Honestly, sometimes yes. As an electrician I am a big believer in doing your own projects, but electrical is the one trade where getting it wrong can burn the house down or stop your heart, so the real answer is that it depends on the job and on you. Most homeowners can handle a few things safely and should hire out the rest. If you are staring at an electrical project and not sure whether to grab the tools or the phone, reach out to our team at (407) 880-8977. At Spectrum Electric, we would rather talk you through it than get called to fix it after.
So how do you decide if a DIY electrical job is worth it?
Run it through four honest questions, and if any answer is no, hire it out. First, can you do it quickly and efficiently? If a task takes an electrician one hour and you four, ask what your own time is worth, whether that is fifteen dollars an hour or a hundred. I know how to change my own oil, but it is cheaper and faster for me to let someone I trust do it while I handle other things. Second, do you have enough knowledge to finish it start to finish? If not, you are either leaving a hazard or an unsightly mess that becomes a point of contention with your spouse for weeks, and putting it back together costs time without the job even done. Third, do you feel comfortable doing it? If you do not, that hesitation slows you down and can be a safety issue in itself. Fourth, do you have the right tools and materials, or is this going to be repeated trips to the hardware store for the wrong part?
What are the real dangers of DIY electrical work?
Shock and fire, and both are worse than people expect. Talk to a firefighter and you learn that most of the EV charger fires they respond to were self installed, where someone sized the breaker wrong so it never tripped and the wire overheated until it caught. The shocks are the part I hate to fear monger about, but it is worth knowing: as little as one tenth of an amp flowing through your body for two seconds can be fatal, and that is only about twelve watts of electricity. There is a proper way to ground yourself while you work, and skipping it is how people get hurt. There is also a quieter cost. When we ask a homeowner what caused a problem and they say it just started, nine times out of ten they recently installed or repaired something that caused it, so they end up paying us to troubleshoot anyway. A good electrical inspection often costs less than chasing a mystery you created.
Why does hiring a licensed electrical contractor actually protect you?
Because a license comes with guarantees an unlicensed person simply cannot give you. A licensed contractor is required to provide a one year workmanship warranty on what they install. That warranty does not always cover the device itself, since a bad switch, fan, or receptacle is on the manufacturer, but the workmanship is on the contractor, and if they refuse to honor it the licensing board holds them accountable. You can report them. Good luck doing that with an unlicensed handyman. A properly licensed and insured contractor also carries general liability insurance that covers their installation for as long as seven years. In plain terms, if it is ever determined that a light we installed caused a fire five years later, our general liability insurance covers that loss. This is exactly why you always ask for a license with the company name on it and a certificate of insurance that is valid on the day of the work. Our licensed residential electrical services come with both.
How do you decide whether to DIY or call an electrician?
Be honest with the four questions, and let a no be your answer. If you cannot do it efficiently, do not fully understand it, do not feel comfortable, or do not have the right tools, that is the job to hand off. There is no shame in it. The most expensive electrical work we do is almost always the second visit, cleaning up a well meant DIY job that left a hazard or a mess behind the wall. Doing it right the first time is cheaper than paying twice, and a lot safer. And if you do decide to take a project on, ask us first what to watch for, because a two minute phone call can keep a Saturday project from turning into a hazard you live with for weeks. If you want a straight answer about whether your project is a DIY or a call us, get in touch with our team at (407) 880-8977 and we will tell you honestly which one it is.