Video Team for Understanding Electrical Estimating Video Package

Boyd Bindrup launched his electrical career at age 12 by working for his father’s company during the summers and earning $0.75 per hr. He began his electrical apprenticeship in Ogden Weber Technical College but left to attend Salt Lake Community College for his last two years of training. After finishing school, he obtained his Journeyman license and, 2 years later, his Master Electrician license. He later returned to Ogden Weber Tech and has been an instructor there teaching Electrical Apprentices since 1994

Boyd is an Electrical Contractor license holder for Creative Times Inc. (CTI Electric) which does primarily commercial and military electrical work. He has been teaching continuing education classes for over 20 years having taught over 2000 classes and trained thousands of electricians. He’s a Utah, Idaho and Colorado Master Electrician, and his credentials include LEED AP BD+C, Lightning Protection Master Installer/Designer, Vindicator Certified Security Installer, Cathodic Protection Installer CP1 NACE 56675, Fiber Optics Installer #FOIUT216, and SKM Arc Flash Power Tools trained.

Boyd is devoted to learning and passing on the knowledge to current and future electrical professionals. He is passionate about the direction of the profession and is active politically in the industry.

Boyd and his wife Rebecca reside in Ogden Canyon Utah and are parents to six children. His hobbies include CrossFit, Mountain biking, and Xterra triathlon.

Ryan Carlson currently serves as the Director of Digital Training for Mike Holt Enterprises. He is the “go-to" Capacitor specialist, providing support for schools, instructors, and contractors to get the most from the Capacitor and apprenticeship. As a member of the apprenticeship team, he manages the online apprenticeship content, uploading new content, and updating existing content. He is also a Mike Holt Certified Instructor, and manages the team of programmers and software engineers that develop and keep the system running.

Ryan grew up on a small family farm and worked in both the construction and agriculture industries to pay his way through college. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an accounting minor and is a journeyman electrician in the State of Florida.

Starting as a “romex jockey” while in high school, Ryan has worked in many different areas of the electrical field. After graduating college, he worked in the office of an electrical contractor filling roles from dispatcher to Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.

Missing the field action, Ryan moved back into the field where he got his Journeyman license and became a Senior Field Technician, overseeing crews and jobs of various sizes.

Out in the literal trenches, his specialty was service work, troubleshooting, and dealing with distressed customers. His area of work was varied, including residential and mobile homes, commercial restaurants, industrial aggregate plants, and healthcare. As a Generac-certified technician in Florida, he has installed and maintained countless generators.

Ryan currently lives in Florida with his wife and two children. When he isn’t helping MHE instructors, you will find him with his family enjoying trips to the Smokey Mountains.

Jim’s career in Electrical Distribution began in 1977, working for Graybar Electric in St. Petersburg, FL at the young age of 16. He started in the warehouse, and over the years worked his way up to inside sales. His first really big opportunity came in 1986 when he was promoted to sub-branch supervisor in Naples, FL.

The following year Jim was offered an Outside Sales position which is the position he was in when his 18-year tenure with Graybar ended in 1995. From there he moved to Ocala, FL and took a position with a large electrical manufacturer’s agency called Marin Bochner Inc., again as a Sales Representative. In 1997 the opportunity that changed Jim’s life, and set his career into orbit, came when he was offered a job managing the local branch in Ocala for City Electric Supply. He spent 3 years managing the Ocala branch and in 2000 was promoted to District Manager of the Orlando District which at the time was 8 stores.

In 2006 another great opportunity was offered to Jim, to move himself and his family to Ohio to pioneer a new market for the company. He was promoted to a Regional Manager position and over the next 3 years opened 16 branches in the Ohio market. In 2009 during the Great Recession he was asked to take on additional responsibilities, and took over the Chicago market, which at the time consisted of 32 branches. He stayed in that role till 2017 when an opportunity presented itself to come back to Florida with the company as a District Manager in the Orlando and Daytona Beach markets. Jim just celebrated his 26th year with City Electric Supply!

Jim has been married to his wife Andrea for 31 years and have two sons; Justin, who is a Marine special forces Staff Sergeant; and Javey who is also in the electrical industry here in Florida working for ESI in Tampa as an Outside Sales Rep. In their  spare time they love to travel as well as spend time in the outdoors boating, fishing, and hunting.

Paul Heard was born and educated in southern England. He went to secondary education with the London Institute of Technology, while working for a local general contractor in the commercial and industrial sector. After three years teaching in the Bournemouth and Poole College of Further Education, he took the opportunity to work in continental Europe. Towards the end of the 1990s, he moved to London for a greater opportunity.

In 2000 Paul moved to the U.S. for a Project Management job in

Ohio. Initially involved in the management of design and build projects, he soon started estimating on a variety of projects, some of which he took through construction and final completion. He has estimated projects ranging from retail through multi-family, offices, schools, municipal facilities, high-rise and hospitals, from $100,000 to $300,000,000. The Christchurch earthquake of 2010 took him to

New Zealand to take the lead estimating role in rebuilding projects. He was able to dedicate his time to a completely new estimating industry and system, one which is totally different that that operated in the U.S.

In 2015 he returned to the U.S. and located in Dallas, Texas. Now the Chief Estimator for Authers Building Group in Prosper, Texas he is engaged in school, higher education, and commercial work of both the preconstruction, design and build, as well as competitive sealed proposal procurement delivery systems. Very much a general contractor, and having worked for a subcontractor, he understands the experience from the “other side,” and he has a view of the full range of the industry with this experience–national and international, project management, subcontractor, general contractor, preconstruction, and estimating.

Paul has three beautiful daughters who have a variety of interests.

He always refers to himself as boring–he enjoys reading and walking! Paul also likes watching cricket, although when younger, playing the game was very much a favorite pastime. He also enjoys Formula1 motor racing and rugby union.

Brian House is Vice President of Digital and Technical Training at Mike Holt Enterprises, and a Certified Mike Holt Instructor. He is a permanent member of the video teams, on which he has served since the 2011 Code cycle. Brian has worked in the trade since the 1990s in residential, commercial and industrial settings. He opened a contracting firm in 2003 that designed energy-efficient lighting retrofits, explored “green” biomass generators, and partnered with
residential PV companies in addition to traditional electrical installation and service.

In 2007, Brian was personally selected by Mike for development and began teaching seminars for Mike Holt Enterprises after being named a “Top Gun Presenter” in Mike’s Train the Trainer boot camp. Brian travels around the country teaching electricians, instructors,military personnel, and engineers. His experience in the trenches as an electrical contractor, along with Mike Holt’s instructor training, gives him a teaching style that is practical, straightforward, and refreshing.

Today, as Vice President of Digital and Technical Training at Mike Holt Enterprises, Brian leads the apprenticeship and digital product teams. They create cutting-edge training tools, and partner with in-house and apprenticeship training programs nationwide to help them reach the next level. He is also part of the content team that helps Mike bring his products to market, assisting in the editing of the textbooks, coordinating the content and illustrations, and assuring
the technical accuracy and flow of the information.

Brian served as the chief editor for this new edition of Understanding Electrical Estimating and assembled the team for the video production, and content review of this textbook and its supporting resources. Brian is high energy, with a passion for doing business the right way. He expresses his commitment to the industry and his love for its people in his teaching, working on books, and developing instructional programs and software tools.

Brian and his wife Carissa have shared the joy of their four children and many foster children during 25 years of marriage. When not mentoring youth at work or church, he can be found racing mountain bikes or SCUBA diving with his kids. He’s passionate about helping others and regularly engages with the youth of his community to motivate them into exploring their future.

Richard Jaffarian is the president of Electrical Resources, Inc. which he founded in 1975.  Richard introduced his first estimating software program in 1976 to efficiently meet his clients demands in a timely fashion while maintaining complete and accurate bills of material.  The diversity of the more than 31,000 projects Richard has been involved in has allowed him to build what is now recognized as the most complete and comprehensive estimating database in the electrical industry. His current estimating software suite includes On-Screen takeoff, AutoBranch, Auto Duct Bank, Auto Fire Alarm, Request for Quotes, Purchase Orders and T&M Billing.

Richard also teaches estimating and how to determine the volume of estimating required to meet overhead and profit goals and how actual volume plays an important role in varying the overhead and profit mark-ups.

Richard began his career in 1968 as an electrical engineer with a consulting engineering firm.  In 1971 he was the vice president of his family-owned electrical contracting firm with an annual volume of $20,000,000.  Richard is qualified to testify as an expert witness regarding electrical plans, specifications, estimates, change orders, material pricing and labor units.

Richard has developed the Quantum Professional Estimating Suite and LinkPricer that provides current contractor-level pricing for third party estimating software.  He is the author and publisher of Electrical Estimating Tips and Techniques, the Electrical Labor Units Manual, the National Electrical Price Guide, and the On-Line Electrical Price and Labor Units Guide.  His established contacts and accounts with electrical suppliers allow Richard to publish and update material prices at the contractor level and are recognized as the most realistic material prices in the industry.

Eric Stromberg has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and is a professional engineer. He started in the electrical industry when he was a teenager helping the neighborhood electrician. After high school, and a year of college, Eric worked for a couple of different audio companies, installing sound systems in a variety of locations from small buildings to baseball stadiums. After returning to college he worked as a journeyman wireman for an electrical contractor.

After graduating from the University of Houston, Eric took a job as an electronic technician and installed and serviced life safety systems in high-rise buildings. After seven years he went to work for Dow Chemical as a power distribution engineer. His work with audio systems had made him very sensitive to grounding issues and he took this experience with him into power distribution. Because of this expertise, Eric became one of Dow’s grounding subject matter experts. This is also how Eric met Mike Holt, as Mike was looking for grounding experts for his 2002 Grounding vs. Bonding video.

Eric taught the National Electrical Code for professional engineering exam preparation for over 20 years, and has held continuing education teacher certificates for the states of Texas and New Mexico. He was on the electrical licensing and advisory board for the State of Texas, as well as on their electrician licensing exam board. Eric now consults for a Department of Energy research laboratory in New Mexico, where he’s responsible for the electrical standards as well as assisting the laboratory’s AHJ.

Eric’s oldest daughter lives with her husband in Zurich, Switzerland, where she teaches for an international school. His son served in the Air Force, has a degree in Aviation logistics, and is a pilot and owner of an aerial photography business. His youngest daughter is a singer/songwriter in Los Angeles.

Mario Valdes Jr. is a member of the technical team at Mike Holt Enterprises, working directly with Mike Holt in researching, re-writing, and coordinating content, to assure the technical accuracy of the information in the products.

Mario is licensed as an electrical contractor, most recently having worked as an electrical inspector and plans examiner for an engineering firm in South Florida. Additionally, he was an electrical instructor for a technical college, teaching students pursuing an associate degree in electricity. He taught subjects such as ac/dc fundamentals, residential and commercial wiring, blueprint reading, and electrical estimating. He brings to the Mike Holt team a wealth of knowledge and devotion for the NEC. 

He started his career at 16 years old in his father’s electrical contracting company. Once he got his Florida State contractor’s license, he ran the company as project manager and estimator. Mario’s passion for the NEC prompted him to get his inspector and plans review certifications and embark on a new journey in electrical Code compliance. He’s worked on complex projects such as hospitals, casinos, hotels and multi-family high rise buildings. Mario is very passionate on educating electrical professionals about electrical safety and the National Electrical Code.

Mario’s a member of the IAEI, NFPA, and ICC, and enjoys participating in the meetings; he believes that by staying active in these organizations he’ll be ahead of the game, with cutting-edge knowledge pertaining to safety codes.

When not immersed in the electrical world Mario enjoys fitness training. He resides in Pembroke Pines, Florida with his beautiful family, which includes his wife and his two sons. They enjoy family trip getaways to Disney World and other amusement parks.