12 Questions to Ask an Electrician Before You Hire (From a Firefighter)

I've spent years as a firefighter here in Kansas City, and I built PermitDeck because I got tired of watching preventable fires. Electrical fires are the ones that stay with me. They don't kick the door in. They smolder behind drywall for hours off a loose connection or an overloaded circuit, and by the time a smoke alarm finally goes off, a family is already asleep down the hall.

Here's what most homeowners don't realize: the moment you hire an electrician is the moment you have the most control over whether that ever happens in your house. The right questions up front sort the pros from the guys who cut corners where you'll never see them. So here are the 12 I'd ask before I let anyone touch the wiring in my own home, and why each one matters.

Quick Answer: Before you hire an electrician, get their license number and verify it with your state licensing board, confirm they carry liability insurance and workers' comp, and make sure they will pull the permit and schedule the inspection. Get the scope, price, timeline, and warranty in writing, and ask who actually does the work. The permit and inspection aren't red tape. They're the second set of eyes that catches the mistake that starts a fire.

The 12 Questions

1. Are you licensed, and can I have the license number to verify it? A business card that says "licensed and insured" means nothing on its own. Ask for the actual number and check it yourself with your state licensing board. Most states let you look up a contractor's license status online in under a minute, and you can start with our contractor license checker. A real electrician hands the number over without flinching. Hesitation is your answer.

2. Are you bonded and insured, with both liability and workers' comp? Those are two different coverages, and you want both. Liability insurance covers damage to your home if something goes wrong. Workers' compensation covers the crew if someone gets hurt on your property. Without workers' comp, an injured worker can come after you, the homeowner. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent straight from their carrier, not a photo of a paper that could be expired.

3. Will you pull the permit and schedule the inspection? This is the big one for me. A permit means the city knows the work is happening and sends an inspector to verify it was done to code. That inspector is the second set of eyes I mentioned, the person who catches the overloaded panel or the missing junction box before it gets sealed inside your wall. If an electrician wants to skip the permit to "save you time," walk away. Unpermitted electrical work is exactly the kind of hidden work that starts fires nobody sees coming. Our electrician permit guide walks through what's typically required.

4. Who actually does the work, you, an apprentice, or a subcontractor? There's nothing wrong with an apprentice pulling wire. That's how the trade gets learned. But you deserve to know who's on your job and who's supervising them. A licensed master electrician overseeing an apprentice is fine. A subcontractor you never met, working unsupervised, is a different story. Ask, and get the answer in writing.

5. Have you done this exact job before? "Electrical work" is a huge category. Rewiring a 1920s house, installing a subpanel, wiring an EV charger, and adding circuits for a hot tub are all different animals. Ask specifically about your job, not electrical work in general. Someone who installs panels every week will spot problems a generalist misses.

6. Will you do a load calculation before adding circuits, an EV charger, or a heat pump? This is where I see people get burned, and I mean that literally. Your electrical panel has a finite capacity. Bolting a heavy EV charger or a heat pump onto a panel that's already near its limit is how you end up with overheated wiring and breakers that trip, or worse. A real electrician runs a load calculation first. If you want to understand the numbers going in, our electrical cost calculator helps you plan the project. An electrician who shrugs at a load calc is a red flag.

7. Do you use GFCI and AFCI protection where it's required? These two devices exist specifically to prevent shocks and fires. GFCI protection shuts off power when it detects current leaking where it shouldn't, which is why it belongs near water, in kitchens, baths, garages, and outdoors. AFCI protection detects the dangerous arcing from a damaged wire or a loose connection, and arcing is one of the leading causes of the wall fires I respond to. Code requires them in specific locations for a reason. Any electrician who treats them as optional isn't one I'd hire.

8. Will you give me a written scope and price? Get it in writing: what's being done, what materials, what it costs, and what's not included. A written scope protects both of you and makes it obvious when something changes. Verbal quotes are where disputes and surprise charges live. If a contractor won't put it on paper, that tells you something.

9. What's your timeline? Ask when they'll start, roughly how long the job will take, and whether your power will be off at any point. You're not looking for a guarantee down to the hour. Good electricians juggle multiple jobs and inspection schedules. You're looking for an honest answer and a heads-up if things slip.

10. How do you handle changes or surprises behind the walls? Older homes hide things: knob-and-tube wiring, ungrounded outlets, a splice buried where no junction box should be. Ask how they handle it when they open a wall and find a problem. The right answer is that they stop, show you, and give you a written change order before doing the extra work. The wrong answer is a bigger bill you never saw coming.

11. What warranty do you offer? A confident electrician stands behind the work. Ask what's covered, for how long, and whether it covers both labor and the parts they installed. Manufacturer warranties cover the equipment, but you want to know the electrician covers their own workmanship too. Get the terms in writing so there's no argument later.

12. Can I see references or reviews? Ask for a few recent customers with jobs like yours, and actually read their reviews. A solid track record from real homeowners tells you more than any slogan painted on a truck. When you browse electricians on PermitDeck, we've already verified licensing for you, so you're starting from a shorter list of real pros.

Why a Firefighter Cares About the Boring Steps

I know a permit and an inspection sound like paperwork you'd rather skip. But here's how I think about it after enough calls: almost every serious electrical fire I've seen traces back to work that was hidden, rushed, or never checked. A loose connection. An overloaded circuit. A wire buried without a box. None of it is visible once the drywall goes up. The permit forces the work into the open, and the inspection puts a trained set of eyes on it before it disappears into your walls for the next thirty years. That's not bureaucracy. That's the difference between a job done right and a slow problem you won't know about until it wakes you up at 2 a.m.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I verify an electrician's license?

Do I really need a permit for small electrical work?

What is a load calculation and why does it matter?

What's the difference between GFCI and AFCI protection?

Should I just take the cheapest quote?

Find a Verified Electrician

Do this homework once and you'll spot a pro from a corner-cutter in about five minutes. When you're ready, find a verified, licensed electrician near you and put these 12 questions to work.

Stay safe out there.