As you start to think about home ownership, you imagine a beautiful place to call your own in a nice neighborhood. With all the home shows on TV, you are soon dreaming of what style of house you’d like and imagining the open concept kitchen and stainless-steel appliances. Scenes of weekend barbecues, the comfort of coming home after a long day at work and a wonderful lawn and garden that greet you as you pull into the driveway fill your field of vision. Stepping into home buying is really a time when you see your dreams start to come to life.
When you finally close on the sale and get the keys to your new dwelling, another reality begins to take hold. As homeowners, you are now responsible for all the maintenance and upgrades to your property. While there are a lot of home improvement tasks you can take on by yourself, some repairs or improvements are best left to qualified experts. Working on your electrical system falls into this category, because you can’t make any mistakes when you are dealing with the power of electricity.
Are You Fully Licensed by the State and in Good Standing?
Each state typically has an agency that is responsible for licensing contractors. In some locations the name of the government entity may be something like the Division of Consumer Affairs, while in other places it could be called the Contractor’s Licensing Board.
Once you find the appropriate agency for your state, you’ll be able to look up your local electrical services contractor and make sure they are licensed and that they are currently in good standing. You may also be able to see if there were any complaints or adverse actions taken against the firm.
How Long Have You Been in Business and Will You Provide References?
Contractors come and go, and you’ll find that companies that started out several years ago may no longer be in business at all. For that reason, you’ll want to look for an electrical contractor that has withstood the test of time. You’ll want to work with a firm that has been serving local customers for at least 10 plus years.
It’s important to get references from the firm you are considering hiring. They should be able to give you the names and numbers of clients who had similar work done. You should also check online reviews for your electrical firm. These will give you an excellent window into how they do business and how satisfied their customers are.
Do You Offer a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee and Lifetime Labor Warranty?
When you are having extensive electrical work done on your home, you’ll want the comfort of knowing that your contractor will stand behind the services that they provide. If the company offers a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, you’ll know they intend to do the work right the first time.
This guarantee, and a lifetime warranty on labor, will also tell you that the company has a highly trained staff that they trust. You can see more information about how they back up the work they do when you call their references and read their online reviews.
If you are looking to pick the right electrical contractor for work you need done on your home, it pays to do your due diligence. It’s critical to check the firm’s licensing status, follow up with references, read their reviews and see if they stand behind the work that they do for clients.
