What is a Professional Electrician?

Here at Fulcher Edwards we visit our clients homes and businesses all across London providing quotes and carrying out electrical work. One of the main scenarios we come across with our customers whether they are home owners or business owners is the worry of finding an electrician who is professional. With programmes such as cowboy builders on the television, it comes as no surprise to us that many clients are rightfully concerned about getting a professional electrician to carry out their electrical work but of course don't want to pay more than necessary for the job.

With home owners and business owners often feeling more stressed than usual when it comes to having work carried out on their properties, we have devised a handy check list to help avoid hiring the wrong electrician and to hopefully clear up the uncertainty when finding a professional electrician.

Know what to look for

* Getting in touch - At Fulcher Edwards we understand how frustrating it is to find the right electrician and one of our undermining values within our company is to ensure we return emails and calls when necessary. We always ensure a prompt service but many of our clients tell us that they call electricians asking them to quote a job and never hear back. We believe this is poor service and one of our customer promises is to always return contact and arrange quotation appointments in a professional manner – we won't call you up out of the blue to ask if we can come round to quote a job.

* Turning up for quotes - Excellent service and quality management is very important to us so when you contact us about a quotation we will arrange to see you at a time to suit you. We are very passionate about the work that we do and offering a friendly, reliable, professional and competitive service to each and every job or quotation visit is very important to us. We will not expect you to drop everything to suit us. We have heard of instances where a customer has contacted an electrician and they have expected to come round the same day to provide the quotation. Here at Fulcher Edwards, we arrange a mutually convenient time to come and see you – and essentially we always turn up on time!

* First Impressions - When we come to see you, we listen carefully to your needs and respond in a professional and courteous manner. We don't expect you to understand technical issues, so our quotation visits are very thorough. We wear works uniform and drive company vans so you know exactly who is turning up at your door. If we can save you money or we feel you would benefit more by doing the job differently we will tell you so. We don't simply quote for the job you ask us for, we provide you with options that could save you money. Our knowledge, presentation and professionalism is well known throughout London and many of our clients are long standing and call us up whenever they are in need of an electrician.

* Price - Due to the thorough nature of our quotations, we hope to eliminate the need to exceed the quotation price you are given. When we come to your property we assess what other works may be necessary in order to carry out the job. In some cases, the electrical work required may be necessary in order to meet the current electricity regulations. We will always advice you of the nature of the work and cost. In other cases we may recommend certain electrical work is carried out beforehand to avoid any potential problems in the future. Whatever our recommendations, we always advice our clients to obtain at least 3 quotes before proceeding with any works. This way, it will give you as our customer a good guideline as to the expected costs of the work you would like done. Generally out of 3 quotes, 2 will be roughly the same. The other one may be either more expensive or cheap. In all cases always check what is included in the quote. Remember material quality varies hugely, always ensure you understand what you are getting. Dependant on budget, we find clients either want something making good or want it to last many years. If a quote is very cheap, is it matching your requirements, similarly if a quote seems expensive, do you need such a hi-spec finish?

* Payment - When it comes to payment, we advice not to pay until the job is complete. Some electricians will ask for material money in advance on very large jobs. However, we strongly recommend you don't pay for the actual job until it is complete. Negotiating staged payments is fine if the job is on-going, where you pay for parts of the job as they are completed. Always make sure you know how long the job is expected to take if you opt for staged payments. When making the payment, most electricians are happy to accept payment directly into their bank account. A growing number of electricians are now also able to take payments by card. If you are paying by cash, always make sure you obtain a receipt. You should not feel forced into making payments by a certain method, professional electricians are happy to take payment by a number of methods and indeed many electricians are still happy to take a cheque which you don't see very often any more.

What is something goes wrong?

At no point should you ever feel intimidated or be on the receiving end of angry outbursts. If a problem does occur, we recommend speaking to the electrician at the first opportunity. Often it is a misunderstanding that can be easily rectified. At Fulcher Edwards, customer satisfaction is our number 1 priority, we consider ourselves as fast, efficient and pleasant at all times. We also charge reasonable rates in order that we remain competitive and fair to all our customers at all times.