Residential Electrician Services Across British Columbia

There is no single electrician hourly rate in British Columbia. The rate moves by company and by the kind of work. We charge $135 an hour for a Red Seal electrician plus a helper, and many jobs go on a flat rate once we have seen the work.

Some do. We don't charge to quote work we can see, and the estimate is free. Tracing a fault is different — $165 for a 45-minute diagnostic, which tells you what the problem is and how we're going to fix the fault.

Get more than one quote. Be careful with the cheapest — a price well under the others usually means something has been left out. A fair quote tells you exactly what is being done, and what happens if the scope changes once work starts.

Usually because something outside the agreed scope got done without a conversation first. We price a quote on what we can see, and if the scope changes once we're into the job, we tell you before we do the extra work. Before, not after.

Residential work uses Romex. Commercial work uses conduit, which we also use on a rewire where the run needs one. The difference changes both the cost and the time a job takes, since conduit work is slower and needs more material.

Three things: training, an apprenticeship and a trade licence. A handyman can handle simple fixes around the house, but anything touching the wiring or the safety code goes to a licensed electrician, because the work has to be done to code and, where a permit applies, inspected and signed off by a Field Safety Representative. A handyman cannot give you the sign-off.

Ask the company to confirm its licensed-contractor status in writing. Ask about the company rather than the person, because residential electricians here work under the company's licence. Then ask two things before you book: who is pulling the permit, and will they be there for the inspection.

Not quite. The contractor is the company. The electrician is the person doing the work in your home. A residential electrical contractor is a company working on houses. In British Columbia the licence sits with the company, and our electricians work under the company licence.

Sometimes. Reaching cable inside a finished wall can mean opening the wall, especially with no attic or basement access. Old wiring in house walls rarely runs a straight line, so working out where the cable goes is most of the job. We tell you where any hole will go before we start, and a route along a baseboard or through the basement often avoids a hole altogether.

With a lot of firms the job stalls right there, because nothing was written down and nobody on the crew remembers the conversation once enough time has passed. Ask any electrician two things before you book: who do I call afterwards, and what is covered. With us, the same number and the same company.

We answer the phone at any hour. What we will not do is promise an arrival time before we know what the job is. When you call, we book a time with you.