Guide to Hiring Electricians for Home Improvement & Repair
Electricians have a dangerous job, don’t they? When you think about it, many electricians are out there, and only about half of them are actually qualified, certified and licensed, as well as insured (that last one’s extremely important and we’ll get into that later in this article). When you need to hire an electrician, there are a lot of important things you need to think about and we’re going to give you afew tips to make it a lot easier, as well as help to put your mind at rest about some things so it’s not such an excruciating process to you.
Hourly Rates Aren’t the Important Part
A lot of people think that just because an electrician can cost up to a hundred dollars an hour means that it’s too expensive, but many people don’t think about all of the risks involved, as well as their quality of work, and even their experience. Believe it or not, good electricians will usually charge up to a hundred an hour because if you get less, you might end up getting someone on the job who doesn’t know what they’re doing, or lacks the proper equipment in order to get the job done quickly, so you end up paying more in the long run anyway. Experienced technicians get the job done often faster and with better quality.
Think About the Travel
A lot of electricians have to pay travel charges which are usually included. You don’t want to hire an electrician who has to drive two hours just to get to your house, because that travel time will be much higher than one who’s only 30 minutes away, even if the one that’s 30 minutes away charges $100 an hour. Find out how much their travel charges are before you sign anything, and see if they include them in the final fee or for the first hour (the latter being more common). Some even charge a flat mileage rate.
Make Sure They’re Insured
Not too long ago, supergiants Wal-Mart ended up having a lawsuit because one of their remodeling electricians wasn’t insured. This led in a humongous fee on Wal-Mart’s part for their negligence, and they were held liable and responsible. Therefore, make sure that your technician is insured as well as fully licensed in your state. Don’t just believe them when you ask – ask to see the physical proof. If an electrician won’t show you this information, then they don’t deserve your dollar.
Have More Than One Project? Make it One Trip!
With the above statements about travel charges and hourly rates, you may want your technician to actually do a couple of jobs that you have ongoing in your home’s construction, remodel, or just anything as simple as upgrading special appliances where electrical work needs to be redone. By putting those projects into one trip, this can save you a lot of money and you’ll usually avoid extra travel fees and hours of work.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. While this isn’t by far all of the essentials you may need to know when it comes to hiring your electrician (you also want to make sure you help them know what all needs to be done, so they can do better quality work, and faster work), they are crucial in order to make sure that both you and your electrician have a great working relationship so you can get the best quality of work for whatever your home or commercial project is.
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