Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#341: From Navy Sparks to Mountain Service: The Family Story Behind Cha-Vin Electric

• Skip Mauney & Kevin Driggers • Episode 341

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What if your home’s most reliable system is quietly wearing out? We sat down with Kevin Driggers, vice president of Cha-VIn Electric, to unpack a family journey that runs from post‑Navy apprenticeships to wiring major projects and, ultimately, to serving neighbors across Western North Carolina with a small-team, high-care approach. Kevin shares how his father moved the family to the mountains, built a reputation by knocking on doors, and passed the torch as Kevin earned his license, navigated state contracts, and weathered the recession—only to rebuild through persistence, word of mouth, and a smart shift to an online presence led by his wife.

The heart of our talk is safety and stewardship. Kevin challenges the “set it and forget it” myth and explains how electrical systems expand, contract, and loosen over time, especially in aging homes. We dig into practical ways to prevent fires and failures: panel inspections, tightening connections, updating breakers, and adding GFCI/AFCI protection that aligns with current electrical code. You’ll hear why proactive maintenance beats emergency calls, how to think about upgrades as risk reduction, and what to ask a contractor so you understand the work and the why behind it.

We also explore why staying small is a strategic choice. Kevin draws a clear line between production and passion—the mom-and-pop burger versus the fast lane—and how a family-owned company can deliver the personal touch: technicians you know, communication you trust, and a relationship that lasts beyond the invoice. Grounded by life in Pisgah and along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Kevin’s perspective blends craft, place, and purpose into service that feels human.

If you care about keeping your home safe, valuing local expertise, and supporting businesses that put people first, this conversation will resonate. Subscribe for more neighbor-led stories, share with a friend who’s overdue for an electrical checkup, and leave a review to help others find the show.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host. Good morning.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am uh really excited to have somebody in our studio, I believe, for the first time. And so we're really excited to learn all about them and what they do. And I'm sure you'll be just as excited because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Kevin Driggers, who is the vice president of Shave In Electric and Company. Kevin, welcome to the show. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02:

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, like I said, we're glad to have you and excited to learn all about you and your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us all about uh Shave In Electric and Company?

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. So in and uh probably around 1970, 63 actually, to around 78 or so, my father worked for his brother. They were fresh out of the out of the naval or navy, and uh he worked for his brother as an electrician in Charlotte. And um so as we were as we were growing up, um my father and and mother would come to Asheville, North Carolina, and uh Cherokee and Maggie Valley and Pigeon Forge, and so they really fell in love with the with the atmosphere and the people and the location. And so I would say probably around 70, the beginning of 79, they just decided to move up here. And they had just finished, my father had just finished Wiring Carowins, matter of fact, um, with his brother, and he wanted to start his own business. And so on Nov on Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day of 79, he moved up here and brought us up here, and he started knocking on doors, and there wasn't very many people around at the time, and um, so he started working at the dairies and um and greenhouse companies doing their electrical work. And um so it was probably in 1999 I came to help him. The greenhouse had caught on fire at the time and uh had burnt up a lot of stuff, so he needed a lot of hands on deck, and so I started helping him. And um and it wasn't it wasn't too long into it that I decided that I should probably go to school and start getting my education and see if I could if I could further my career in the electrical field. And he um he he started venturing out. He's a he's got Lumbe Lumbee Indian in him, and so he had opportunities with the state to work as a minority contractor, and we started getting some big state work. And so I it was probably sometime around 2006, 2007, when we had some really big contracts coming up, and I was I was getting out of school, and uh he wanted me to get my license so that I could I could take his place as far as being the key man on the job so that we would be under compliance for uh for state or for the amount of state work that we had to do. And then around 2008, the economy fell through, and uh everything kind of by 2010, everything had kind of dried up for us, and um, I'd worked really hard to get my license and spent a lot of time and a lot of effort to get them. And my father looked at me and told me that he was getting older, and he told me that he um he thought he'd go ahead and hang up the gloves and uh that he'd be behind me if I needed him, and it still is to this day. And uh so now I'm in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Nashville, North Carolina, and I'm knocking on doors. And uh so probably around the 2012 mark, 2012, I would say, I started getting some work, and um, I was just basically I'd been an industrial electrician um for my entire career, so I didn't really know anything about uh residential, I didn't know anything about marketing, I didn't know anything about trying to find people to uh or trying to find clients. And so um, and it was me and my mother at the time. She was helping me, uh she was helping me with the books, and uh so it just kind of stayed word of mouth for for a good while, and I was I was doing fairly well with it like that. And uh anyway, so um we got to um we got more customers and more customers, and it started getting bigger and bigger, and my father went through a a health issue, and it really consumed my mother and my mother's time. And so I reached out to my wife, and um she came on board and started helping me. And we started getting busy, and she's the one that wanted to push me into an online presence, and uh she uh she really studied and worked hard and and made a way for us to have a website and YouTube channel and Facebook and all the all the other avenues that that you can use for social media and for an online presence. And um it's really helped. It's it's not my forte, um, but it um it really helped me get my name out there and it helped me get in front of people and it helped give a platform for people that wanted to wanted to see what behind the scenes look like. Um and so it's just really expanded and it's and it's gotten bigger, but we're still a smaller company, you know, we're still a family company and a family-owned company, and I really seem to like it that way. Um it just it's more personable, and you know, good con our customers are always looking for good contractors. Well, contractors are always looking for good customers, and when you're a smaller company, you can seem to stay in contact with those customers and build a build a really good rapport with them and a good relationship with them, and they get to know your men, and it feels like family on that end as well. So that's kind of my journey, and that's kind of how I got to where I am right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good, very good. Family affair, definitely. Absolutely. Well, um, what are some miss or misconceptions in the electrical business? Can you think of any?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I would say that we we do have a dangerous, uh dangerous job. So it um it kind of has has a reper uh a reputation to precede itself. So most of most of the misconceptions aren't really present because people really take notice of this is dangerous, we need to stay away from it, we need to call a professional, we need to we need to make sure it's done right. So I would say a lot of misconceptions we don't really have. A lot of a lot of the things that could be overlooked is once you have an electrical system, you set it and forget it. And that's not necessarily true because you get into a situation to where it actually is a dynamic system because it heats up and cools down, and it um it can actually loosen itself up over time and actually change states. And it may look like it's working, and because it's invisible to so many people and it is dangerous to so many people, they do not want to really approach in it, and it's not really part of something they're thinking about. And as their house gets older, their electrical system gets older and it gets weaker, and um it actually degradates to an extent. So, so sometimes a misconception that can be present in our in our industry is you set it and forget it, and you don't need to do anything until it doesn't work, and that's not necessarily true, and that's where that's where our code now now really tries to preemptively stop stop fires from happening, stop electrical systems from breaking down and alert people. And there's a lot of product that's on the line right now that will you know help you in an older house, you know, that will keep your family safe.

SPEAKER_01:

Very important. Very, very important. So um sounds like you're working a lot. Um Kevin, uh, outside, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, just where I live is fun. I mean, we have we have the Pesca National Forest right in our backyard, we have the parkway right in our backyard. We love, me and my wife love to get behind the wheel and get a cup of coffee and especially this time of year, and just hit the parkway and ride and and look at the vast beauty that's right at our fingertips. We love to get in in the river and walk it. It's right there, it's constantly calling. It's even in the middle of the day, you drive by and it's just you can hear it calling you to come into the woods and let's do a day camp or have a picnic or get in the river and splash around, skip stones, take the kids with us. You know, it's just it really is Western North Carolina really is a playground, and we absolutely love it. We love the people, we love the places, and I think that's the same thing that drew my father here, even in '79. I guess that's you know, almost 50 years ago. So um that's that's that's probably what I like to do. And my grass. I I like to play in the grass, I like to get the grass working, and that seems to be my only hobby. I'm not really into sports and race cars and and hunting and stuff like that. So I just I just like to be in nature and and play with that.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen, brother. Same here. It's a beautiful place. We're very fortunate. It is, absolutely it is. Um, so Kevin, if you could think of one thing, the one thing you'd like our listeners and viewers to remember about Shave Inn Electric and Company, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I'd just just like I said before, remember, it's not just it's not just clients and contractors and it's you know, I mean, it's I'm a smaller business, so I like I like to have I like to have the customer experience as well as I like for the customer to have the client or the contractor experience. And it's no different. I'm not putting bigger companies down in no way. I mean, they have their place and thank God for them. Uh, but you know, there's a difference in a McDonald's hamburger and a mom and pop hamburger. And you know, it's it's a big it's you're either doing it for production or you're doing it for passion. And not that you can't have passion passion in the production, but I just really feel like I'm afforded the opportunity to give the customer the greatest experience all the way through, not just with the electrical uh systems and their electrical needs, but just a a family, family bond that that I feel like I I have the opportunity to give. And um I would say that's what I that's what I really strive for when I look for my employees and when I look for my customers. I want that experience as well as they want it. And I hope that that recipe uh bakes the cake.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. I love it. Production or passion, I love it. Yes, that's a great phrase. Well, Kevin, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with us and tell us all about uh uh your company and you and and uh your passion, and we appreciate that and uh wish you and your family uh and and your business all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much, and thank you for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01:

Look forward to maybe we can have you back sometime. I would love it. All right, sounds great. We'll look we'll look for you soon then. Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GMP Try Dash Cities.com. That's GMP Try Dash Cities.com or call four two two two two two two two two two two three seven one nine five eight seven three.