Meet Samuel Hernandez-Cruz — Owner & Founder of SPD Electric Corp

18+ years in the electrical trade. IBEW Local 11 union electrician. C-10 licensed contractor. EVITP certified. The person you talk to when you call SPD Electric.

Most electrical contractors are run by a business owner who doesn’t actually do the work. SPD Electric is different.

Samuel Hernandez-Cruz is a working electrician who founded SPD Electric Corp in 2023 after 18 years in the trade — climbing through every rank in IBEW Local 11 from Apprentice to acting Superintendent before deciding to build something of his own. When you call (909) 247-2211, Samuel personally answers. When SPD shows up at your home or business, Samuel runs the job.

How Samuel Got Into the Electrical Trade

Samuel’s electrical career started at age 18.

After enrolling at LA Trade Tech (Los Angeles Trade Technical College) and meeting with a counselor about his interests, the counselor recommended either electrical or HVAC. Samuel chose electrical — a decision that would define the next two decades of his life.

He earned his Associate of Arts degree in Electrical Construction and Maintenance at LA Trade Tech, completing the foundation coursework that would later support his journeyman certification. From there, he enrolled in an apprenticeship program with Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), where he spent two years learning the trade in the field.

Two years into his apprenticeship, Samuel made a decision that would prove pivotal: he transferred to IBEW Local 11 — the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union — to complete his apprenticeship as a union electrician.

“I started electrical when I was 18. By 36 — 18 years later — I was acting Superintendent on my last project before I founded SPD.”

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Climbing the IBEW Local 11 Career Ladder

Most electricians plateau at journeyman. Samuel didn’t.

Apprentice (IBEW Local 11)

Completed his apprenticeship with IBEW Local 11 after transferring from ABC. The IBEW apprenticeship is widely considered the gold standard of electrical training in California — combining rigorous classroom instruction with extensive on-the-job training under journeyman supervision.

Journeyman Electrician

Achieved journeyman status through IBEW Local 11. Journeyman certification means you can perform any electrical work covered by the trade independently, supervise apprentices, and handle complex commercial and industrial scope.

Foreman

Promoted to foreman, responsible for running crews on individual job sites — managing scope, schedule, safety, and quality on commercial and industrial projects throughout Southern California.

General Foreman

Advanced to general foreman, supervising multiple foremen and crews across larger projects. Required strong project management, blueprint interpretation, code compliance enforcement, and coordination with general contractors and other trades.

Acting Superintendent

On his last project before founding SPD — 16 years into his IBEW career — Samuel was assigned acting superintendent responsibilities. Superintendent is typically the highest field role in commercial electrical work, responsible for the entire electrical scope on a major project.

This progression — Apprentice to Superintendent in 16 years — is rare. Most union electricians stay at journeyman because the pay is good and the responsibilities are manageable. Climbing into foreman, general foreman, and superintendent roles requires deliberate career building, additional certifications, and the willingness to handle the management responsibilities that come with each step.

By the time Samuel decided to start SPD Electric, he’d seen every level of commercial and industrial electrical work — from running individual circuits as an apprentice to managing entire project scopes as acting superintendent.

Why Samuel Started SPD Electric

“After finally climbing the ladder, I decided to start my own union shop. I needed a new challenge, a new goal.”

By 2023, Samuel had climbed as high as the union career ladder goes in field roles. He could have continued as a superintendent indefinitely — well-compensated, respected, with the union’s backing for the rest of his career.

He chose instead to start his own company.

SPD Electric Corp launched in 2023 with a specific premise: build an electrical contracting business that combined the technical credibility of IBEW Local 11 union work with the personal accountability of a small, owner-operated shop. Most union electricians who go independent become small contractors who lose their union credentials. Samuel did something different — he kept the union connection by registering SPD as an IBEW Local 11 union shop, retaining the ability to dispatch additional union manpower for any project.

This is why SPD can credibly take on work that other small electrical contractors can’t: prevailing wage public works, large commercial tenant improvements, multi-port commercial EV charging — projects where union credentials and DIR registration are gating requirements.

The trade-off for staying union: SPD doesn’t compete on the lowest price. The benefit: clients who hire SPD get genuinely qualified work backed by 18+ years of trade experience and the depth of an entire union behind it.

Family Connection to the Trade

Samuel is a first-generation union electrician. Nobody in his family worked in the trades when he started.

That changed.

After Samuel joined IBEW Local 11 and his family saw how the trade allowed him to provide for himself and his family — and how proud he was of his work — interest started to spread. Today, four of Samuel’s friends and three of his cousins work as apprentices, journeymen, and foremen in IBEW Local 11. They work for different companies, building their own knowledge and experience.

In 2027, Samuel’s son and nephew will join the IBEW Local 11 apprenticeship program — beginning the next generation in the family’s union electrical tradition.

“My son and nephew will be joining the union apprenticeship next year.”

The Project Samuel Is Most Proud Of

Every electrician has a project that defines them. For Samuel, it’s a public school in Anaheim, California.

Project:

Anaheim School Lighting & HVAC Control Wiring Upgrade

Year:

2024

Project Type:

California Prevailing Wage Public Works

Scope:

Full lighting and switch replacement throughout the entire school plus control wiring for newly installed A/C units across all classrooms

This was SPD Electric’s first prevailing wage project — and being awarded the contract was the moment Samuel knew SPD was operating at the level he intended.

Prevailing wage public works contracts aren’t available to most contractors. To even be considered, a contractor must hold:

Active California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) registration
All required business insurances (general liability, workers’ compensation, vehicle insurance)
Current trade certifications
OSHA compliance documentation
Often, union or licensed equivalent workforce

For SPD, every credential was already in place. The school awarded the contract based on qualifications. Samuel’s union crew then delivered the scope: replacing every light fixture and switch throughout the school and providing the control wiring for the newly installed HVAC system.

This is the kind of work Samuel built SPD to be capable of — work that demonstrates the company isn’t a residential-only operation pretending to handle commercial scope, but a real C-10 contractor with the full credentials and capability needed for serious projects.

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Credentials & Certifications

The verifiable credentials behind 18+ years of trade experience.

C-10 California Electrical Contractors License #1116728

Active California Electrical Contractors License, current through January 28, 2027. The C-10 classification authorizes all residential, commercial, and industrial electrical contracting under California law. Verifiable at CSLB.ca.gov.

EVITP Certified

Certified by the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program — the industry-recognized certification for electric vehicle charging infrastructure installation. EVITP certification requires completion of 24+ hours of EV-specific training plus written and practical examinations. Verifiable at evitp.org.

IBEW Local 11 Member

Member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 — Los Angeles. Climbed from apprentice to acting superintendent over 16 years before founding SPD Electric. SPD remains an IBEW Local 11 union shop, with union manpower scaling available for any project.

Associate of Arts — Electrical Construction & Maintenance

LA Trade Technical College. Foundation coursework in electrical theory, code, and installation that established the academic basis for Samuel's apprenticeship and journeyman certification.

General Liability + Workers' Compensation Insurance

Full commercial-grade insurance coverage on file. Certificates of insurance available upon request for any project requiring documentation.

OSHA & CPR Trained

Current OSHA and CPR certifications. All SPD union electricians dispatched through IBEW Local 11 maintain similar safety credentials and undergo random drug testing as part of union employment.

Track Record (By the Numbers)

18+ Years Trade Experience
70+ Panel Upgrades Completed
50+ EV Chargers & EV Outlets Installed
2023 Year SPD Founded
C-10 California Licensed Electrical Contractor
EVITP Certified for EV Installations

Of the 70+ panel upgrades Samuel has personally overseen at SPD, more than 50 were completed through Southern California Edison’s Charge Ready Home program — meaning SPD coordinated SCE’s panel upgrade rebates for income-qualified and geographically-qualified homeowners installing EV charging.

The remaining 20+ were standard residential and commercial panel upgrades — including Federal Pacific and Zinsco panel replacements where insurance companies required updating, 100A to 200A capacity upgrades for modern electrical loads, and 400-amp service upgrades for larger homes.

50+ EV chargers spans every major brand: Tesla Wall Connector (installed as Level 2 equipment, not Tesla certified installation), Wallbox Pulsar Plus, ChargePoint Home Flex, JuiceBox, Grizzl-E, Emporia, ClipperCreek, and others. EVITP certification ensures each installation meets EV-specific code requirements.

How Samuel Operates Today

Owner Answers Every Call

Call (909) 247-2211 during business hours and Samuel personally answers. Not a call center, not an answering service, not a dispatcher. The owner. He responds within 5 minutes during business hours and personally schedules every estimate.

Owner Runs Every Job

Samuel personally runs every SPD project. Larger jobs may include additional crew (Walter Campos as Foreman, Cris Ballesteros as Apprentice, plus union manpower as needed) but Samuel is on-site as the lead electrician. There’s no scenario where you hire SPD and Samuel never appears.

Direct Accountability

Whatever happens with your project — quality, timing, problems, warranty claims, future questions — you have one person to talk to. Samuel maintains the relationship for the life of the work. SPD is small enough that this is genuinely possible.

The Rest of the SPD Team

Samuel built SPD with people he trusts — including childhood friends and family.

Ashley Hernandez

OPERATIONS

Ashley is Samuel’s daughter. She handles most of SPD’s clerical work — scheduling, customer communication, project file maintenance — while pursuing a business degree in college. She represents the family element of “family-owned and operated.”

Beyond this core team, SPD operates as an IBEW Local 11 union shop. This means we can request additional manpower from the union hall for any project that needs it — ramping crew size up when scope demands and releasing workers back to the union when the project completes. All dispatched union electricians undergo random drug testing and hold current OSHA and CPR certifications.

What Samuel Says SPD Is About

If a customer described SPD to a friend in one sentence, Samuel hopes they would say:

“Call SPD — they’ll take care of it.”

That’s the standard. Not “SPD is the cheapest.” Not “SPD is the biggest.” Not “SPD has the fanciest trucks.”

Just: call them, and they’ll take care of it.

That standard means showing up when promised. Doing the work right the first time. Pulling permits and passing inspections. Communicating clearly and honestly about what’s needed and what’s not. Cleaning up after the work is done. Backing the installation with a real warranty. Answering the phone when you call back six months later with a question.

This is the way Samuel was trained to work over 18 years in IBEW Local 11. It’s the way SPD operates today.

Talk to Samuel directly.

Free on-site estimate. Owner personally answers and runs every job. Real C-10 California Electrical Contractor with 18+ years of trade experience.