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FIVE STAR ENERGY SERVICES: A Rising Star in Fiber Network Prime Contracting
CASE STUDY
fIVE STAR
ENERGY SERVICE
a rISING STAR IN FIBER NETWORK PRIME CONTRACTING
Working as a contractor is one way companies are joining the fiber industry. Within its first year of business, Five Star Energy Services partnered with Millennium and became a successful prime contractor constructing fiber networks for national telecom companies nationwide within four months of starting operations. Their incredible growth was in part possible thanks to partnering with Millennium, which gave Five Star the resources to scale quickly as a prime contractor.
Meet Five star Energy Services
Five Star Energy Services, started in March 2019, is an underground utility construction company based out of Waukesha, Wisconsin, that provides telecommunication, natural gas, URD electric, design engineering, and sewer and water construction. The origin of Five Star Energy Services is the story of two dedicated, growth-oriented utility companies, Unite Utility and Five Star Energy Services, that added fiber construction to its portfolio and merged in April 2021 to scale faster with help from Millennium.
Customers They Serve
• Five Star serves seven national clients with a mix of rural and city builds across the U.S. to meet clients’ needs.
• As of August 2023, about 65% of all company projects are fiber projects, 30% water, and 5% gas and utility construction.
6,000 tOTAL MILES OF FIBER LAID
Accelerated Growth, Backed by a dedicated partner
Five Star got its foot in the door with its first large national telecom client by fixing network infrastructure problems that a client had working with other contractors. The quality of the team’s fiber construction made the company stand out, and Five Star quickly transitioned from a subcontractor to a fiber network prime contractor within only four months of operation. The company’s superior fiber build quality continues to fuel the company’s extraordinary growth.
"We've been able to make a name for ourselves by delivering a quality in fiber builds that the fiber industry really hasn't seen in a long time. Many of us have come from the gas industry, which is highly regulated and unionized, and we're taking our union quality standards and delivering that same level of quality to our telecom customers at scale."
Scott Zeitler
VP Operations, Five Star Energy Services
A Strategic Partnership Leads to Larger Opportunities
strategic partnership
Major projects Fives Star has completed include four city build outs in Wisconsin using RDOF funds and a small-cell build for 5G services for the City of Milwaukee, WI. To build these and other projects, Five Star was supported with enterprise-level resources from Millennium that helped scale its fiber network construction.
Plans for the Future
Five Star plans to continue growing its business nationwide by differentiating the company as a value-added contractor across all of its infrastructure sectors. On the fiber network construction side, Five Star plans to continue working with Millennium as a large-scale partner along the way because of the dependable full project lifecycle support the team receives.
"The best part of working with Millennium is they're really trying to help clients succeed. They do whatever they can - no matter the company size - to help, whether by providing credit for materials or helping find customers. They're always aligned with us and adding value as a partner throughout a project lifecycle."
MIKE KLUMB
President & CEO, Five Star Energy Services
THE FIVE STAR ENERGY TEAM
The leadership team at Five Star has a combined 100 years of experience in the underground utilities industry, which gives them the know-how to manage utility jobs of all sizes successfully. The company went from 8 employees at inception to 250 by the end of 2022. Leadership projects employing 550 by the end of 2023.
MIKE KLUMB
President & CEO
GRANT KLUMB
COO
SHAWN KLUMB
VP & Treasurer
SCOTT ZEITLER
VP Operations
JUSTIN COOLIDGE
VP Communications
JAKE SENF
Director of Construction
Future-Focused Network Owners from
Coast to Coast Look to Millennium For:
- Feasibility Studies & Network Design Plans
- Financing & Grants
- Project Resource
- Management
- Material Supply & Logistical Planning
- Equipment Leasing & Rentals
