Colonial Electric

In 1951, Clayton O. Katski founded Bay Electric out of his home in Tracey's Landing, MD. Clayton ran a small but profitable business which employed various family members including his brothers, Harold and Alfred. Clayton was a believer in hard work and rewarding employees based on their performance. He felt so strongly about this that he helped form an organization in Anne Arundel County named Associated Builders and Contractors ("ABC"), which later became a National organization. Today, ABC has over 25,000 members – the Katski family takes great pride in knowing that they helped create ABC!

Colonial endured its share of ups and downs through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. There were recessions in the early years of each of these decades, but the Company was able to make the right decisions to effectively capitalize on the "opportunities" presented.

In the early 1980s, the Company made a strategic shift into multifamily construction that has turned out to be an extremely wise one. Multifamily construction is now Colonial's "bread and butter." Also, in 1987, Jo Ann Katski transitioned from a part-time to a full time employee, directing the Office and Human Resources.

In the early 1990s, Colonial was nearly forced into bankruptcy. However, Butch would not allow it and fought to streamline operations, cut costs, eliminate waste (reference the wire nuts story), add customer relationships and reduce debt. Over time, this plan worked. In the late 1990s, the Company formed relationships with Donohoe Construction and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, both of which are still strong partnerships today. Also today, Colonial has minimal debt and a very strong balance sheet – a result of the values instilled by Butch Katski.

In 2000, the Colonial family faced another severe obstacle when Butch Katski suffered a serious heart attack and was forced to step away from the day to day operations of the business. Fortunately, his son Travis had graduated from Towson University, was working as the Purchasing Manager at Colonial, and was ready to step up to the challenge in front of him. Travis jumped in and did not look back, taking the strong Company that his Father and Grandfather built and growing it the right way. Travis has been able to maintain the family-owned culture while widening the moat to keep the competition away. Jo Ann remains actively involved in the day to day business, as well. Butch has recovered and is in good health and continues to be involved on the Board of Directors at Colonial.

Sadly, Clayton O. Katski passed away on March 17, 2009 and is deeply missed. Although physically gone from this Earth, Clayton's vision, values and spirit are still very much alive in the Company today.
In the 1960s, Clayton's son, Robert H. Katski ("Butch"), worked for his father's business while also attending Anne Arundel Community College ("AACC"). Unfortunately, in 1965, tragedy struck the Katski family when the office burned down in a fire. Everything was lost – including the majority of the assets of Bay Electric. Insurance proceeds were insufficient and Bay Electric was forced to file for insolvency. Clayton was devastated, both on a personal and professional level. Somehow, though, he found the strength to persevere and went to work for Drake Electric as a General Manager. Butch did his best to remain strong, as well, by continuing his courses at AACC and also working at Drake Electric ("Drake") as an Assistant Estimator. As Butch will tell you, it was here that he learned the lessons of the trade from experts like Frank Bowen and Eddie Sheriff – lessons whose benefits would prove immeasurable down the road. Father and son were also working together again – little did they know this would be a theme that would repeat itself for decades to come.

While Clayton and Butch continued to work hard at Drake, Butch was also busy in his personal life -- working on his dream of starting his own family. On February 24, 1968, Butch married his high school sweetheart, Jo Ann Hodges, in Owensville, MD. In November of the same year, Butch was drafted and joined the National Guard. He left home to serve his country for 6 months, returning in May 1969. Upon his return, Butch resumed his job at Drake, working side by side again with his father. Butch enjoyed the work he was doing at Drake, but was finding that it wasn't the challenge he was looking for -- he had the heart and spirit of an entrepreneur and wanted to strike out on his own. Butch approached his father and told him that he was leaving Drake – he asked Clayton to come with him so that they could continue working together, but this time in their own family business. A thrilled Clayton accepted and in November 1969 they signed their first job with IKM Custom Homes.