How to Hire an Electrician Without Getting Burned

Check the license first

California licenses electrical contractors through the Contractors State License Board. The classification for electrical work is C 10. Any job over five hundred dollars in labor and materials needs one.

Search the number on the board website. It shows the status, the name it belongs to, the bond, any workers compensation policy, and any discipline. A number that does not match the name on the truck is the end of the conversation.

What a real quote contains

The scope in plain words, the number of circuits or fixtures, the brand and model of the main parts, whether the permit is included, who patches and paints, the payment schedule and the labor warranty in months.

California limits the down payment on a home improvement contract to one thousand dollars or ten percent of the price, whichever is less. Anyone asking for half up front is telling you something.

Questions that get useful answers

Who will actually be on site and are they your employees. Are you pulling the permit. What happens if you open the wall and find something worse. How do you charge for that. What is the warranty on labor and how do I reach you in a year.

The answers matter less than how easily they come. Someone who has done this a thousand times answers all five without pausing.

Signs to walk away

A price only good today. Cash only with no invoice. Asking you to pull the permit as an owner builder, which moves the liability onto you. No physical address. A large deposit before work starts. Pressure about something in your panel that they discovered during a free inspection.

The free panel inspection that finds an emergency is a known pattern. Get a second opinion before agreeing to anything on the spot.