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Featured Pro: Dennis Alwon

30K views 61 replies 29 participants last post by  Dennis Alwon 
#1 ·


I started doing electrical work at the age of 14 working summers, holidays and weekends with my dad in NYC where I made a whopping $1/hr. The education I got there was incredibly helpful to me in my future work. I learned every possible way to get a wire from one place to the other without destroying the walls. My father was a great teacher and showed me how to have a healthy respect for electricity in spite of the fact that he often tested with his fingers.

At 17 years old I left for college and got a BA in psychology from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I worked as a psychotherapeutic technician, in a home for emotionally disturbed children, for a few years and then realized I really missed the physical labor that went along with electrical work.

I got a job in Woodstock, NY for an electrical contractor for a few years doing light commercial work mostly at the Kingston, NY IBM plant. In 1978 I moved to Chapel Hill, NC where I currently resides. I worked for a few years with a local electrical contractor till I got my license in 1980 when I started Alwon Electric. My company has an emphasis on custom residential work doing some homes over $5 million . I am also the current vice-president and past president of the local chapter of the NC Association of Electrical Contractors.

I have always enjoyed teaching and getting involved in activities that were not for pay. I worked on many habitat homes in the area, was president of the middle school PTA. I also was cub master and pack leader for a local cub scout organization which I helped organize from the start. I still volunteer my time and labor for local non profits such as the schools and other groups. I have led many field trips for the local chapter of the Audubon Society and went on overnight field trips when my children were in middle school.


Dennis Alwon
 
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#3 ·
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I started doing electrical work at the age of 14 working summers, holidays and weekends with my dad in NYC where I made a whopping $1/hr. The education I got there was incredibly helpful to me in my future work. I learned every possible way to get a wire from one place to the other without destroying the walls. My father was a great teacher and showed me how to have a healthy respect for electricity in spite of the fact that he often tested with his fingers.

At 17 years old I left for college and got a BA in psychology from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I worked as a psychotherapeutic technician, in a home for emotionally disturbed children, for a few years and then realized I really missed the physical labor that went along with electrical work.

I got a job in Woodstock, NY for an electrical contractor for a few years doing light commercial work mostly at the Kingston, NY IBM plant. In 1978 I moved to Chapel Hill, NC where I currently resides. I worked for a few years with a local electrical contractor till I got my license in 1980 when I started Alwon Electric. My company has an emphasis on custom residential work doing some homes over $5 million . I am also the current vice-president and past president of the local chapter of the NC Association of Electrical Contractors.

I have always enjoyed teaching and getting involved in activities that were not for pay. I worked on many habitat homes in the area, was president of the middle school PTA. I also was cub master and pack leader for a local cub scout organization which I helped organize from the start. I still volunteer my time and labor for local non profits such as the schools and other groups. I have led many field trips for the local chapter of the Audubon Society and went on overnight field trips when my children were in middle school.


Dennis Alwon
Hey a Buck an hour was big bucks back then:rolleyes::laughing:

My father was a great teacher and showed me how to have a healthy respect for electricity in spite of the fact that he often tested with his fingers.
The first electrician I worked for in 1974 would touch live lugs with his fingers and shake his leg to make it look like he was really getting it good, then he would laugh and say try it out kid! I would say "maybe later my mother is calling":laughing:
 
#14 ·
Hey a Buck an hour was big bucks back then:rolleyes::laughing:



The first electrician I worked for in 1974 would touch live lugs with his fingers and shake his leg to make it look like he was really getting it good, then he would laugh and say try it out kid! I would say "maybe later my mother is calling":laughing:
black dog
we must be long lost brothers I started working at the electric motor shop in 1974 about 2 weeks after I graduated high school my girlfriend then found me the job.
 
#12 ·
Yanno this is a great thing ET is doing here. I've been in threads 10 pages long with guys throwing ascii A bombs over the validity of green ground screws or wire nut brands.;)

But at the end of the day, we're really all cut from the same cloth , tradesmen, family providers , good hard workin' folk who've earned their keep

:thumbup:
~CS~
 
#18 ·
I wanted to add this story after reading Brian's story about getting fired.

Well I never got fired but I moved to NC in 1978 and worked for a local electrician. I found out he didn't have a license but was working under his dad's license. When it was time to take the exam he asked me to take it also-- I said what for? He eventually convinced me to take it and the result were a bit comical. I passed and he failed.

Meanwhile all the builders who were using this guy kept pushing me to go on my own. They said the only reason they were using my boss was because of me.

I final broke loose. My first job was with a builder whom I still work for and they have given me a tremendous amount of work.

I remember my first job for them working on the weekend before my months notice was up. I used a small corded drill that would barely drill thru the studs. I had nothing for tools except my hand tools. They let me use their tools till I got going. Of course before I left the other job I had bought an old step van for $600 and some drills and bits.
 
#26 ·
No, I think final voting is on the 15th of aug.

Denny, did you ever have anything to do with apprentices? Those apart from under your direct company wing? ~CS~
We never used the term apprentice as that usually meant union guys. I always had helpers and mechanics and everything in between.

I have trained many guys , 3 who went on their own and 2 of them are still at it.

Once I stopped working for my dad I never considered myself an apprentice or a helper. About 2 years out of college I went back into the electrical field and my boss had me running a small office building with doctors offices, dentists and a pharmacy. Most of the time I worked alone. The boss told the manager of the building that I did the work of 3 guys. I never saw an extra penny for it. :mad:
 
#29 ·
I appreciate the compliment but please question me... I have eaten crow so many times I almost like the taste..:laughing:

If ET awarded for nice guy , it'd be hands down Denny....:thumbsup:

~CS~
Thanks Steve and all the others here and on the forum for helping this place to be successful. :thumbsup:
 
#34 ·
As usual im way behind. I d like to say thanks for all the helpfull advice you have given me. I hope to one day answer others the way you do. State how it is by the code and still understanding how it may be realistically. Ty Sir. If u get a chance check out my photos. I came from un customary custom houses.

no matter what we theorize as electrics. It has always been .
 
#39 ·
I will vote for Dennis. But as an even better prize I could award him 10,000 3D Points! :jester:

Seriously though, Dennis is very intelligent, especially when it comes to code. He deserves this award.

P.S I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought it was weird that he didn't look like Jim Morrison. Lol
 
#57 ·
still have mine all gray now and have to keep it cut short or it will look like i stuck my D*** in a lamp socket:laughing:
 
#43 ·
Sounds Familiar

Sounds a lot like my story. I went to college to be an accountant. Because I had started building time around 13 years old and worked the entire time I was in college, I was able to get my Master Electrical license around the same time I graduated college with a degree in accounting. I took an "easy" office job after college but after about 3 years of being chained to a desk, I launched back out partnering with my dad to form Roberts Electric. That was 20 years ago.

Lonnie R
 
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