It’s hard to drive down a street in Colorado Springs without seeing the familiar Bible Electric name on buildings that the company has helped construct. 

Darin Bible and his Bible Electric have been based in Colorado Springs for 25 years, installing electric service in commercial buildings across Colorado as well as performing out-of-state contracts in Arizona, Washington and beyond.

But the company’s wide reach today didn’t start out that way.

Bible, 58, began to learn the trade of an electrician at 15 while growing up in Colville, a town of just under 5,000 in eastern Washington state. It was there that he started his professional journey working for Wise Electric, a company owned by his friend Kevin Wise’s father, JB Wise.

Bible followed Wise’s business from Washington to Los Angeles and then to Colorado in 1994.

“JB Wise just said, ‘Let’s find somewhere in America that we think can grow.’ And he picked Colorado Springs,” Bible said.

And grow it did. So much so that Bible decided to start his own electric company.

Bible Electric employee Travis Peters works on conduit in the parking garage of the City Gate Apartment building in downtown Colorado Springs on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)

Parker Seibold

“I just ran into a guy that I’ve been working with for a lot of years,” Bible said. “He said, ‘Why are you making this guy so much money? You need to quit tomorrow.’ And so, I walked in to quit that next morning.”

Initially, as he launched his own company, Bible didn’t have many customers. With more than a decade of electrical experience, he started knocking on doors to advertise his expertise.

“With the kids in the wagon (we) went door to door in (the) Briargate neighborhood handing out fliers to do ceiling fans — anything that neighbors would need,” Donna, Darin’s wife and co-owner of Bible Electric, said. “And then we branched out to other neighborhoods for a little bit until his first big opportunity came.”

That opportunity was a Walmart in Pueblo.

70863955_1349567005200127_4579517413460017152_n.jpgCourtesy of Bible Electric

Bible shared a trailer seven days a week with another electrician while the two installed the entire building’s electrical system.

Bible Electric continued to grow from a one-man show to its current 110 employees, installing electrical systems in air hangers, schools and hospitals.

Some of the company’s more recent jobs included Scheels All Sports, the outdoor equipment, apparel and sporting goods retailer that opened last year in northern Colorado Springs, and businesses along the north side Voyager Parkway corridor.

Eventually, Kevin Wise joined Bible Electric, too, along with Bible’s adult children, in-laws and longtime friends.

“It is a family company,” Donna said. “It’s never going to be this corporate thing. It’s always going to be family.”

Bible Electric owners Darin, left, and Donna Bible, right, pose for a portrait outside of their headquarters in Colorado Springs on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)

Parker Seibold

And family doesn’t just mean blood relatives.

Bible’s right-hand man and director of personnel, Josh Quintana, has been a key part of the company, Donna said.

“Josh is our family,” she added.

Then there’s the company name. Bible said he’s been asked about it over the years, and can only answer honestly. Like the time a woman questioned why he dared to name it “Bible.”

“‘You can’t use that word for your name,'” the woman told him. “I’m like, why? ‘You can’t use Bible.’ And I go, well, it’s my last name. And she goes, ‘Well, then you should have put your first name in front of it.'”

Bible doesn’t have imminent plans to retire, though he said other companies have tried to convince him to sell his business.

“Whoever ends up taking it to the next level after we’re done, it’s still going to be part of us,” Donna said. “It’s in our heart, our soul. Darin has put everything into it, blood, sweat and tears.”