What you Need to Know Before Hiring an Electrical Contractor

Before you hire a residential electrical contractor to complete electrical work in your home or business, you'll need to do a bit of investigation, planning and interviewing. You'll want to get an idea of what the project really involves and consider a number of contractors before deciding on which electrician to hire. Before deciding on a residential electrical electrician, you'll need to check on his reputation, knowledge, skills and education. You'll also need to ensure that he is properly licensed and insured. Get his license number and ask for proof of bonding or workers compensation insurance.
A licensed electrician is required for insurance reasons but you also want to know that you're hiring a true professional with the expertise to do good safe and quality work. You need the electrician to carry the appropriate insurance coverage to protect yourself in case of any accidents or injuries while he's on the job as well.

Any work done to your home or business can seriously disrupt normal activities. Before work begins you'll want to know approximately how long the project will take. When taking bids on work, you should also ask for as firm a time frame as possible from each contractor. This allows you to plan your life or business activities around the work, and also helps you hold the contractor to a reasonable window for the completion of the project.

Once you've selected a residential electrical contractor, you should ensure that a written agreement is in place. This agreement should include detailed information on the project time frame, materials required, labour estimates, and price sheets for both labour and materials. Review the contract thoroughly and ask for more information whenever insufficient data is provided.

Most electrical contractors ask for a certain amount of the project cost to be paid up front in order to pay for the cost of materials and initial labour expenses. The balance will be paid after the work is entirely completed. Typically, you should expect the upfront portion to be somewhere between 30% and 50% of the entire project budget.

Hiring an electrical contractor may not be such a big issue, but it is still important, so make sure you do enough research and choose the contractor best suited to your needs.

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