Electrician was just wired for the industry
 York County’s Walsh Electric celebrates 35 years in business

By Melissa James, York County Contributor

For decades, Walsh Electric has been keeping the lights on at many of the region’s favorite grocers. But if you go back even further, a Walsh was also once responsible for powering all of Norfolk—a fact co-owner Pat Walsh didn’t discover until age 25.

Walsh never met his grandfather, William, but learned he had been Norfolk’s head electric engineer and oversaw the city’s entire electric grid in the early 1900s. Walsh takes this as a sign.

“It was destiny,” he said. “I took to electric work right away and loved it. I guess I’m just wired for it.”

Walsh, who grew up in the Sandbridge section of Virginia Beach, co-founded Walsh Electric in 1987 with his brother David. In 1990, the company relocated from the Southside to York County, where Walsh serves as president and runs the business with another brother, Bill. The company operates from an office on Sentry Circle. 

Walsh learned the ins and outs of wiring as a kid, while helping his father with the family dry-cleaning business. He went into the trade fresh out of high school and worked at other electric firms in Norfolk and Chesapeake, before his family decided to start their own company. One of their first clients was Farm Fresh.

“I had done some work for the construction division of Farm Fresh, and one of the fellows told me to come see him if I ever decided to start my own business and he would help me,” Walsh recalled. “He did exactly what he said he would do and kept us busy when we started. We did great our first year.”

Walsh Electric specializes in commercial wiring for retailers and other businesses in the region. Currently, the company’s top client is Food Lion, with Walsh handling the electrical work for many of the chain’s stores from the ground up. Walsh Electric has also worked for Publix, Harris Teeter and Kroger.

“I would say our emphasis is on grocery stores,” Walsh said. “That is definitely our niche.”

The company has left its mark in other places as well. Its projects include two locations of the high-rise Ocean Beach hotels in Virginia Beach, the Trail of the Tiger exhibit at Virginia Zoo, and the remodel of the Richmond International Airport.

“We don’t do zoos that often, so that one was definitely outside of the box,” Walsh said. “The airport was also a challenge because that occurred in 2020 during the pandemic.”

Walsh Electric, which is licensed from Florida to Delaware, has also contracted with military bases in the Carolinas, along with a few larger residential projects. The current lineup includes kitchen renovations at Eastern State Hospital, which was first built in the 1940s, as well as a new Ferguson showroom, both in Williamsburg.

“I love what I do because every day I get up and come to work, there is always something new and different, especially with the changing technology,” Walsh said.

Through the years, Walsh Electric has evolved along with lighting advancements, which began with incandescent light bulbs before switching to fluorescent and, later, LED. An even newer light source is now emerging, fiber optics, which is “just as energy efficient as LED,” Walsh said.

More Food Lion projects are also on the horizon, with the company working to replace Freon in the stores’ refrigeration systems with carbon dioxide. The method, which is trending in Europe, is being phased into the U.S. ahead of a national Freon ban that takes effect in 2035.

“One thing that makes us unique is that there is not much we won’t take on,” Walsh said. “A lot of our employees work after hours at night on remodels. A lot of people don’t do that, but that’s when our customers demand it.”