Through the years, McAllister Electrical Services has worked with numerous business and commercial entities to provide them energy-efficient service that matters.  From rewiring centuries-old buildings in rural towns, to planning and installing for new commercial construction projects, we’ve done it all.

In the last few years, some of our largest commercial jobs have been completed for the Menards home improvement store chain. These stores offer up everything you need to spruce up your home and property from flooring and cabinetry to landscaping block and lawn fertilizer.  We’ve assisted in rewiring and updating existing Menards stores, such as their Highway 1 location in Iowa City, Iowa, and helped on brand-new builds such as their locations in Muscatine, IA; Grimes, IA; Ames, IA; Lincoln, NE; among others. We’ll take you inside and show you a little of what we’ve been up to with the Menards Corporation below.

Commercial Electricity

Wiring a commercial building is much different than in other types of projects because large buildings have a much higher electrical load than small buildings, so we need to install equipment that is larger to handle that capacity. In addition, these large buildings and their owners will purchase their electricity in larger amounts, often requiring them to install and operate their own step-down transformer “which lowers the voltage to a more usable level” (archtoolbox.com).

Therefore, when we enter these large-scale commercial projects, we need to approach them differently than we would a residential home build or new hog building. Our crew has to work closely with the developer and head contractor to analyze the blueprints, making adjustments where necessary to properly light and power every square foot of these facilities that are tens of thousands of square feet in size. 

With a retail store in particular, we needed to plan for powering not only receptacles and overhead lights but also registers, customer service stations, and accent lighting for a multitude of displays. Working with experienced contractors and subcontractors helped us plan sufficiently and provide them with service that mattered from MES.

Remodels

In 2017, our team traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, to help the Menards store in that city update their lighting throughout the building and prepare for relocating various departments. Our guys first installed new overhead lamps, taking them from dim yellow incandescent light to bright white LEDs.

We also helped with running power for additional registers and future technological upgrades. You can see this work through the open ceilings and know it’s ours due to the straight, parallel lines of conduit that surround and protect the wires inside.

Lastly, as the store’s customer base grew, they need additional square footage for large order pickups, so they added a department to the rear of the store. Our electricians started by bringing in more power to this space, and then ran lines to new receptacles and registers throughout the department. The large garage doors for pick-ups were convenient for customer pick-ups and deliveries, but they needed high-power, high-speed openers, which we were happy to help install.

“Working on a project like this is great because not only do we get to help our client, but we get to help them serve their customers too,” says McAllister Electrical Services owner Pete McAllister. “It’s awesome to walk into the Iowa City location and see all the people going about their home improvement shopping easily and conveniently because of the infrastructure we helped put together.”

New Buildings

From this renovation in Iowa City, we were able to work on additional projects with the Menards corporation across the Midwest. We were fortunate enough to take part in turning concepts into physical buildings.

When planning for the new stores, we had to calculate the number of overhead LED lamps needed throughout the store, accent lighting for various departments including the kitchen and bathroom displays, power and receptacles for registers and check-outs, and scale those calculations to accommodate for future growth and upgrades in the years to come.

Over the span of several months, our team went to the job site nearly every day to power the builders and contractors as well as install the infrastructure for the store. And as the buildings got closer and closer to their grand openings, we came back to ensure that everything was complete and up to not only Iowa Code, but our personal standard of excellence. 

Final Thoughts

Our team at McAllister Electrical Services wishes to thank the Menards corporation and their team of retail stores for choosing Eastern Iowa’s Energy-Efficient Electricians to help them in their recent remodels and expansions. Not only do we enjoy providing top-of-the-line service to the stores, but we truly “light up” each time we see another happy customer walk through their doors.

If you are in need of commercial electrical work or consultation services, contact the MES team. Located in Cascade, Iowa, we provide service that matters through the Midwest and beyond. Contact us today at mcallisterelect@netins.net or call 563-852-7484.