How Do I Find a Good Commercial Electrician?

How Do I Find a Good Commercial Electrician?

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Hiring local commercial electricians can create a few challenges for construction businesses. This can be frustrating considering the tight schedules that need to be met. There are a number of ways to improve your ability to find an electrician who's experienced and knowledgeable. You want to make sure a job gets done on time, and that it's done right the first time.

1. Commercial Electrical Work Requires Experience

Keep your expectations high when hiring local commercial electricians. Commercial projects are each unique and demand knowledge and prior experience. You can't look at commercial jobs the same way you might residential ones, where you often have the same work in the same layout according to the same blueprints. There, you can often safely hire a capable electrician who does solid work.

With commercial work, you need to choose from the best you can find. That means you need to expand your options to find an electrician who will meet very high standards. You need to know they've taken on this kind of job before, and that they were able to meet deadlines there. Your confidence that they can do this job rests on their having proven they have successfully done similar work before.

2. Check Their References

A shocking number of businesses skip this step. They see a prior business and its number listed and they take the reference on faith. You can't think most will lie here, but some will. Anyone lying about a reference can't be hired to do electrical work.

Beyond this, you may have an electrician list a reference despite it being a bad one. You may call and talk to their prior employer only to find out they missed deadlines and weren't reliable. Or the electrician may think they did satisfactory work because someone was being polite. It may be revealed that what they thought was a quality reference didn't regard them so highly. It's very quick to check references, and most will come back as expected – positively. It's the few times when they're negative that can cost you if you failed to verify them.

3. Confirm Licensing, Insurance, Bonding

This is a speedy check. Most any construction business will remember to do this. Every once in a while, however, you find one that doesn't verify licensing and insurance. It's rare, but absolutely devastating if forgotten. If an unlicensed electrician is injured on the job, you're liable for workers compensation. Insurance means they're covered for damages if they do something wrong.

Bonding is also important. If you can't get hold of them and they're still responsible for incomplete work, this provides coverage for you.

Similarly, additional workers the electrician brings in should be on their payroll. Of course, this is factored into what you pay them, but it's important that for payroll purposes they work for the electrician. This means the electrician is responsible for workers comp claims, and not you.

4. Do They Have Additional Credentials?

Diamond certification means you're working with a very high-rated electrician. There are many additional recognitions to keep an eye out for. These vary by field and specialty. Don't worry – an electrician is sure to list their accomplishments – it helps them get jobs and justifies their rates.

It's your job to check that these credentials and recognitions are accurate, and to understand what they signify. They can help separate electricians in your eyes, in terms of the work they've done previously.

5. Adaptability Is a Must

Local commercial electricians should be flexible in terms of solving problems. Know what problems they've encountered in the past and how they've solved them. Any commercial construction project will have unexpected issues. It's your job to solve them quickly. To do this, you'll need to communicate well with the specialized workers you've hired.

Adaptability might mean they think about the project differently than you. That's OK – in many cases its preferable. It means they'll see things you don't. They'll recognize the potential impact of a decision that you might not. Be open to their advice. It's important that they can communicate clearly and comfortably. It's also important that they understand the final decision rests with you. Their attitude should be cooperative, not confrontational.

Delays don't just happen from unforeseen construction issues. They also happen due to disagreement, misunderstandings, and unclear communication.

6. Work with a Skilled Labor Agency

Of course, a highly effective way to find a good commercial electrician for your construction project is to work with Labor For Hire. Labor staffing agencies help increase the talent pool of skilled workers that you choose from. The more electricians you know about, the more likely you are to get better candidates in your top choices.

Just as crucially, they can quickly verify experience, licensing, insurance, bonding, credentials, past projects, and references so you can dedicate your time to the construction project itself. They can quickly translate this amount of information in a way that's clear and concise for each candidate. They also run preliminary interviews so they can narrow down your interviews to the very best electricians who are actually deserving of your time.

It's all built around increasing your reach to find an electrician, while saving you the incredible amount of time you'd spend doing so. It helps you keep focus on the job. You spend less time overall because you talk to only the most ideal candidates, whose specifics are all verified for you by experts in connecting you to the very best skilled workers.

Download a Checklist for Hiring a Labor Staffing Agency | Labor for Hire