Company History
1961
Raymond Edward Gruendl established Ray's Electric back in 1961. The small electrical contracting company was ran out of his home in Oakland CA and focused mainly on new home wiring and home electrical repair. It was in the Navy that Raymond first developed an interest in becoming an electrician. He first worked with electrical components and got his first International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers job with the Southern Pacific Railroad and later with Gil’s Electric in Oakland.
This not only enabled him to run his own company but prepared him to eventually take on a high profile project that officially began on June 19, 1964, with president Lyndon Johnson presiding over ground breaking ceremonies of the $792 million dollar 71.5 mile high-speed transit system known today as BART. Raymond shut down operations at Ray's Electric for two and a half years and worked as a superintendent for the 19th street project with approximately 80 employees under his watch.
1964
It was 1967 when Ray's Electric opened back up for good. The primary focus of the company was service repair work although home wiring for custom homes was also part of day-to-day operations. The work continued steadily with electrical projects that consisted of service, maintenance and repair of residential homes. The company also specialized in new construction wiring which consisted of pulling wire through wall studs and installing junction boxes for outlets, switches, and fixtures.
It wasn’t until 1974 that the current president/owner Greg Gruendl had received his opportunity to contribute to his dads legacy. Greg was 14 at the time and passed up on a family vacation to Disneyland because his dad had three homes side by side off of Pinehaven Road in Oakland. Throughout the 70’s, Ray's Electric kept steady work in Oakland with an average gross revenue of 200k. In the meanwhile, Greg Gruendl worked at Campco while he went to high school and later worked for MF Maher while attending college. His work experience in the construction trades started off as laborer in 1979, apprentice electrician 1981 -1984, and Master Electrician 1985 - 1989.
1974
It was July 7th 1989 when Greg became principal owner and started "Gruendl Incorporated". It is under his leadership that the business progresses into a prominent, commercial and engineering electrical contractor based out of Oakland. In 1991, Greg received a RFQ for the city of Oakland pushing the company over 500k gross revenue for the first time in its history. It was in this same year in which Ray's Electric moved into their first office/warehouse building on East 11th street in Oakland. In 1993, Greg got his Class A General Engineering License helping the company expand into different construction services which included grading, excavating, paving, and concrete work.
1989
Today Ray's Electric operates out of two office buildings. The move from 11th street to 411 Pendleton Way, Oakland CA came in 2011 and our second office on 1236 N El Dorado St, Stockton CA opened up in 2023. Ray's Electric has continued its steady growth exceeding 5 million in gross revenue in 2013 and doubling that figure by 2016. Our work primarily consists of public works construction with emphasis on general engineering and electrical construction. Our services include but are not limited to roadway realignment, underground infrastructure, traffic signals, street lighting, rapid flashing beacon system, emergency vehicle preemption systems and camera systems. Ray's Electric has grown into a multi million dollar company while still practicing the same fundamentals initiated by Raymond Edward Gruendl over 60 years ago.
