CHASE PRUITT
Job Title: Project Manager and Estimator
Company: CRB Electrical and Mechanical, Inc.
Location: Chatham, Va.
Age: 26; Years on the Job: 7
Interests: Enjoy spending time with his fiancé and friends, hunting, fishing, and floating the river
Chase Pruitt says he was interested in learning the trade from his uncle, who owns CRB Electrical & Mechanical, Inc.
“I'm always curious about how things work and how people do things. Once I was exposed to it, I wanted to know all I could,” he says.
Born and raised in Gretna, Va., he attended a local community college to study electrical engineering, while also working part-time for CRB Electrical & Mechanical in the field. After one year, he transferred to Old Dominion University to continue his electrical engineering degree and then transferred to Liberty University. After changing his major to business administration: project management, he took online classes and then started working for CRB.
During this time, he worked full-time estimating, managing projects, and designing commercial and industrial projects while earning his college degree. He also took lighting control and design software training classes and passed his exam for his journeyman electrical license in the state of Virginia.
“My business degree in project management has been a huge asset in my day-to-day role at CRB,” he says. “It really put me into the correct mindset of how to work with people and manage my time.”
In his current position, he estimates bid spec work, budgets, prices, designs, models design-build work, and manages projects.
“My favorite part of the job is walking through the final project and thinking about all the hours spent planning and working on it from the estimate to the final inspection,” he says.
By next year, he plans to have his master’s electrician license for the state of Virginia followed by his contractor’s license.
“There are plenty of opportunities for young people in the electrical field, but to be able to be successful, you have to push yourself to do things you may not be comfortable with to learn what you need to succeed,” he says.
