You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to hiring electricians in America. Almost 740,000 of them were working across the country a couple of years ago! That’s a huge number of people rushing around installing, maintaining, and repairing our precious household communications and electrical systems.
With so many to choose from, you’d think it’d be easy to find a high-quality licensed electrician. Yet not all of them are made equal and the sheer number of options can make it harder to know who’s best for the job! Are you familiar with the struggle and want some top tips to help you overcome the issue?
You’re in the right place! Here’s a comprehensive guide to finding a reputable licensed residential electrician (and why you need one in the first place).
The Benefits of Hiring a Professional Electrician
It’s often tempting to tackle electrical jobs yourself when you’ve got a knack for DIY and a house full of tools. But assuming the situation’s more serious than changing a lightbulb, it’s imperative that you hire a licensed electrician for the job! Check out the following benefits of hiring professional electricians to discover why that’s the case:
Swifter Solutions
Even minor electrical issues are frustrating and inconvenient. As a result, most busy homeowners want them to be dealt with ASAP and with minimal fuss. Licensed electricians come into their own in these situations.
Remember, this is what they do for a living! Whether they’re putting wiring plans together, installing electrical fixtures, or incorporating safety apparatus, they’ll have the job done in no time. Expect everything to take ten times longer and involve much more trouble if you try to do it yourself!
Superb Outcomes
There’s always a big difference between amateur and professional endeavors, right? It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about sports, artistic pursuits, or the trades. Professionals make their craft look easy and deliver unparalleled outcomes every time.
It’s the same when you hire a licensed electrician. These guys and gals are highly skilled at what they do! They’ll handle your electrical needs with a level of skill that’d be unattainable if you did it yourself or hired a wannabe sparky instead.
Personal Safety
Dealing with electricity is downright dangerous; one wrong move can cause serious (and sometimes fatal) injuries. That’s why professional electricians do apprenticeships, go to electrician school, and acquire all the personal protective equipment they need to do their job! That’s simply what it takes to learn how to work with electricity without getting hurt.
Trust us, saving money through DIY repairs (or hiring an unlicensed sparky) isn’t worth the risk. Any loose wires, improper installations, and/or substandard parts can put peoples’ well-being on the line. Hiring the pros will prevent any nasty eventualities and keep everybody safer in the process.
Cost-Effectiveness
The idea that hiring a professional tradesman could save you money might seem counterintuitive. After all, you’re paying for their services- and electricians don’t come cheap. But hear us out…
Take the DIY approach and you risk making expensive mistakes. You might also hurt yourself while you’re at it, take forever to complete the task, and/or fail to sort out the situation anyway. By comparison, a licensed electrician will call upon their training, expertise, experience, and pro equipment to handle the job in a fast and effective manner.
Less Stress
Hiring a licensed electrician provides homeowners with peace of mind as well. Their professional input means you no longer have to worry about dodgy wiring, electrical faults, and/or a lack of power in your home! They’ll handle the situation in no time, allowing you and your family to feel safer, comfier, and happier in the house as a result.
Seeking professional support also removes the task from your DIY to-do list. Whether you have the technical ability to do the job or not, they’ll take the responsibility off your shoulders and let you get on with other things. And the fact they’re licensed and insured should alleviate any anxiety over accidents and mishaps that could occur along the way.
How to Find a Licensed Electrician
It’s one thing to know you need a licensed electrician. But with countless companies and self-proclaimed sparkies to choose from, it’s another thing altogether to find the best person for the task! In the coming section we’ll address exactly how to do it:
Ask Friends and Family
Seeking referrals from your network of friends, family, and acquaintances is a good place to start. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for electricians in Delaware, California, Massachusetts, or anywhere else in America! Someone you know may have hired a licensed electrician in the past who they can recommend.
The best part of this approach to finding an electrician is that you trust the person who’s making the recommendation. You know for sure that they’d never suggest someone who wasn’t good enough for the task. Likewise, you can ask about their experience, check how much it cost, and end up with a solid idea of what you’re getting into beforehand.
Leverage Online Reviews
Your next best bet is to leverage the internet. After all, finding a professional electrician isn’t so dissimilar to finding an awesome restaurant to eat at, or a local attraction to visit!
A quick Google search will reveal a host of reviews and recommendations from past customers. You can then read through them, discover what they have to say, and then use these insights to inform your own decision. You might see the same names coming up all the time, telling you which local electricians to trust and who to avoid.
Consider Your Budget
It’s true that hiring a professional electrician is cost-effective compared to the DIY approach. However, there’s no denying that their input can still sting your bank balance! Hourly rates can approach $100, meaning larger jobs can cost thousands of dollars.
For that reason, the best electrician for your needs will be affordable too. They’ll have a rate that matches your budget, without putting too much pressure on your purse strings. A word of advice though:
Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. The budget electrician up the street might be appealing from a financial perspective, but they may not be good enough for the task (and cost even more money overall if you have to correct their mistakes down the line). By contrast, licensed electricians charge higher rates upfront because they offer first-rate support.
Speak to Multiple Electricians
Reflect on the process of purchasing auto insurance for a moment. You’d never buy the first policy you found, right? You’d look for multiple quotes, from different companies, compare your options, and then pick the best of the bunch.
We recommend taking the same tack when looking for an electrician. In other words, you don’t want to be in too much of a rush to hire someone! Why?
Because the first person you speak to might overcharge or have minimal experience in the industry. You can avoid that fate by taking your time, doing your research, and consulting multiple electricians to ensure you hire the best one possible.
Check Their Credentials
Unscrupulous electricians may claim to be licensed when, in actual fact, they’re not! That’s why it’s always worth asking to see a copy of their license before hiring them. You’ll see with your own eyes that everything’s valid.
Oh, and don’t forget to check their insurance details. This is pivotal for covering your back in case of any accidents or substandard work. Never hire anybody who can’t (or refuses to) show evidence of their insurance coverage.
While you’re asking to see these credentials, take the opportunity to request references from past customers as well. There’s nothing more reassuring than hearing an account of an electrician’s attributes straight from the horse’s mouth! Likewise, any unwillingness to put you in touch with past customers could suggest they have something to hide.
Try the Better Business Bureau
The more you can do to verify the reputation of an electrician, the better. With that in mind, we suggest you consult the better business bureau before hiring someone.
This non-profit organization provides trusted ratings of businesses throughout the US, Mexico, and Canada. A quick search should tell you everything you need to know about the reputation of the licensed electrician in question.
Time to Hire the Perfect Electrician
Hundreds of thousands of electricians operate throughout the United States nowadays. But don’t be fooled! Finding the ideal licensed electrician isn’t easy.
Somehow you have to filter through the endless options in your area, separate the good from the bad, and settle on someone who’s reputable, proficient, and affordable. If that’s a battle with which you’ve become familiar, then we hope the tips and tricks in this article will help. Did you enjoy this post?
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