit shop electrical contractors in the United States.

A Strong Set of Services

Moore says the team stays ahead of the competition in a number of ways beyond geographic reach. “We maintain a dedication to innovation and continuous improvement,” he elaborates. “It’s now firmly engrained as part of the company’s culture. All new employees are required to attend trainings and pass tests in lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. We are an industry leader in the area of prefabrication and manufactured assemblies, providing these services not only to our own field crews but also to other contractors for their projects.”

Rex Moore’s internal diversity has allowed the team to reach into a number of niche markets, serving clients with differing needs across the country. “We are currently doing a significant portion of our backlog in renewable energy,” Hubbard notes. “We are working on a geothermal plant in Nevada, multiple cogeneration plants in central California and over 150 megawatts of utility-scale solar arrays in southern California, Arizona, Indiana, Oregon and Hawaii. We have also become deeply entrenched in the medical market with large hospitals under construction in areas such as Santa Rosa, Willits and Santa Barbara, Calif.”

To keep up with growing demand for fabricated products, the company recently added 50,000 square feet of manufacturing space to the previous 60,000 square feet. The new space will offer extra room for new work in changing markets, specifically solar array assemblies.

Maintaining a Market Share

With the recent recession, Rex Moore saw a dramatic decrease in market activity in the region. In order to remain steady, Moore and his crew made some major changes to the business’ structure. “We shifted to public works and projects farther from home,” he explains. “The impact challenged our management team and field staff to provide the same level of service given a different on-site culture in the public arena. Since then, we have been able to move back to the private markets where we can provide our greatest value to our clients.”

The addition of the team’s specialty production system has also helped boost consumer confidence. “Our customers believe adding our team to a construction project makes their own teams stronger and increases the likelihood of a successful, quality project,” says Brock Littlejohn, CFO of Rex Moore. “With RMPS we have reduced costs, shortened material lead times, shortened schedule durations, removed 80 percent of on-site storage and trash, as well as reduced our safety mod rate from 98 to 65. Our current processes have allowed the company to move up to 50 percent of its field install hours into the manufacturing facility, depending on the type of project, providing the opportunity to increase efficiency, increase quality and reduce injuries.”

In 2012 the team celebrated 90 years in business while preparing for future decades of continued success in the industry. “We plan to continue with the renewable energy markets, as well as geographic expansion, teaming with partner companies across the country utilizing our expertise in engineering, pre-planning and manufacturing to provide a competitive advantage to our clients and team,” Hubbard explains. As the market improves, Rex Moore Electrical Contractors & Engineers will maintain a competitive edge with safety, efficiency and quality in work.