I've known Wil Jackson and used Modern Electric for over 30 years, probably closer to 40. I have used him exclusively in three different houses over the years and have referred him to people countless times. It is with great pain that I now have to stop recommending him and write this updated review. I've considered him a friend, but a friend does not do what he's done on our current job.
We ended up moving to Oxnard to a 108-year-old historic house that needed to have all the old knob and tube wiring replaced. We couldn't find a qualified person up here to do the job, so I turned to Wil and he agreed to do it. The only caveat was that I would have to pay for the extra mileage for his workers to drive up here, but it was a relief to know the work was being done by someone I trusted.
Little did I know, that wasn't going to be the case. Long story short, almost a year after the start date and nearly $100k spent...the first technician he sent up did some pretty good work, but then quit because (he says) Wil wouldn't pay his benefits and he could get better work elsewhere. An "apprentice" was also sent with this first guy, and I was paying him the same salary as the seasoned electrician. He ended up screwing up many things that had to be redone, so I was paying twice for so much work.
So when the first guy quit, it left me in a lurch with no work going on. Wil found another worker and sent him up here, he was okay but admitted that he wouldn't have known how to do all the previous work that had been done so far. Then I found that he was actually redoing work that had already been completed. For 2 days he undid all the new wires in the meter box and rerouted them. So that was 2 days of labor I had to pay to redo the first guy's work. And that happened quite a bit. This guy also spent a lot of time on the phone scheduling other jobs which would often mean he would cancel coming to my house if he found better work.
At some point in the job, our historical doorbell got disconnected. I told Wil it needed to be reconnected before the job is done. I just received an invoice today and he was charging me for a new transformer and wire, on top of paying his guys to fix the doorbell that his other guys disconnected.
That, too, has happened a number of times where I found materials I was being charged for that I shouldn't have been charged for. I also had to pay Wil to periodically drive up here to I guess check on the work being done. Most of the time was spent at my dining room table chatting about his family problems, but I was then charged for my friendly ear and advice.
The second technician also realized at some point how necessary he was to complete the job and decided he wasn't being paid enough so said he wouldn't return without a raise. Because I was paying Modern Electric for time and materials, and not a contracted price, I was stuck paying this ransom raise. I also had to pay for his workers supplies like plastic (which they often didn't use and got construction dust everywhere), and saw blades. I've never had to pay for a contractor's work supplies before.
Each time I brought this to Wil's attention, he took it as a personal affront and tried to make me feel bad for bringing it up. He'd say, "What do you want me to do?" to which I'd reply, "You shouldn't have to ask after this many years in business." Maybe it's time for him to retire.
And lastly, his wife does all of his bookkeeping and often doesn't seem to know what she's doing. If you don't pay the invoice the day she sends it out, she harps on Wil to find out why it hasn't been paid. Normally, if there's no due date on an invoice, you have 30 days to pay it. His invoices had no due dates. But on day 2 if there was no payment made, they were harping on me to find out why. I finally told him to stop! I said if they wanted instant payment the invoices had to say "due upon receipt." Even then, most businesses allow a grace period for payment. But not Wil's wife. His workers told me that other customers complain about her all the time.
So, if you're going to use Modern Electric, I suggest you monitor the work constantly and monitor even more closely the invoices and what you're being charged for.
This is a very sad day for me to have written this review. read more