Current jobs include wiring of the Toledo Art Museum's Glass Pavilion.

But it hasn't always been that way, recalled Mr. Brint, the firm's 76-year-old founder and chief executive.

It was tough-going when he started the business in 1970.

"It was just small house work," Mr. Brint said. "It was nothing. And we had trouble collecting payment."

He added: "We survived by the skin of our teeth."

This year, the firm, at 7825 West Central Ave. in Sylvania Township, said it expects sales to be in the $8 million to $10 million range.

That's less than some recent years when it brought in $10 million to $12 million. "But the construction industry is in a recession locally," Mr Brint said.

Most importantly, he added, the company will be profitable. "There has been a year or two when we didn't make money, when we broke even," he said.

Although the 50 staff electricians - members of Local 8 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - represent less than half the 120 employed last summer, Mr. Brint said, "We're still keeping a lot of people working."

Theresa Brint, the firm's vice president and Mr. Brint's wife, marvels at how far the company has come. "We just grew and grew and grew," she said.

Her husband's first exposure to electrical work was in the Navy at the end of World War II. After leaving the service, he earned an engineering degree at the University of Toledo. Later he worked as a civil engineer on such high-profile projects as the construction of Toledo's Westgate Village Shopping Center.

But shortly after he and his wife married in 1958, he decided he wanted to become a journeyman electrician.

His first move was to enroll in an apprenticeship program. "He told me he wasn't going to make very much money, and he didn't," Mrs. Brint said with a chuckle.

The couple's son, Raymond Brint, eventually joined Brint Electric and today is company president.The firm's founder is proud of its work on new schools, which have become something of a specialty. "There is a method to getting these jobs roughed in, finished, and making a profit," Ramon Brint said.

He attributed the firm's success to hard work. Still, he has not reneged on a commitment he made to himself many years ago not to become consumed by the business.

"I never work weekends," he said. "I work 40 hours and that's it."

Architect Sonny Hamizadeh, of the Toledo-based Collaborative, Inc., has used Brint in projects at Owens Community College, the Sylvania Senior Center, and Tam O'Shanter sports center in Sylvania.

"They finish the job on time, they try to stay on budget, and they're easy to work with," said Mr. Hamizadeh. "If a customer has concerns or wants a change, they're easy to approach."

Brint is a among a group of top-flight commercial electrical contracting firms in a very competitive Toledo market, he said.

Small Business Profile is a weekly feature on local companies. To be considered, send information about your company to Small Business Profiles, Business News, The Blade, P.O. Box 921, Toledo, Ohio 43697-0921.