What to Ask a Commercial Electrical Contractor Before Hiring Them
When you're building a new storefront or office or are renovating a current commercial space, you want to ensure you choose the best commercial electrical contractor for the job. The electrical wiring may be hidden and not a part of the building that you notice every day, but its overall installation is important for the building to function and for your renovation work to proceed on time. Note a few things to ask a commercial electrical contractor before hiring them so you know you make the right choice.
1. Ask if they will pull permits for you.
The number of permits you need to get for any construction or renovation job can be overwhelming and even downright confusing, so having a contractor pull these permits for you can be the best option. They will know the types of permits needed according to the work you're doing, for how long they'll be needed, how they should be displayed, if they need to be renewed, and so on. Work with someone who can take care of this task for you so you know it will get done properly and your work won't be held up by missing permits.
2. Ask how they handle a change order request.
A change order request means that you want to change the configuration of a building or the details of the order you placed with the contractor, after the original contract was signed. This is not unusual, as you may decide to rework the footprint of an office or storefront once you begin work, and in turn, you may need to move the position of outlets, light fixtures, and so on. A good commercial electrical contractor will allow for a change order request, even if it means an added fee of some sort, but ask about this before you start work so you know what to expect if you should need some flexibility down the road.
3. Ask about fees for delayed scheduling.
You may have an expected completion date for your work, but rarely does any construction or renovation project stay on schedule. You may have delays in getting equipment or materials, the weather may interfere with some aspects of construction, and so on. Ask a commercial electrical contractor if there are added fees for any type of delay in scheduling or how they handle it when the job takes longer than expected. This will alert you to fees you may face or additional costs down the road.
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