What to Check Before You Hire a Commercial Electrical Contractor

Most electrical contractors get hired the same way. Somebody passes along a name, the price looks fair, and the work gets done.

The trouble shows up later. An inspector asks for paperwork. An insurer wants to know who did the panel work and when. A breaker fails in a building you manage and nobody can find a record of the last time anyone looked at it.

If you are responsible for a commercial building, the contractor you pick is a decision you live with for years. Here is what to check before you make it.

Licensed and insured is the floor, not the answer

Every contractor you talk to should be licensed and fully insured. Ask, and confirm it. PECO is fully licensed, insured and certified, and every PECO electrician is licensed and OSHA certified.

That is the starting point. It tells you a contractor is allowed to do the work. It does not tell you how the work gets done, who is standing in your building, or what you are holding when the job is finished. Everything that follows is what separates one licensed contractor from another.

Safety certifications tell you how the crew works around your tenants

The crew is working in a building that stays occupied while they work. Safety training is not a formality there.

PECO is OSHA certified and NFPA 70E compliant, and is a member of the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Electrical Inspectors. Every project is completed to meet or exceed NFPA, OSHA and local building code. On site, that shows up as crews who work quietly and professionally in occupied buildings, coordinate with tenants when it is needed, and keep disruption to your operations low.

The paperwork matters more a year from now than it does today

A finished job and a documented job are two different things. The documentation is what you reach for when an inspector arrives, when an insurer audits a claim, or when ownership asks what was spent and why.

PECO provides detailed documentation for inspections, insurance audits and compliance requirements. Thermal scans come back as reports you can act on. Ask a contractor what you will be handed at the end of the job, before the job starts. The one who gives you the records without being asked is the one who saves you the search later.

Permits are the contractor's job, not yours

Some contractors leave permitting to the customer. That is how a project stalls, and it is how work ends up finished with no record that it happened.

PECO handles all necessary permitting so the work meets local and state code requirements. On a generator, that runs from equipment selection and permitting through wiring, final integration and testing, and every system is inspected and signed off. Ask any contractor you are considering to say plainly who pulls the permits. The answer should be them.

One contractor can cover more of your building than you are probably using them for

Most buildings end up with a list of vendors. One for the panels, one for the generator, one for the cameras and cabling, one for the yearly inspection. Every one of them is a separate call, a separate visit and a separate invoice, and not one of them sees the whole system.

PECO covers electrical contracting and installations, Kohler generator installations and transfer switches, FLIR certified infrared thermal imaging, insurance compliance testing and documentation, and low voltage work like structured cabling and security camera systems. When the same contractor already knows your electrical system, work like a camera install or a scan can go on a visit that was already scheduled instead of costing you a second trip.

A data center and a parking garage are not the same electrical job

Ask where a contractor has actually worked. A cold storage warehouse, a laboratory and a retail plaza put very different demands on an electrical system.

PECO has worked in office buildings, data centers, laboratories and parking garages, and serves commercial property owners, facility managers and maintenance staff, healthcare and lab buildings, cold storage and food production sites, and warehouses and distribution centers. PECO is a second generation, family run firm based in Woburn, and has been doing this work since 1988.

Start with one building and one walkthrough

You do not have to move every property at once to find out where you stand. Start with one building. PECO will walk the site, review your plans, and put the work in a quote.

PECO supports property managers across Woburn, Winchester, Boston, Cambridge, Burlington, the North Shore and the Boston metro area, with routine inspections, safety reports and preventative maintenance scheduling. Hours are Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and after hours appointments are available on request.

Call PECO at (781) 938-6000 to book a walkthrough of your building.