1. Should the electrician that I hire be both licensed and insured or should I just hire someone who is licensed?

 

1. Should the electrician that I hire be both licensed and insured or should I just hire someone who is licensed?

Where are you located? That could make a difference with respect to insurance. Also, having an active license may require insurance.

Generally with outside contractors, I require they have both. For an occasional worker (like for leaf clean up) neither is usually required where I live. That does not hold true for someone doing household electrical work for hire.

 

Hmm can electrical mishap cause expensive issues?

 

Not sure where you are but generally they can't be licensed for business without insurance.

 

In my town they have to be licensed by the state and on the city approved vendor list. Both cost money for providers. Licensed, Insured and Bonded. When I have done work I just call my city inspector he comes by and looks at whatever work I did and signs off on my permit. Not much a matter of what could go wrong as a matter of was the work done to code? Was GFCI used as required (for example when I added the garage).

Hmm can electrical mishap cause expensive issues?

Failure to properly ground? Using light, too light, of wire gauge. Failing to use a circuit breaker rated for the circuit. My wife;s cousin had work done in AZ by a friend of her husband who fortunately was a legit and insured business. A wire left trimmedand floating eventually began to brush a ceiling can light. Half the house burned down. They were glad the business doing the work was licensed and insured.

Ron

 

1. Should the electrician that I hire be both licensed and insured or should I just hire someone who is licensed?

You should hire an electrician that's licensed, bonded, and insured. All three are a must.

 

While not an electrician my wife managed a small TV station for her career. Just before she went on board there was a full audit, she was insured and bonded because her daily task included moving large sums of money and writing large checks. Great job and after 25 years she retired and again the board required a full audit. I always told he she should have set aside several million and we head to a country with no US extradition.

Seriously when half of my wife's cousin had her house burn to the ground it was nice the contractor was insured and bonded.

Several years ago I had a large tree removed from our front yard. The tree overhung my neighbors yard. My neighbor suggested a company his brother was involved with so yeah, I called for a quote. They came in about $300 under the company I used but no insurance or bonding. Like I told my neighbor, if something goes very wrong, it was a very big tree, I want any damage to your property covered. Anytime I use a contractor I look for bonded and insured and someone registered with the city. I have no problem with paying more. It only takes once of something going very wrong.

Ron