Atlanta Electrician & Electrical Contractor

Why You Should Hire an Electrician

Published on October 13, 2012 by: Mike Daniels

Why You Should Hire an Electrician

Electricity: when it works right, you do not think about it at all. When it stops working, it's all you can think about. Flickering lights, tripping breakers, sudden, random appliance resets, and blown fuses all get under your skin and stay there until the problem is fixed for good. While you might want to save a few bucks attempting to fix your electrical problems yourself, you really should pause to better assess the situation.

While you might be a highly skilled home carpenter or plumber, your exaggeration of your own amateur electrician skills could put your life at risk. You could inadvertently start a home fire that could endanger the lives of others, and cause you, your loved ones and neighbors to lose everything. You could also provoke your local law officials to cite you for performing work without a proper permit, and your homeowner's policy to nullify any future claims resulting from your botched electrical repair attempts. Learn now why hiring a licensed electrician can save you the headache, potential safety risks and legal hassles of performing your own electrical work.

Home Electrical Work Might Require a Permit

Electrical work permit laws vary from state to state. Therefore, it is always best to get one or more estimates from resident electricians to precisely pinpoint the cause of the problem. With this information in hand, you can call your local building department to inquire about the needed permits. Generally speaking, you need a permit to alter or install permanent wiring devices, and alter or install low-voltage computer, stereo, or security alarms. You also will probably need a permit to convert from a fuse box to a circuit breaker system, run additional wiring, and to install a new garage-door opener receptacle.

If you fail to get the right permits, your local building department might fine you up to $2,000 per day that you violated your local or state laws. The city could also disconnect your electricity, and serve you with additional fines for failing to correct your violations before your next state-mandated electrical system inspection.

Bad Electrical Work Can Cause Fires

Amateur electrical work can literally cause your home to go up in flames. Some examples include connecting neutral and hot wires to the wrong terminals, using the wrong wire sizes, and ignoring loose connections and nicked wires. A whole slew of other electrical mishaps can also cause immediate fires, or fires that transpire weeks, months and years down the road. Licensed electricians are trained to look for factors inside of your home that could contribute to fires. These resident electricians eradicate these risks as they come across them to ensure that you and your family are saved from these potentially life-threatening circumstances.

Homeowner's Policy Claims Can Be Rejected

If you insist on performing electrical home work yourself, you might be setting yourself up for future denied home insurance claims. Many insurance companies have clauses in them that clearly state that work resulting from unlicensed electricians proven to cause the current problem will not be covered under your policy. Therefore, doing the work yourself instead of paying a licensed electrician to do the work can cost you thousands and thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses in the long run.

Hiring a Licensed Electrician Guarantees Safe Results

Like plumbers and carpenters, resident electricians are required by law to receive state-approved training. They must also pass rigorous written and hands-on testing to ensure that their skills are up to par with the industry standard. Because they devote their working lives to installing and fixing electrical systems, licensed electricians can perform the work safely, accurately and efficiently, meaning that you can depend upon them to have your electrical system in tip-top shape in mere days.

SOURCES:
Permits Protect
Articles - McCall.com
Washington Government Website