Hire a Licensed
Local Electrician
Near You.

Burning smell, sparking, a shock, or water in the panel

Stop and call. These can start a fire or hurt someone, and they are what an emergency electrician is for. Switch off the affected breaker first if you can reach it safely.

Emergency electrician

A breaker that trips again as soon as you reset it

Once is usually an overloaded circuit. Again and again usually means a short, a ground fault or a breaker that has worn out, and it needs testing before anyone resets it again.

Circuit breaker repair

Lights that flicker, or outlets that work some days and not others

Almost always a loose connection upstream, at a device, a splice or the panel. It looks minor, which is why it gets ignored, while the loose terminal keeps heating up every time the circuit carries a load.

Electrical troubleshooting

Half a room dead, or one circuit gone with the rest of the house fine

The fault is on that circuit: a failed outlet or switch, a damaged cable, or a tripped GFCI somewhere you haven't looked yet. Once the cause is found, it's a straightforward electrical repair.

Electrical repair

Adding an EV charger, a heat pump, a hot tub or an electric range

What matters is how many amps the service has left. An older panel can be in good shape and still be full, and then the panel upgrade comes before the new appliance can be hooked up.

Electrical panel upgrade

Two-prong outlets, a fuse box, or wiring you know is original

Common in houses built before about 1960. Some of it can be made safe where it is and some needs replacing. An electrical inspection tells you which, and what each option involves.

Electrical inspection

The first visit

What does the
electrician check?

A licensed electrician starts by finding the cause rather than swapping parts. On a first visit for a fault or an upgrade, that usually means looking at these before quoting the job.

1. The panel

   Breakers checked for heat, scorching and loose connections, and the panel brand noted. Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels get a closer look, because both have a reputation for breakers that fail to trip.

2. The circuit that's acting up

   Tested under load, with the breaker size, wire gauge and every outlet and switch on the run traced. A trip, a warm outlet or a flicker usually comes down to one point on that run.

3. Grounding and GFCI protection

   Outlets in kitchens, bathrooms, garages and outdoors checked for GFCI protection, and the grounding checked at the panel. Three-prong outlets and surge protection both depend on it.

4. Room for what's coming next

   Planning an EV charger, a heat pump or a generator? A load calculation shows whether the service can carry it, or whether the panel has to come first.