Courtesy 2 Check Electric
By Rod Bacon
Sarah Heddell has an adventurous soul.
Sixteen years ago, she embarked on a career path that was unusual at the time for a woman: She decided to become an electrician.
The owner of Glens Falls-based 2 Check Electric, Heddell started her entrepreneurial journey shortly after graduating in 2009 from Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station on Long Island.
She attended SUNY Albany for one semester, majoring in political science, before deciding that sitting in a classroom wasn’t for her.
“I like to be busy, I like to be outside,” she said. “I’d always been handy growing up, helping my stepfather build decks and things. I also worked on a horse farm during high school.”
She said the trades didn’t “come into her reality” until after she dropped out of college. She knew a Teamster who drove for United Parcel Service, and he recommended she look into a career in the trades. She considered both plumbing and electrical work, deciding on the latter because she didn’t want to deal with sewage.
“But the joke’s on me,” she said. “Since starting my career I’ve worked in multiple wastewater treatment facilities as an electrician.”
In 2010, she joined Local Union 236 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and embarked on a five-year apprenticeship that included 900 hours of classroom work and 8,000 hours of on-the-job training.
After graduating, she worked for many years as a foreman for Brownell Electric Corp. of Fort Edward and did shorter stints with Martin Electric in Rensselaer, Schenectady Hardware & Electric, and T&J Electrical Associates in Clifton Park.
With this experience under her belt, wanderlust got the best of her and she “took her skills on the road.” She traveled and worked in Montana, Washington state, Utah, Appalachia, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, the Columbia River Gorge, Indiana and Illinois.
It was during this adventure that the name of her business was born.
“As a Union Journeyman Wireman I can take my union ticket all over the country to work in places that have an abundance of work and a lack of workers,” she said. “When a JW works outside of their local, they are dispatched to jobs off “book 2.” Local guys work off “book 1.” The union hall referral system uses these designations to maintain integrity during the hiring process. When a book 2 worker reaches the end of a job they are presented with 2 checks, because trade work is paid for the week prior, making the current week your second check. To me, that second check was the beginning of the next chapter. So when I was starting my business it was a new chapter, the next thing.”
Heddell is a staunch believer in work-life balance, and living in the Adirondacks offers her multiple opportunities to achieve that. She is an enthusiastic rock climber, ice climber and backpacker. She has completed the Northville-Placid Trail end to end. Her rock climbing activities center around Lake George, and she has climbed Buck Mountain, Sleeping Beauty Mountain and the Ark Wall of Shelving Rock. She has also done the Beer Walls and Deadwater near Keene. That area offers excellent ice climbing opportunities as well.
“That region has the largest concentration of the tallest ice climbs with a less than five minute approach in the Northeast,” she said.
Rock and ice climbing are partner sports because climbers need someone to belay them.
“I have a really lovely community of strong, supportive friends who also climb,” said Heddell. “The climbing community in the Adirondacks is small, very tight-knit, and welcoming to newcomers.”
She said it is easy to allow a business to become all-consuming and feels that isn’t good for one’s mental health and life satisfaction. To avoid that, she makes it a priority to schedule a yoga class or rock climbing session, and she gives herself at least one day a week when she isn’t doing any work at all.
Currently, 2 Check Electric is a one-woman operation, but Heddell said she is getting to the point where she needs to hire an apprentice. The person she is considering will come from her climbing community.
Heddell is not completely alone on the job. She has an 11-year-old “shelter mutt” named Blitz that she adopted 10 years ago. She takes him with her to work when appropriate.
While Heddell’s jobs are planned in advance, she does respond to emergencies when the need arises. One such incident occurred when a fire broke out on an overhead electrical line at a Bolton Landing camp. She was there for several hours in the evening, patching in a repair to restore power to the building.
Heddell is not resting on her laurels. She said she wants to “grow sustainably” and become a signatory contractor from the local union hall, which will allow her to source her labor from that union.
“This will allow me to provide good jobs for my local union brothers and sisters,” she said.
2 Check Electric offers a full range of services, including new home builds, service and panel upgrades, residential and commercial service and troubleshooting, and additions and renovations.
The company is located at 71 Lawrence St., Suite 218, in Glens Falls. Business hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.