Finding and hiring tradespeople or contractors to work on your home, in theory, has never been easier. However, not everybody is qualified. Here are five ways to be sure you’ve got the right electrician for your home.
In this guide–we’ll break down into five simple steps how you can choose the right North Shore Electrician.
1. Understand why licensing is important
Anyone who does electrical work is required by law to have a valid, current electrician’s licence. Australia-wide requirements ensure that all licensed electricians have the necessary training and have proven their ability to perform as working electricians after undergoing training and apprenticeship. This keeps both your home and your family safe.
2. Check out the contractors website
Checking the phonebook for electrical contractors is almost a thing of the past. Instead, we tend to do a quick Google search when we need tradespeople for home repairs and projects. The only problem is, even with basic searches like “electrician North Shore”, you’ll get pages and pages of results. What it doesn’t give you is a guarantee that each of these contractors are qualified.
Instead of picking the first one and giving them a call, spend a few minutes exploring their website. If they are a legitimate contractor, their website should reflect this. Look for pictures of the team, phone numbers that have the same area codes as you and maps or directions to their offices. An added bonus is if the contractor or business has an active social presence such as a blog, a Facebook profile or a Twitter account. If you can’t find any of these then perhaps head back to your search and click the next result.
3. Check for a license number
This is one aspect where the internet actually helps rather than bombard us with information. As a resident of New South Wales, you can head to the government’s licensing service and check to see if any company or contractor is licensed to carry out the work you need them to do. Simply choose the license type you wish to check (in this case ‘home building’) and the name of the business. If they are licensed, you should be given a result which displays their full license number.
If you have already visited the website of a business or contractor which displays their license number, you can always double check them with this tool just in case.
4. Check for other relevant certifications
If an apprentice does electrical work with the company or contractor you are looking to hire, they must do so under supervision of a licensed electrician who holds a Qualified Supervisor Certificate. More specifically, this is called “A Qualified Supervisor Certificate for Electrical Work”. If the contractor does not possess this certification, the apprentice is not allowed to undertake any electrical work at your home.
5. Ask friends and family
If you know of any friends and family who have recently hired the same local North Shore electrician you’re looking to hire, ask for their opinion on the service they got. Or if you have received a recommendation, reach out to whoever referred you and double-check that their service was in fact value for money.