Portfolio

We serve a stable of neighborhood customers who stay loyal for several interrelating reasons. What’s yours?

Quality

With eleven years in miscellaneous construction and seven in electrical construction, I bring the well-rounded experience needed to coordinate with other trades — and in some cases do their work. As apprentice of Lee Garner for four years, I learned from a 30-year master of West Philadelphia plaster-and-lath-clad residential interiors featuring intricate (sometimes diabolical) interfaces between four generations of evolving wiring methods. Unsurpassed for troubleshooting and seamless integration of new wiring into old places, I am also versed in modern control circuits, lighting efficiency upgrades, service equipment installations, and all aspects of commercial electrical systems.

Control, functional and safety elements integrate with well-chosen color and location.

2FL Rear: sconces in a master bedroom. The small extra detail of separate witching for the main overhead lights and the sconces provides nuanced control for both practical lighting and aesthetic drama.

A wise man once said of construction, “Choose two: speed, price, quality.” For dealings with any single firm, that simple matrix holds together. But when you compare the cost structures within competing firms, you’ll get different ratios between factors and a decidedly different overall value. One firm’s ‘good’ may be another’s ‘adequate’. Read on for a discussion of price in my cost-structure, and what kind of quality you get at a given price and speed.

Price

 

2FL Rear: ceiling fan in master bedroom

I’m a small company with neither middle-man nor principal-agent nor employee costs. I write the website and ad copy, survey, estimate and quote, do the work, and collect your payment. For my hourly rate of $65, you get a licensed/insured, sole-proprietor master electrician whose work is personally and professionally on the line. Go elsewhere, and for the same billed hourly rate, you’ll get the company’s most junior employee, who may lack the knowledge, skill, or personal stake needed to ensure the job is done to a standard of excellence. You can get work of equal quality, but you’ll have to ask for it and pay more for it.

Responsibility

The person consulting with you about your needs, estimating or quoting the work, performing the work, and collecting your payment is all one: it is I. You won’t get different company representatives telling you different things, and I take pride in completing projects at the price quoted.

I hope that you value that last bit, and keep it in mind as you think about other construction trade labor you’ve engaged. In the long run, I’m gambling that my reputation for reliable quotes will win me your business, even against competition quoting lower.

The NEC-required GFCI receptacle at the vanity features GFCI protection from a remote device in the utility room behind the shower enclosure (glass walls not yet installed), avoiding unnecessary button clutter on the devices located in this finished area. A logic-controlled timer for the overhead heater provides ease of control while saving energy.

A 3-gang lighting control location set into custom-modified wainscoting details and served by low-profile wiring conduit to maintain the function of a pocket door, sliding in the cavity behind.

For larger projects involving coordination among trades, knowing that the principal for the electric trade is on site doing work can save critical time and money for your general contractor. If you’re a building owner cutting out the GC and managing construction yourself, this is doubly important, considering you may have a day job and very limited ability to supervise the project directly. Can another electrician’s on-site employee modify the contract to provide a different type of lighting fixture in 5 minutes?

 

See also:

• 2011 Residential Costs Guide
• Portfolio Blog – Residential
• Portfolio Blog – Commercial