Service Calls

Flat-Rate Service Calls — No Hourly Surprises

Most electrical contractors bill by the hour from the moment they leave the shop, which means you don’t know what you’ll owe until the work is done. We do it differently: service calls are billed at a flat rate that’s quoted up front, before any work begins. The flat rate covers the electrician’s arrival at your property plus the first hour of on-site work — diagnosis, common repairs, and most standard fixes finish inside that window.

The flat rate depends on your location within the Puget Sound — homes in central Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Kirkland, and the close-in Eastside are at one tier, while jobs farther out in Olympia, Lacey, Gig Harbor, Sumner, and the outer South Sound carry a higher flat rate that accounts for travel time. Call or submit the contact form with your address and what’s going on, and we’ll confirm your flat rate before we book the visit.

Beyond the first hour: if a service call runs longer than the first hour — for example, an obscure circuit trace, a multi-room rewire-and-test, or stacking several smaller fixes into one visit — additional time is billed at our standard hourly rate, in clearly itemized increments. Before any work continues past the first hour, the electrician will tell you what’s coming, give you the hourly rate, and get your okay. No silent meter running.

And if the diagnosis reveals work clearly beyond the scope of a service call — a full panel upgrade, a complete rewire, an ADU electrical scope — we’ll pause, provide a separate written project estimate, and let you decide before continuing. No surprise charges, no upsells.

Common Service Call Issues We Fix

• Tripping breakers — Diagnose overloaded circuits, faulty breakers, short circuits, or ground faults; repair or replace as needed.
• Dead outlets and switches — Track down broken wiring, failed devices, tripped GFCIs, or loose connections in the box.
• Flickering or dimming lights — Identify whether it’s a fixture, a loose neutral, an overloaded circuit, or a service-side issue with the utility.
• Half the house has no power — Usually a tripped breaker, a loose connection at the panel, or a failed split-phase leg from the utility. We diagnose and resolve.
• GFCI / AFCI breakers tripping repeatedly — Find the offending device or circuit and correct it to code.
• Burning smell or warm outlet — Treat as urgent. We’ll find the failing connection or device before it becomes a fire hazard.
• Code-violation fixes for real-estate transactions — Bring a property up to current code so it passes inspection: missing GFCIs, ungrounded outlets, illegal junction boxes, knob-and-tube remediation.
• Outlet, switch, or fixture upgrades — Replace failing devices, install dimmers, smart switches, ceiling fans, or recessed lighting.
• Dedicated circuit installs — New circuits for window AC units, hot tubs, sub-panel feeds, EV chargers (smaller scope), or kitchen appliances.
• Sub-panel troubleshooting — Diagnose tripping, mis-wired neutrals, or failing breakers in sub-panels and garage sub-feeds.

How a Service Call Works

1. Call or submit the contact form with your address and a description of what’s going on. The more detail you can share — when it started, what you’ve already tried, which circuits are affected — the faster we can diagnose.
2. Receive your flat rate quote. We’ll confirm the flat rate for your location (covers arrival + the first hour on site) and the scope of the visit before we book.
3. Scheduled appointment. We aim to schedule most service calls within the same week — sometimes the same day for urgent issues.
4. On-site diagnosis and repair. Our licensed electrician arrives in a marked vehicle, diagnoses the issue, and completes the repair under the flat rate when the work fits inside the first hour. If more time is needed, you’ll get the hourly rate and your okay before we continue.
5. Permitted if code requires it. If the repair triggers a permit requirement (panel work, new circuits in some jurisdictions, knob-and-tube changes), we’ll pull the permit and coordinate inspection — that’s part of doing it right.
6. Written invoice and warranty. You leave with a paid invoice, documentation of what we found, and our standard workmanship warranty.

Service Call Coverage Across the Puget Sound

We dispatch licensed electricians across King, Pierce, Thurston, and Snohomish counties — including Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Olympia, Kirkland, and Auburn, plus Lacey, Gig Harbor, Federal Way, Renton, Kent, Puyallup, Sumner, and surrounding areas.

Service call flat rates vary by zone — call with your address and we’ll confirm yours.

Larger Projects Get Separate Estimates

If what looked like a service call turns out to need bigger work — a full panel upgrade, a complete rewire, an ADU electrical scope, or a Level 2 EV charger install — we’ll stop, give you a separate written estimate for that work, and let you decide before continuing. Service calls are sized for diagnosis and standard repairs; larger projects get the time, planning, and permit handling they deserve.

If you already know you need a larger project, head straight to one of the dedicated service pages: Panel Upgrades · EV Chargers · New Construction · DADU & ADU Electrical.