According to the Bureau of Labor, there are 690,050 electricians in the United States. You should be able to find an electrician if you need one for electrical repair. 

However, you can't just pick any random electrician you find. This could lead to disaster. Many electricians have mediocre skills or are straight up scam artists. 

Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take to find the right electrician for you. Read on for 9 tips you should follow during your next electrical repair company search. 

1. Look Beforehand 

As soon as you move to a new area, take the time to search for the right local electrical repair services. Don't wait until you're experiencing electrical problems. You won't be able to search with a clear head in this situation. 

You don't need to do all your searching at once. Just spend a few minutes here and there on searching until you've found the perfect residential electrician. Even if you have a busy life, you can probably spare this time.

2. Talk to Friends

You don't need to search alone. At least a few of your local friends, family members, and so on should know some local electrical repair services. To find out about the companies they've used, all you need to do is ask. 

Bring up the fact that you need an electrician in a conversation with them. At least someone should've worked with a local electrician in the past. They should tell you about the good or bad experience they had with them. 

3. Talk to Strangers Online

Social media is also a good place to go when you need help hiring an electrician. Join a social media subgroup based on your local area. Then make a post where you ask people for good electricians in the area. 

At least a few friendly people should answer your question. You can then write their answers down and use this to start your search.

4. Find Reviews 

Any company that's been around long enough should have some customer reviews. You may even be able to find some on the company's site. Use these to help yourself learn what it's like to work with a company. 

However, keep in mind that not all customer reviews are legitimate. Some companies make fake reviews or pay others to make fake reviews for them. Learn how to spot fake reviews so you can separate the truth from the lies. 

5. Get an Older Electrician Service 

Choose an electrical service that has been in your area for some time over one that's only been around for a few years. Long-term local electrical repair services will know all the best places around to get the equipment they need. They'll also know about any common problems local construction companies may have caused. 

Beyond that, long-time local electrical services are trusted by the locals. If a business doesn't provide satisfactory services, locals will stop visiting. This lack of business will cause the company to quickly fail. 

6. Look at Their Licenses 

Most states require electricians to have licenses before they can work. They also need to regularly renew their licenses every few years or so. If an electrical repair has no licensed electricians, do not work with that company. 

Beyond that, there are certain levels of licensing that must be present at an electrical company. To run an electrical business, an electrician must have a contractor's license. To supervise electricians with journeyman or apprentice licenses, an electrician needs to have a master electrician license. 

So an electrical company needs at least one master and one contractor license. See if you can find employer license information on each company's site. If you can't find this information, try asking the company's customer service for this information. 

7. Check For Insurance 

Most electrician license issuers require electricians to have insurance before they can acquire a license. However, you should still check to make sure that an electrical company has insurance. You could be in big trouble if they don't. 

You see, even the most skilled electricians can make mistakes. All electricians should know that. This is why they get insurance so they can pay for any mistakes that they make. 

When an electrician makes a mistake that causes damage, they talk to their insurance company. The company then reimburses them and they pay for the damage they caused. If a company doesn't have insurance, the client will be left to pay for the damage on their own. 

8. Ask For an Itemized Bill

Scam artists may not look like scam artists at the start. They may have a great website and skilled technicians. However, you can then look at your bill at the end of the project and find it's way higher than you expected. 

Scammers often add illegitimate charges onto a bill to boost the price. If you don't see these charges on your bill, you can't contest them in court. This is why you need to ask for an itemized bill or a bill that has all charges written out. Legitimate electrical companies should be more than happy to provide you with such a bill. An illegitimate company will likely refuse. 

9. Find a Company's Physical Location 

Another way to spot a scam company is to look for a physical address. Many scam companies don't have one. This helps them easily run away after scamming a lot of people. 

Find each prospective electrical company's address and search for it on Google Maps. You should see a building and not an empty lot. 

Hire Our Electrical Repair Services 

As you can see, hiring an electrical repair service can take a lot of digging. However, you need to spend the proper amount of time on this. If you don't, a poorly repaired electrical system could leave you with an even bigger headache. 

While you're searching, consider looking at our services. We're a Generac dealer in Northeastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia, that also offers skilled electrical repair and installation. All of our electricians are properly licensed and insured. 

Get in touch with us today by filling out the form on this page.