The A+ Backbone and Utilities LLC team on-site at the 1,000-acre Boca Royale gated community in Englewood, FL, installing conduit for Neal Signature Homes.

Husband and wife team, Josh Murray, Manager and General Foreman, and Nichole Tindall, President, of A+ Backbone and Utilities LLC.

When Nichole Tindall and Josh Murray decided to start A+ Backbone and Utilities LLC, a utility installation and repair company, the parents of six children already knew what it meant to have their hands full. At the time, Josh had just finished training to be a lineman. He was working full time, pulling cable for a power company that subcontracted for an electrical construction business, while Nichole was at home taking care of the kids. The pair were no strangers to hard work, but they were just making enough for their family to scrape by. 

Nichole and Josh knew that something needed to dramatically change if they were going to gain long-term financial security for their family. The two spent any spare time they could find together in the evenings and on weekends brainstorming ideas. The prospect of Josh simply walking away from a paying job just seemed too much for the family to risk.

One day out of the blue, Josh was approached by Jack Praet, a land developer for Pulte Homes. Jack had noticed the high quality of Josh’s workmanship and the depth of his field knowledge when he was working on one of Pulte Homes’ sites. He asked Josh if he’d be willing to install 1,000 feet of conduit as a side project over the weekend. According to Josh, Jack was weary of “conduit cowboys”—those who started conduit construction companies without training and with limited knowledge of how to read construction drawings. He’d sought out Josh specifically because it was difficult to find a certified independent lineman.

The opportunity excited Josh and Nichole; in it they saw a glimmer of hope for a new future. Josh took the first weekend job and then took a few more.

“We thought that if we could just start up slowly, perhaps one day in the future we could build up the capital needed to start our own conduit construction company,” Nichole says.

By March 2019, the couple went ahead and got a business license. “By that time, we had saved about $20,000,” Nichole recalls.

But just as they were gingerly testing the waters of this new opportunity, Josh’s employer caught wind of Josh taking on independent work outside of regular hours. While Josh was not breaking any contractual terms of his job, his employer felt threatened by the potential competition and without warning or discussion, Josh was fired.

The shock of this news hit Nichole and Josh hard, but with a family to take care of, they did not have the luxury of dwelling on it for too long; they had to act. And just like that, with foot flat on the accelerator, they launched full speed into business ownership faster than they could have wished for or imagined. They raced forward without looking back.

Sink or Swim

“At that point, we knew no matter what came, we had to make it work,” Nichole recalls. For nearly four months, the pair used that $20,000 in savings to cover expenses for their family of eight while trying to fund a new conduit construction business, renting equipment and vehicles and paying for fuel. By June 2019, the couple had maxed out all of their credit cards and they had only one option left—Nichole’s trust fund. She did not hesitate to act.

“I drew up a business proposal and sent it to my lawyer. The exact moment our money ran out, the trust fund assets were ready to be liquidated,” Nichole says. The pair doubled down on Nichole’s business plan. They used the trust fund money to pay for excavator rentals, and to buy a truck and a Bobcat skid-steer loader, which they drove all the way to Maryland to pick up after purchasing it on eBay.

Their teamwork and experience as parents translated seamlessly into work; the two divided and conquered based on their individual skills and expertise. Nichole took full control of the office work, including logistics, scheduling, bidding, insurance, business licenses, taxes and accounting, while Josh led in the field.

Josh formed a small crew of two men, and in a very short time, he was joined by his brother James Murray, who began leading a second team. Three months later, just after Christmas, Chris Howard, a third foreman, joined the fledgling company to lead a third crew. From there, A+ Backbone and Utilities LLC was set to take on a host of both large and small projects.

The First Big Wins

A+ Backbone and Utilities’ work is fast-paced, demanding and dynamic. On any given day, there may be one crew installing conduits, another crew doing repairs, setting structures and rolling string, while a third crew is installing service laterals (centralized electrical conduit that runs from the road up to each individual house). The skill and agility of the company’s crews led to rapid growth, according to Nichole. “It allowed the company to quickly transition from running small jobs to winning big contracts for large-scale developments,” she says.

Nichole recalls the first major job the company was awarded, a conduit installation project for Pulte Homes in the WildBlue New Home Community, a 3,000-acre development of single-family homes in Fort Myers, Florida.

A project of this scale brought with it many obstacles, including coordinating schedules with other trades working in the area and staying on schedule. It is a challenge for the most experienced of foremen to run projects of this scale on budget and on time, according to Nichole, but that is what A+ Backbone and Utilities did.

As certified linemen, Josh, James and Chris have the knowledge needed to problem-solve on the spot when issues arise on-site, as they often do, Nichole says. “This quick thinking and over two decades of combined experience between them makes them experts at time management, prioritization, design and installation.

“No other company we compete with has the ability to completely redesign an electrical construction drawing on-site immediately if it needs to be done,” she adds.

The company’s first big job became their first big success. And their reward was winning another prestigious job for Pulte Homes, Greyhawk at Golf Club of the Everglades, a community of 560 new construction single-family homes in Naples, Florida.

“Every month for the past year and a half, we pushed and pushed and completed more work and won more jobs and new clients,” Nichole says. “This August, we officially made our first $1 million in revenue.”

What Sets Them Apart

The quick ascent and dramatic success of A+ Backbone and Utilities is rooted in the leadership’s combined drive and ambition to achieve growth, while delivering quality installations for their clients, according to Nichole. The couple set a vision for the company’s growth and have been relentless in pursing their dreams.

“We really needed the business to succeed for our family,” Nichole says. “We wanted our children to have the things in life that we did not have. We both came from small families with nothing, living paycheck to paycheck.”

Nichole and Josh’s drive to see the business succeed has been contagious. At the beginning of their journey, when the risk was greatest, James worked alongside Josh, even before joining the company full time. His hard work and commitment was the early boost needed to accelerate the company’s progress and achievements, according to Nichole.

About Chris, Nichole can’t say enough about his commitment to the company. “Chris treats the business like it’s his own. He consistently finishes jobs faster than scheduled all while delivering precise installations, rolling line perfectly straight and to the exact specified depth. He’s our star employee,” she says.

To keep their crews motivated, Nichole and Josh award bonus incentives to those who step in to work on last-minute projects over weekends and to recognize the achievements of crew members who deliver great work. The team’s wins, successes and staff performance highlights are celebrated through regular company events and meet-ups.

“What brings us all together is that we’re all hardworking, family-oriented people. Everything we do is for our family and for our clients,” Nichole says. “We finish projects on time and do the work to an excellent standard. We want to make sure clients are happy—we need them to be happy for us to get where we need to go.”