My mother's house is approaching 130 years of age. Remarkably, it's in great shape, though it's clear that modern electronic needs were not contemplated when the house was designed and built. The home's circuit breakers were tripping with increasing regularity. In addition, much of the wiring is out of current code compliance. Central heat and air had been added to the house, modern washer and dryers were operated from the basement, a wheelchair lift was added for my father and of course there's the need for microwaves, hair dryers, and other household electronics. In my mind there were two challenges: one was to consider rewiring the whole house with new circuits established to carry the appropriate load. The second challenge involved updating the service panel in order to provide adequate electricity for the house (full basement and two floors). In order to address this I spent weeks identifying, contacting, and getting quotes from electricians. While prepared to stay with a 100 amp service panel based on current load calculations, the attraction of a 200 amp service panel and the future proofing that it offered was too great to resist. I received quotes ranging from $600 to $5,000 for the project. Most quotes were in the $1,500 to $2,000 range with some variation as to the work that would be performed. For $5,000 essential rewiring of circuits, replacement of old wire and receptacles, outdoor and indoor grounding, service panel and service line replacement, as well as appropriate GFCI outlet installations were involved. This included replacing all the kitchen and bathroom wiring on the first and second floors of the house. The contractor that I settled upon, C Roman Construction (also known as RC Delta), did most of what was included in the $5,000 quote without including the second floor installations and deferring the new kitchen and bathroom wiring. RC Delta is led by Cesar Roman who has been an electrician in Chicago for more than 20 years. My sister had read positive reviews about him in neighborhood blogs and suggested I contact him for a bid. Cesar and I agreed on a time the following day (a Tuesday) that he would visit to inspect the house and determine what he could complete the project for. He knew that a permit would be required, but nonetheless said that he thought he could get the permit and complete the work that Saturday. True to his word, he and a crew of three were at my mother's house at 9AM that Saturday. They worked until 7PM and completed the installation with minimal inconvenience to my mother and with almost no interruption in electricity. They removed a spare meter from year's past that my mother was being billed for and also moved the remaining meter to a location that was not an eyesore along the side of the house. They left the building permit with me in case either Commonwealth Edison or a building inspector asked for it. A day later, a GFCI outlet was determined to be faulty. Cesar came to the house to address that and several outlet grounding issues (open neutral, hot/ground reverse and open ground) that became evident when the Home Energy Jumpstart (http://www.peoplesgasdelivery.com/home/rebates_direct.aspx) contractor assessed the house and completed several energy saving installations that included new grounded and surge protected "smart" power strips. Without proper grounding the contractor could not provide the free smart strips. This was two hours of additional work beyond what was reasonable and Cesar did this without asking for additional compensation when I asked. Cesar and his team have my highest recommendation. I will contact them when the next phase of the project commences.
While I am satisfied with this outcome I have to say that the experience of finding a good electrician lasted longer and was more frustrating than I thought it would be. I called a number of the highly reviewed Yelp listed electricians and had two general results: if I reached a live person they would not ultimately visit to provide a quote or, more commonly, I would have to leave a message that was not responded to even after multiple attempts. It makes me think that electricians in Chicago have so much work coming their way that they can afford to ignore potential customers. Of those electricians that actually visited the house, I was surprised and disappointed by how little consultation and documentation was provided. I am not an electrician and was expecting that the problems and solutions that I considered would have to change as a result of what experienced and licensed electricians saw as better solutions. To my surprise only one electrician suggested workable alternatives. I was prepared to spend more money now on a comprehensive longer term solution to the home's energy challenges, but no one brought that up. None of the electrical contractors addressed energy efficiency, rebate programs, or other contextual value added ideas.
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