First, he was opening a business in a very competitive market in Fort Dodge, one that has several long-established electrical companies. Second, he purchased a building to house his business and his wife’s hair salon. And he was just getting going in the spring of 2020, and everyone remembers what happened then — the pandemic.

Despite all that, Archibald’s endeavor paid off and his business is thriving and expanding.

Located at 22 S. Third St., Archibald Electric now has 14 employees and a newly opened branch in Des Moines, which is also starting to find its footing.

“We had a lot of established business to compete with for sure,” Archibald said. “But we have a good group. I feel our guys are the best in town. I have extreme OCD, which is good. I really stress that everything has to be perfect.”

Archibald Electric offers residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural electrical services. It also offers 24-hour emergency services. And it offers sales and installation of generators for residences.

“We have a good balance of work between those areas,” he said. “We have a bunch of different projects going on. We do work on cooking equipment, too. We’ll do just about anything.”

Archibald graduated from Iowa Central Community College and then went to work for an ethanol plant before moving onto one of the gypsum mills.

While working those jobs, he was logging hours to earn his license. When his schedule was unexpectedly switched to nights, he made the decision to go into business for himself.

“Opening a business is scary for sure,” said Archibald, a 2008 Fort Dodge Senior High School graduate. “I was opening a new business, we were buying a house. And I had three kids. There were a few nights when I came home that I thought about just going back to work for someone else, but I didn’t want to do that. It has been hard and stressful, but it’s been good. I always like a good challenge.”

He started out with just himself doing all the work, then he kept adding a few employees at a time, including his father and brothers. Now he’s got more than a dozen employees here and is looking to add more in Des Moines.

“It’s a really good field to be working in,” he said. “You can get paid well and it’s rewarding. And you don’t have to go to college for very long.”

Currently, Archibald has a couple of people completing apprenticeships with his company. He would definitely encourage any high school or college student to consider a career as an electrician.

“When you make good money and you can enjoy your work, it’s nice,” he said. “We had a few guys working outside last week that were drenched in sweat and tired, but it’s such good camaraderie.”

When he was looking to open his own business, Archibald said there was no other place than Fort Dodge that he wanted to be located.

“It was very important that we opened our business here,” he said. “I grew up here and we have family and friends here, which helped with getting business.”

He looked at his current building a few months after opening and felt it was a good fit for his company and his wife’s salon. The building where the salon is now located used to be an old coffee shop.

“I felt like this would be perfect for her salon. We revamped that and this was a shop, so it kind of worked out perfectly. But that even added more stress,” he said. “It’s still stressful, but things are going well.”

His wife, Jenna, owns J & Co. Style Studio, located at 18 S. Third St.

As for the future, along with the Des Moines branch opening, Archibald foresees the need for a larger location in Fort Dodge.

“In the next couple of years, we are definitely going to need a bigger spot,” he said. “I have been keeping my eye on some land so we can build a bigger shop, but I am in no hurry. This location is working well and we own the building right across the street and my wife’s business is right next door, which is nice.”

Archibald said they are working to create a website for the company, but for now, they can be reached through Facebook or by calling the office at 515-571-8490.