Hiring an electrician isn't like hiring a landscaper. The work goes inside your walls, you can't see it after it's finished, and the consequences of doing it wrong show up years later — sometimes as a fire. Here are the nine questions that tell you almost everything you need to know, and what a good answer sounds like.
Texas and Arkansas license electrical contractors separately, and Texarkana sits right on that line. A contractor working both sides needs both. A professional will give you the numbers without hesitation. Ours: Texas #53366, Arkansas #M-9844.
General liability plus workers' compensation. If an uninsured worker is hurt on your property, or a fault traces back to work they did, you don't want to find out where that liability lands. Ask for the certificate. It takes one email to produce.
Is the company sending a licensed technician or a helper working unsupervised? Are techs background-checked and drug-tested? Do they show up in a marked truck and a uniform? You're letting a stranger into a house where your kids live — that question is fair, and any good company expects it.
Flat-rate pricing means you approve a firm number before work begins and you pay that number, even if the job takes longer than expected. Hourly means the meter runs while somebody figures it out. Flat rate puts the risk on the contractor instead of the homeowner, which is where it belongs.
"We'll see what it comes to" is not a price. Get the number in writing before anyone opens a wall.
Most professional shops charge to send a licensed tech to your door — that's the truck, the tools, the insurance, and the training. What matters is that it's disclosed up front. Ours is $89 for a standard service call, $249 for after-hours emergency, with diagnostics as a separate flat-rate line item. Holiday service is quoted separately, and Amp Club members pay no dispatch fee.
Panel upgrades, service changes, new circuits, and remodel work generally require a permit and an inspection. A contractor who suggests skipping it to save you a little money is telling you what their standards are. Unpermitted work also becomes your problem at resale or on an insurance claim.
Ask how long, and ask what it actually covers — parts, labor, or both. Then ask the follow-up: will you still be in business to honor it? A company with a physical presence, a real crew, and a long local track record is a different bet than a truck with a magnet sign.
Five reviews from 2019 doesn't tell you much. Look for volume, recency, and how the company responds when something goes wrong, because eventually something does. LiveWire has 450+ five-star reviews at a 4.9 rating, and has been voted Best Electrician by ALT Magazine readers 2023–2026.
The National Electrical Code changes. Equipment changes. A shop that trains regularly catches things a shop that stopped learning in 2009 doesn't. Our crew trains every week on code, best practices, customer satisfaction, and safety evaluations — and LiveWire was founded and is led by a second-generation master electrician, with master-licensed leadership and state-licensed techs on the trucks.
We'll answer every one of them before you book. Licensed, insured, background-checked, flat-rate, and local since 2017.
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