Entrusting someone with something as important as electrical work isn’t easy. When you’re looking for someone who can do electrical contracting for your industrial, commercial, or oil and gas project, you want to make sure you have the best possible person for the job. After all, the consequences of a job that wasn’t performed to industry standards could be devastating and long-lasting.
5 Questions to Always Ask an Electrical Contractor
Benchmark Electrical Solutions is different. For electrical contracting in Northern Colorado, you can trust us to always be committed to excellence. We focus on quality, health, safety, and the environment in all of our industrial and commercial electrical projects — and your project won’t be an exception. In today’s blog, we focus on five questions you should always ask an electrical contractor before committing to work with them.
We invite you to ask us all of these questions yourself when you contact Benchmark Electrical Solutions. For electrical contracting in Northern Colorado, there’s no one better; however, we encourage you to put us to the test with these and any other questions you can think of. We will be happy to do all we can to ensure you’re happy and confident with your decision. Let’s get started!
Do You Have Experience With This Type of Electrical Project?
When it comes to commercial electrical projects, industrial electrical projects, government electrical projects, and more, you want to make sure your electrical contractor actually has experience with it. Perhaps they have never completed such a large project. Perhaps they have never looked at renewable energy within a project. Whatever it is, you want experience — and a lot of it.
Here at Benchmark Electrical Solutions in Northern Colorado, we offer just that. We have vast experience with oil and gas projects, industrial projects, and commercial projects, along with transmission and distribution and service and maintenance.
We can’t stress enough just how important it is, within electrical contracting, to make sure you hire workers who are up to the task and have experience with multiple projects similar to yours. However, it’s not all that different than industries outside of electrical contracting. After all, you wouldn’t hire a lawn mowing company who has never worked with a property like yours and you wouldn’t hire a lawyer specializing in divorce for a personal injury case. It’s essential you find someone who has experience with your needs within electrical contracting.
What training and experience do you have?
Next up, it’s time to ask about training and experience. This is vastly different from finding out what their experience is with a project like yours. Instead, it is focused on what qualifies them to do electrical contracting. Though you could certainly trust an electrical contractor who just finished up school, it’s never a bad idea to instead find and work with one who has years and years of experience.
Again, though, years of experience alone isn’t enough. Here at Benchmark Electrical Solutions, we also stress the importance of continuing education. When you work with us for electrical contracting, you can rest assured that all contractors on your job site have the training and experience you would expect. We value people who take initiative to be the best, meaning we attract the best electrical contractors from all over the nation. We also value continuous improvement and safety, making it part of our company culture to continue education and help our employees perfect their craft.
By having this commitment to training and experience, we’ve become a leader in the electrical contracting industry.
What is your commitment to safety? Are you licensed and insured?
Electrical contracting is no easy job. As electrical contractors, we specialize in construction work related to the design, installation, and then maintenance of electrical systems. If we’re not careful, conscientious, and detail-oriented, then our workers and your company could be at risk of injury or worse.
This is not a role we take lightly.
In fact, there’s a saying here at Benchmark Electrical Solutions: “Safety is not a priority; it’s our culture.” This is not just a catchy saying we claim to follow — we really mean it. And you can see this day in and day out when you work with us on your electrical contracting project. We actively participate or plan safety events, behavior-based safety, safety observation reports, and more, including continuous employee training and development.
When first finding a company for electrical contracting or electrical project management in Northern Colorado, you should also find out if the company is licensed and insured. No matter the kind of contractor you’re looking for, you should always make sure they have up-to-date state licenses that ensure you’re getting the best quality of work.
It’s also paramount to your success with electrical contracting that you make sure the company is insured. If a worker is uninsured and gets hurt on your property while doing electrical contracting, then you could be the one facing a lawsuit and expensive medical bills rather than the other way around.
Do you have references I can speak with?
If you’re interested in an electrical contracting company and your contact won’t provide you with references, then run the other way! Unless the company is brand new, there’s no reason your contact shouldn’t happily provide you with contact information for former clients. Electrical contracting for an industrial, commercial, or oil and gas project is a big commitment; you want to make sure the company you’ve found is up to the task.
We recommend looking at testimonials online and asking the company for references … and then speaking with those references. You can find out how the electrical contractors performed on their job, if there were any similarities to your job, and what you can expect. Your entire business will be supported by the electrical contracting that takes place now — so why risk it? It’s in your best interest to do all you can to make sure you hire the right electrical contracting company for the project — and that includes reaching out to former clients and gauging their levels of satisfaction with the work and service they received.
Who will do the electrical work?
Within electrical contracting, there are many different roles, including apprentice electricians, journeyman electricians, estimators, and project supervisors. Often, licensed electrical contractors will hire journeyman electricians to perform work under their license. While this isn’t necessarily bad, you should definitely know about it if it’s a reality in your project.
Electrical contracting companies can be large and operations and services aren’t always transparent. If you’re at all nervous about who will perform the actual work, then go ahead and ask! Electrical contracting for your business is a big project and investment, and you have every right to make sure the services received are up to your expectations and align with the initial promises the company made to you.
Contact Us for Electrical Contracting in Northern Colorado
Here at Benchmark Electrical Solutions, we know we’re up to the task for your electrical contracting project — and we’d love the opportunity to prove this to you. We have experience with renewable energy, commercial electrical projects, industrial electrical projects, government electrical projects, and more; we have unparalleled training and experience within electrical contracting; we’re committed to safety, along with being licensed and insured; we’ll provide you with references so you can make sure you’re happy with your decision; and we’ll be transparent, open, and helpful from start to finish.
We know electrical contracting is a big step and investment, and we’re here to make it a good one. No matter the project, we’ll work our hardest and keep you informed every step of the way. Contact Benchmark Electrical Solutions to get started with electrical contracting in Northern Colorado today.