Business	9 Months Ended
Business	Jun. 30, 2013
Business [Abstract]
Description of the Business	1. BUSINESS Description of the Business Integrated Electrical Services, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is a leading provider of infrastructure services to the residential, commercial and industrial industries as well as for data centers and other mission critical environments. We operate primarily in the electrical infrastructure markets, with a corporate focus on expanding into other markets through strategic acquisitions or investments. Originally established as IES in 1997, we provide services from our 54 domestic locations as of June 30, 2013. Our operations are organized into three principal business segments, based upon the nature of our current products and services: Communications– Nationwide provider of products and services for mission critical infrastructure, such as data centers, of large corporations. Residential– Regional provider of electrical installation services for single-family housing and multi-family apartment complexes. Commercial & Industrial– Provider of electrical design, construction, and maintenance services to the commercial and industrial markets in various regional markets and nationwide in certain areas of expertise, such as the power infrastructure market. The words “IES”, the “Company”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. and, except as otherwise specified herein, to our wholly-owned subsidiaries. Our Communications segment is a leading provider of network infrastructure products and services for data centers and other mission critical environments. Services offered include the design, installation and maintenance of network infrastructure for the financial, medical, hospitality, government, high-tech manufacturing, educational and information technology industries. We also provide the design and installation of audio/visual, telephone, fire, wireless and intrusion alarm systems as well as design/build, service and maintenance of data network systems. We perform services across the United States from our ten offices as of June 30, 2013, which includes our Communications headquarters located in Tempe, Arizona, allowing for dedicated onsite maintenance teams at our customer’s sites. Our Residential segment provides electrical installation services for single-family housing and multi-family apartment complexes and CATV cabling installations for residential and light commercial applications. In addition to our core electrical construction work, the Residential segment has expanded its offerings by providing services for the installation of residential solar power, smart meters, electric car charging stations and stand-by generators, both for new construction and existing residences. The Residential segment is made up of 26 total locations as of June 30, 2013, which includes our Residential headquarters in Houston. These segment locations geographically cover Texas, California, the Sun-Belt, and the Western and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, including Hawaii. Our Commercial & Industrial segment is one of the largest providers of electrical contracting services in the United States. The segment offers a broad range of electrical design, construction, renovation, engineering and maintenance services to the commercial and industrial markets. The Commercial & Industrial segment consists of 18 total locations as of June 30, 2013, which includes our Commercial & Industrial headquarters in Houston, Texas. These locations geographically cover Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon and the Mid-Atlantic region. Services include the design of electrical systems within a building or complex, procurement and installation of wiring and connection to power sources, end-use equipment and fixtures, as well as contract maintenance. We focus on projects that require special expertise, such as design-and-build projects that utilize the capabilities of our in-house experts, or projects which require specific market expertise, such as transmission and distribution and power generation facilities. We also focus on service, maintenance and certain renovation and upgrade work, which tends to be either recurring or have lower sensitivity to economic cycles, or both. We provide services for a variety of projects, including: high-rise residential and office buildings, power plants, manufacturing facilities, data centers, chemical plants, refineries, wind farms, solar facilities, municipal infrastructure and health care facilities, and residential developments. Our utility services consist of overhead and underground installation and maintenance of electrical and other utilities transmission and distribution networks, installation and splicing of high-voltage transmission and distribution lines, substation construction and substation and right-of-way maintenance. Our maintenance services generally provide recurring revenues that are typically less affected by levels of construction activity. Service and maintenance revenues are derived from service calls and routine maintenance contracts, which tend to be recurring and less sensitive to short term economic fluctuations. Sale of Non-Strategic Manufacturing Facility On November 30, 2010, a subsidiary of the Company sold substantially all the assets and certain liabilities of a non-strategic manufacturing facility engaged in manufacturing and selling fabricated metal buildings housing electrical equipment, such as switchgears, motor starters and control systems, to Siemens Energy, Inc. As part of this transaction, Siemens Energy, Inc. also acquired the real property upon which the fabrication facilities are located from a subsidiary of the Company. The transaction was completed on December 10, 2010 for a purchase price of $10,086 at which time we recognized a gain of $6,763. Sale of Non-Core Electrical Distribution Facility On February 28, 2011, Key Electrical Supply, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, sold substantially all the assets and certain liabilities of a non-core electrical distribution facility engaged in distributing wiring, lighting, electrical distribution, power control and generators for residential and commercial applications to Elliot Electric Supply, Inc. for a purchase price of $6,676. The loss on this transaction was immaterial. Related Party Transactions On December 12, 2007, we entered into a $25,000 senior subordinated loan agreement with Tontine Capital Partners, L.P. and its affiliates (collectively, “Tontine”), our controlling shareholder (the “Tontine Term Loan”). The Tontine Term Loan bore interest at 11.0% per annum and was due on May 15, 2013. Interest was payable quarterly in cash or in-kind at our option. Any interest paid in-kind also bore interest at 11.0% in addition to the loan principal. In 2010, we prepaid $15,000, and on February 13, 2013, we repaid the remaining $10,000 of principal on the Tontine Term Loan with existing cash on hand and proceeds from our $5,000 term loan with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”). The Tontine Term Loan was subordinated to the 2012 Credit Facility. The Tontine Term Loan was an unsecured obligation of the Company and its subsidiary borrowers and contained no financial covenants or restrictions on dividends or distributions to stockholders. The Tontine Term Loan was amended on August 9, 2012 in connection with the Company entering into the 2012 Credit Facility. The amendment did not materially impact the Company’s obligations under the Tontine Term Loan. For a description of the 2012 Credit Facility, please see Note 4 “Debt – The 2012 Revolving Credit Facility” in the Notes to these Consolidated Financial Statements. While Tontine is subject to restrictions under federal securities laws on sales of its shares as an affiliate, Tontine is party to a Registration Rights Agreement with the Company under which it has the ability, subject to certain restrictions, to demand registration of its shares in order to permit unrestricted sales of those shares. On February 20, 2013, pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, Tontine delivered a request to the Company for registration of all of its shares of IES common stock, and on February 21, 2013, the Company filed a shelf registration statement (as amended, the “Shelf Registration Statement”) to register Tontine’s shares. The Shelf Registration Statement was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on June 18, 2013. As long as the Shelf Registration remains effective, Tontine has the ability to resell any or all of its shares from time to time in one or more offerings, as described in the Shelf Registration Statement and in any prospectus supplement filed in connection with an offering pursuant to the Shelf Registration Statement. On March 13, 2013, the Company and MISCOR Group, Ltd., an Indiana corporation, (“MISCOR”) announced that they had entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated March 13, 2013, as amended by the First Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of July 10, 2013 (as amended, the “Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which IES will acquire 100% of the common stock of MISCOR in a stock and cash transaction. The transaction is currently expected to close in September 2013. As of July 24, 2013, Tontine beneficially owned 49.9% of the issued and outstanding shares of MISCOR common stock. Given Tontine’s significant holdings in both the Company and MISCOR, only the disinterested members of the IES Board of Directors voted on, and unanimously approved, the Merger Agreement. In addition, MISCOR established a special committee of independent directors that voted on and approved the Merger Agreement and recommended approval of the Merger Agreement by the full MISCOR board of directors. After receiving approval from the special committee, the disinterested members of the MISCOR board of directors unanimously approved the Merger Agreement. For additional information on the proposed Merger with MISCOR, please refer to Note 15, “Subsequent Events” in the Notes to these Consolidated Financial Statements. On March 29, 2012, we entered into a sublease agreement with Tontine Associates, LLC, an affiliate of our controlling shareholder, for corporate office space in Greenwich, Connecticut. The lease extends from April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2014, with monthly payments due in the amount of $6. The lease has terms at market rates and payments by the Company are at a rate consistent with that paid by Tontine Associates, LLC to its landlord. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies These unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect, in the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position as of, and the results of operations for, the periods presented. All adjustments are considered to be normal and recurring unless otherwise described herein. Interim period results are not necessarily indicative of results of operations or cash flows for the full year. During interim periods, we follow the same accounting policies disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012. Please refer to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, when reviewing our interim financial results set forth herein. Adoption of New Accounting Pronouncement In June 2011, the FASB issued amended authoritative guidance associated with comprehensive income, which requires companies to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. This update eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in equity. This amendment to the authoritative guidance associated with comprehensive income was effective for the Company on October 1, 2012 and has been applied retrospectively. We have adopted a single continuous statement of comprehensive income. In December 2011, the FASB deferred the effective date of the specific requirement to present items that are reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income to net income alongside their respective components of net income and other comprehensive income. We will adopt this requirement effective October 1, 2013, though it will have no impact to our financial statements. Fair Value of Financial Instruments Our financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, notes receivable, investments, accounts payable, a line of credit, notes payable issued to finance our insurance policies, a contingent consideration agreement, and an interest rate swap agreement and a term loan with Wells Fargo. We believe that the carrying value of financial instruments, with the exception of the Tontine Term Loan and our cost method investment in EnerTech Capital Partners II L.P. (“EnerTech”), in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets approximates their fair value due to their short-term nature. We evaluate the fair value of the Tontine Term Loan and our investment in EnerTech on a non-recurring basis. While the carrying value of the Tontine Term Loan was zero at June 30, 2013, we estimated the fair value in prior periods using level 3 inputs, including an estimated interest rate reflecting current market conditions. We estimate the fair value of our investment in EnerTech to be $1,047 at June 30, 2013, using level 3 inputs, including quarterly valuation estimations provided by management of the fund. For a detailed discussion of financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis, please refer to Note 10, “Fair Value Measurements” in the Notes to these Consolidated Financial Statements. Goodwill Goodwill attributable to each reporting unit is tested for impairment by comparing the fair value of each reporting unit with its carrying value. Fair value is determined using discounted cash flows. These impairment tests are required to be performed at least annually. Significant estimates used in the methodologies include estimates of future cash flows, future short-term and long-term growth rates, and weighted average cost of capital for each of the reportable units. On an ongoing basis (absent any impairment indicators), we perform an impairment test annually using a measurement date of September 30. Asset Impairment During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded a pretax non-cash asset impairment charge of $688 related to real estate held by our Commercial & Industrial segment. The real estate was held within a location selected for closure during 2011. This impairment was to adjust the carrying value of real estate held for sale to the estimated current market value less expected selling expenses, the value at which we expected to sell this real estate within one year. In July 2013, we entered into an agreement to sell this real estate for $200 less than our carrying value. We recorded an additional asset impairment charge of $200 as of June 30, 2013. The real estate is classified as assets held for sale within our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Use of Estimates and Assumptions The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires the use of estimates and assumptions by management in determining the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosures of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Estimates are primarily used in our revenue recognition of construction in progress, fair value assumptions in analyzing goodwill, investments, long-lived asset impairments and adjustments, allowance for doubtful accounts receivable, stock-based compensation, reserves for legal matters, realizability of deferred tax assets, and self-insured claims liabilities and related reserves. Tax Provision A reliable estimate of the annual effective tax rate cannot be determined. Therefore, the Company is using year to date income tax expense to determine the income tax provision for the three months ended and nine months ended June 30, 2013. Cash and Cash Equivalents We consider all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. We use restricted cash to collateralize our letters of credit. Seasonality and Quarterly Fluctuations Results of operations from our Residential construction segment are seasonal, depending on weather trends, with typically higher revenues generated during spring and summer and lower revenues during fall and winter. The Communications and Commercial & Industrial segments of our business are less subject to seasonal trends, as work in these segments generally is performed inside structures protected from the weather. Our service and maintenance business is generally not affected by seasonality. In addition, the construction industry has historically been highly cyclical. Our volume of business may be adversely affected by declines in construction projects resulting from adverse regional or national economic conditions. Quarterly results may also be materially affected by the timing of new construction projects. Accordingly, operating results for any fiscal period are not necessarily indicative of results that may be achieved for any subsequent fiscal period.