Ask us before you call

Usually not. Nine times out of ten it is the fixture, the bulb or a loose connection. It becomes a big deal when more than one thing on the same circuit goes at once, or when a switch or outlet feels warm. That pattern points at the circuit, not the fixture.

Switch it off at the main and call us today. Do not reset it and carry on. Heat, buzzing, a burning smell or scorch marks around a breaker are the warning signs that come before a fire — not after one. This is the call we will always take out of hours.

Almost always a dimmer mismatch. Old dimmers were built for incandescent bulbs and do not talk properly to LED drivers. Sometimes it is the bulbs themselves being poor quality. It is usually a cheap fix and it is worth doing — flicker at a frequency you cannot consciously see still causes headaches.

LEDs rarely fail because the diode wore out — the driver goes first, usually from heat or from being run on the wrong dimmer. If a whole run failed early, the cause is normally the install conditions rather than the fixture.

That often means a lost leg of the incoming service or a failing main — a utility-side or panel problem, not a circuit problem. Worth a same-day look rather than a wait-and-see.

If your breakers trip when two big things run together, if you have a fuse box, or if you are adding solar, a battery, an EV charger or a heat pump — usually yes. If you have a Federal Pacific, Zinsco or Challenger panel it is worth replacing regardless; insurers increasingly refuse to cover them.

Because they release the meter spot, and nothing can proceed until they do. It is also the call that decides whether the panel can move to a new location. Ordering material before that is how jobs end up half-finished with the power off.

Four to eight hours on most residential upgrades. You get the window the day before so you can plan around the fridge and the school run.

200A covers most homes comfortably. 400A is worth considering if you are stacking solar plus a battery plus EV charging plus a shop or ADU. We would rather size it once than have you pay for the work twice.

Yes — and you want one. Unpermitted panel work surfaces in escrow, and insurers can deny claims on it. It is included in what we quote, never billed on afterwards.

Not on its own. Standard grid-tied solar shuts down during an outage to protect utility crews working on the lines. Storage with the right transfer equipment is what changes that — it is the single most common surprise we deal with.

Battery is silent, instant, needs no fuel and saves you money every day by avoiding peak rates — but it runs out unless solar refills it. A generator runs as long as it has fuel and will carry air conditioning, but it is noisy and does nothing on the days the power stays on. In the foothills, plenty of people end up with both.

On essentials — fridge, wifi, lights, charging — typically overnight and well into the next day. Add air conditioning or EV charging and it drops to hours. There is a simulator on the battery page that lets you work out your own number.

Often, yes — most batteries want 200A service and a backup subpanel. We will tell you at the survey, and we do both with one crew rather than sending you to someone else halfway through.

Yes, and usually we should. The invoice is rarely the expensive part of a commercial job — the hours you cannot trade are. Evenings, weekends and overnight are all normal for us.

Regularly. Tenant improvements almost always mean coordinating with a GC, a landlord and an inspector, and we are used to sitting inside that process rather than around it.

Yes. Commercial lighting and controls have to meet California's energy code, and that paperwork is part of what we file — not something handed back to you at the end.

C-10 electrical licence #1084269, current and active, with a $25,000 contractor's bond and workers' compensation coverage. You can verify all of it yourself on the CSLB website in about thirty seconds — we would rather you did.

No. That is the main difference between us and a solar sales company: the panel, the interconnection and the battery are all done by the same crew, and there is one number to call afterwards.

Most quotes come back the same day. Anything involving smoke, burning smells or sparking gets treated as urgent regardless of the hour.

Sunland, Tujunga, La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge as home ground, plus Montrose, Glendale, Burbank and the surrounding foothills. If you are just outside that, ask — we travel for the right job.