From time-to-time electrical stuff has a habit of going wrong! When that happens, we often find ourselves in a mad rush trying to find a local electrician to help. The oven breaks or the outside lights go on the blink, just at the inconvenient or wrong time!
However, in an ideal world we should plan for such eventualities and have a qualified Electrician Long Island on hand to be called out at reasonable cost and to be able to have the peace of mind that we are not going to be let down, over charged or presented with poor or ineffective work.
So, to planning! Finding the right electrical contractor involves a bit work, but it will be worth it to ensure that you select the right one. The starting point in any research is to make a list of what you need from a local electrician. Here is a check list of some of the areas that you will wish to consider:
- 1. How quickly can they get to you? In other words – response time. You may wish to break this down to responses for urgent and non-urgent work. Clearly there will be cost implications.
- 2. Cost of providing the service. Very important to ensure that you get value for money and understand what a job will cost you. You should ask about hourly rates, any call out fee, any retainer fee (for having an urgent response). As mentioned above – ask about costs for any emergency call out.
- 3. Qualifications. Easy to assume that a good local electrician is qualified. But, you should be sure to ask.
- 4. Goods supplied. As part of electrical work it may be necessary for goods to be supplied as part of the job; for example – light fittings, switches, etc. You may be content to allow the contractor to purchase and supply these items on your behalf; if so, be aware that they will usually mark u the price of these items. If overall cost is an issue, you can save money by purchasing any required items yourself, but do be sure to get the exact specification from your electrician.
- 5. Public Liability Insurance. If anything goes wrong – are they covered? If they do not have this, it is a big red flag. So, move on and look elsewhere.
- 6. Recommendations. Businesses live and die on these ever since social media was invented. You can look online (do not just rely on what they have on their web site, as that just might be a bit one sided!). You can also ask for personal recommendations from people who have had recent work done.
- 7. Do they have a contract for you to sign? This is useful if a job goes wrong. It should set out clearly what is expected – range of services, agreed response times, rates along with any guarantees provided and their complaints procedure.
A good local electrician is worth his weight in gold. Choose carefully and you will have peace of mind.
