Today we’d like to introduce you to Eduardo Triana.
Eduardo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As many people before and after me I immigrated to the United States from Mexico in search of the American dream in the early 90’s. The culture shock was overwhelming, the first big city I saw was Phoenix, Arizona and right away I traveled to Idaho Falls where I worked/lived for two months. The road from Phoenix to Idaho Falls was something I had never seen before, it was so different than the roads I was used to back in Mexico.
I worked for a company named Formost Construction, in which I held a position called wireman and worked on the installation of irrigation systems in golf courses which took me to many different cities in the West including Salt Lake City, Reno, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and many more. But I fell in love with the last city I worked in which was San Diego, they don’t call it finest city in America for nothing and since I was also such a big fan of the movie Top Gun which was filmed here once I got here I never wanted to leave, I started a family here and I founded my company Triana Electric & General Contractor here and I don’t see myself ever leaving.
When I first got to San Diego I was lucky enough to find a company called REMEC where I started working as a janitor during the graveyard shift, and I slowly worked my way up to Senior Facilities Supervisor. In 2013 I got my C-10 Electrical license, which I only worked as a side job in the afternoons, and not long after I got my B (General Contracting) license, but in 2016 I decided to take a leap of faith and leave the company I had been working at for over 20 years to focus on starting my own company, Triana Electric & General Contractor, which was the best decision I could have ever made.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. There have been many struggles on my journey to being a business owner but there are three very significant obstacles I have faced, I am a Mexican immigrant so I faced a lot of discrimination along the way, and there’s also the language barrier which has been a huge struggle within itself, of course now after many years of working here in the United States I speak English but I always felt inferior among my peers fortunately I have a great support system and my family has always motivated me to push and work harder.
Another obstacle I faced was the fact that I did not have any experience in managing a business, of course I had experience from my previous company which was a great foundation for my business, but everything I do now is stuff I have learned along the way and I still have a long way to go.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Triana Electric & General Contractor – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in electrical, but we do everything from demolition to building a house from scratch or doing any type of commercial work. We have done a couple biotech labs, a clothing store, many home remodels/renovations, lots of panel upgrades and electrical installations such as rewiring, etc. But what we are most proud of is a Japanese restaurant/sushi bar we built in Del Mar earlier this year, we were given a warehouse and we turned it into a fully functioning restaurant.
What sets us apart the most is not only are we a minority-owned business but we are family owned and operated business, we take pride in being a clean, responsible and trustworthy family which are traits we carry on to the family business. Our work is clean and we always do things as if we were doing them for ourselves, all our work is done up to code whether or not permits are involved. We like to let our work speak for itself, and we don’t always get the profit we’d like since we always put our clients first, our customer’s satisfaction is our main priority.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My short term plan is to turn this sole proprietor company into an LLC, so we can possibly expand throughout California. I’d like to help people who are in the same position I was when I first got here and wanted to work for my family or young people who feel they have no future but are open to the possibility of a career in construction and to learn and develop a trade.
My long term goal is to leave a strong foundation for my kids and their future, I don’t necessarily want them to dedicate their life to it but I want this company to give them the means necessary to chase their own goals. I hope in the future Triana Electric & General can be a big recognized company not only locally but nationwide and possibly internationally. I would love to expand to my home country one day.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (619)866-9332
- Email: trianaelectric@outlook.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trianaelectricandgeneral/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrianaElectricandGeneralContractor/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrianaElectric
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/triana-electric-and-general-contractor-san-diego-2
- Other: https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-diego/profile/electrical-contractors/triana-electric-1126-172021641
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