Walter Liebe

Thank you to Walter for helping to fix a ceiling light in my condo building. He was very pleasant, knew exactly what he needed to assess the problem, and had the fixture working promptly. If it wasn’t for the part that needed to be ordered, it would have been fixed quicker. And the price wasn’t so bad either. I will definitely be calling again should the need arise.

I hired walter to add ceiling lights in two rooms and install some fixtures as well. They showed up on time and completed the multiple jobs quickly and professionally. friendly and helpful. No complaints.

Walter is very knowledgeable, honest, friendly and a great electrician. We have had him at our house on several occasions and he did a great job, was able to diagnosis, repair and figure out complex issues. He is very fit and was able to hop around in the ceiling and install fixtures. I feel very comfortable working with him and he also gives you an education and I would not mind if he stayed for tea as I enjoy his visits. He is engaged and cares about things being done right, but is not out to rip you off. I had an issue with a new stove, I had a electrician come in and give me a $ 1,300 estimate and said it was the only way for my stove to work and would take several weeks. I wanted a second opinion so I called Walter and he fixed it on the spot for $ 250. He said the other guys quote was crazy and involved unnecessary work.

He did fix the issue but left the job incomplete. He promised to return more than once and now more than a year later I’ve given up in him finishing. He also was very expensive, charging for an apprentice who spent all but five minutes just hanging around talking.

DO NOT use Walter Liebe!!!
We bought a house that was in need of rewiring. We read glowing reviews about Walter on Berkeley Parents Network, and here as well. And we called all the references he provided us. We were so excited to have him work on our house.
Much to my regret, we agreed on a scope of work and a start date with Walter about a month ago. Walter was adamant that the knob and tube in our attic needed to come out, and we trusted him, so we went ahead and committed the $ 3500 to get the insulation out so that they would have a clean attic to work with (per his requirement). Also, per his guidance, we also spent $ 150 getting the proper permits for the scope of work in rewiring the house.
One FULL month later (2 WORKING DAYS before our agreed start date), Walter emails us to tell us that he’s running behind on another job, and told us he needed to leave town, and asked us if it was ok to push our job back for almost 2 months.
We emailed him back, explaining our situation, and how he had committed us to tons of work and money to prep for him, and that pushing our job back by almost 2 months would not work for us, and asking him to help us come up with some other solution. No response.
I am literally writing this review the friday before our job is supposed to start with him.
Long story short: it seems like some people might have had good experiences with him. But clearly, Walter is inconsistent with who he keeps his commitments with.
When we agreed on the job start date and scope, he said to us «I don’t do a contract, as I trust my clients and they trust me.» I rue the day that I believed him.
Walter: if you read this, we are incredibly disappointed. And you committed us to thousands of dollars of insulation removal (and reinstallation) just to prep for your job.
Use Walter if you feel lucky. Because, clearly, it’s a total hit or miss on whether he’ll honor his agreements with his clients.

Walter came to our house for an estimate. We needed to have the circuits reconfigured because too many appliances were on one circuit which caused it to overload and trip, causing many outlets in the house to fail including the furnace.
We had just moved in and it had been a cold winter. We previously had other electicians take a look and give us free estimates and learned that many of the circuits were not wired properly and not up to code. We agreed to pay Walter $ 120 for the estimate (which would be deducted from the bill if we selected him to do the job).
When he came, he had unplugged everything on that circuit and turned the circuit back on and the furnace turned back on. Then, he did something unsual…
He cut the circuit and said «If you pay me $ 500″, I’ll put it on it’s own circuit and get it back running.» Hmmm. A strange on the spot proposition. But we didn’t think anything of it. We later find out that he cut other circuits in the house (ones that actually worked) and now we were inconvenienced, because we had less working outlets in the house. Why cut stuff when they are working? Why cut anything at all when you’re assigned to provide an estimate, when you can just turn the power off at the fuze box.
We opted for another electrician who provided a lower estimate for the overall job (not just putting the furnace on it’s own circuit). The other electrician got the job done and wired correctly but the furnace was still not working. He said there must be something wrong with the furnace. But the furnace was just working before, so we knew there was nothing wrong with the furnace. When we called Walter, he offered to fix it for more money. We called PG&E to see what the problem was before shelling out more money.
PG&E came the following week to check out the situation and discovered that the wires in the furnace to the thermostat had been disconnected. And for Walter to have full knowledge of the problem (since he caused it) and for him to offer to fix it for more money was unethical. He shouldn’t have tampered with the furnace to begin with. What a scam artist. Don’t use this guy.

Walter only did a small project for me, but he was able to squeeze me into his schedule with short notice, and was great at communicating via email and over the phone. He ended up showing up right on time, and was able to finish the project really quickly. I would definitely utilize his services in the future.

I have had Walter over several times for different projects. he is always on time, easy to talk to and has several solutions to go with the situation. He is dedicated and does not waste any time! I would hire him again.

Walter is pleasant, informative and high skilled. He arrives when he says he’ll arrive. He is responsive to your questions and stated electrical needs.
Walter installed 3 prong sockets, drilled sconces to add manual switches, and repaired fixtures.

I concur, Walter is amazing!
We called on Tuesday night and left a message with 3 electricians about ½ the power going out in our house. Each had a different take, 2 tried to prescribe a solution without coming to check the panel. They were off.
Walter called at 8:30am, was available that same afternoon and within 10 minutes of looking at the problem, found the source of the issue and repaired it for about a very reasonable price.
Honest, professional and great disposition.
2 Thumbs up

Walter is amazing. He had time for me on the same day that I called and he did miraculous work. The outdoor lights on my stairs leading to the house hadn’t worked for at least 2 years. He found all the places the wires had been cut or shredded and fixed it all. He worked quickly yet diligently, this guy is no slacker. He bills by the hour but this is the kind of person that works hard from the get go and isn’t wasting a single penny.
after seeing his work ethic and effectiveness, I asked him to look at a wiring problem I had in the house. I had 4 locations where mutliple switches ran to the same lights but they didn’t work correctly. you had to have the switches in just the right combination of patterns to make the lights go on and off. One by one he fixed them so that no matter what switch i use, the lights go on and off as intended. this is going to change my life as it is soooo irritating for the switches not to work. A handyman had previously looked at it and gave me the «oh, this is going to be tough» speech so I didn’t have him do it. For walter? Not a problem. all fixed and in record time.
Walter was efficient and effective and worth every penny i paid him and his rates are quite reasonable given how much he can do. Walter is my new electrician for life.

Track lights wouldn’t operate in the kitchen. Walter came out the same day as the call, found the short & repaired. Also willing to look at other problem with deck lights even though he had other calls. Promptly found & repaired that problem also. Price quite reasonable I thought.
I will definitely make Walter my first call again.

He is friendly, and professional. Yet, he didn’t fix my problem, and when I emailed him about the total post-​work failure, he later emailed me that he had been out of town, and wanted to know what he could do. My sense is that he is not really up for complex or high level work. Perhaps not, maybe I caught him on a bad day, or he is very busy. I raised him to three stars because he actually did email me back, and was willing to come back. But I had already resolved the issue.
In any event, I found a contractor who had a solution for the tricky issue within 1 hour at half the price so I would not call walter back as much as I liked him personally. I’m sure he can do straight forward things well, and it may be that the job was a bit over his head or more than he wanted to do given his busy schedule. I scanned the electrical issues on Unilocal,and almost all of them are basic things which is great, but not what I needed.

I really enjoyed working w/​Walter. He is honest, highly professional, and he prices his excellent services VERY competitively. His was my second bid estimate. The first was 3 times higher that included work that wasn’t necessary!
Last week (7÷27÷10) he fixed and replaced my aging (30 years) broken electical panel on my home. I probably should give him 5 stars but I think he could have handled PG&E a little better. PG&E was a major pain in the behind and it wasn’t Walter’s fault that PG&E couldn’t commit to a electrical disconnect/​reconnect date.
I was also VERY impressed w/​how Walter handled the Oakland city inspector and the entire permitting process. Thanks to Walter and his quality work, it went very quickly, smoothly, and uneventful.
I will be calling Walter Liebe the next time I need electical help/​service on my home in the Oakland Hills. THANKS WALTER!

The outlets and lights went out in the bedroom. Shutting off and then on again switches in the box didn’t work. Consulted Unilocal and found the man of the hour among the collection of reviewed electricians. Walter Liebe stood out Seven 5 star reviews proclaimed
his well deserved popularity. He arrived within the hour of my call.
He found a short caused by an outdoor outlet that literally had a melt down. The melted outlet still had the odor of smoldering wires. Walter replaced the outlet with a handsome expensive looking new one that he had with him. We thanked him profusely for saving us from a disastrous situation. Very efficient without wasting any time, his charge
well worth it.

At the last minute, it was decided I needed an electrical outlet. I already had the painter and movers lined up but would have to cancel or delay this if I didn’t get an electrician in fast. As usual, Walter showed up as soon as he could, and did it right there. What a life saver! He does professional work so I never question his costs. I have paid less and ended up paying more to correct the shoddy work. Thanks to Walter, the painter came on time and the project will be completed as planned.

I called three electricians last night. It’s now the next day and Walter’s already come and gone. He’ll also be back to do more work. The other two electricians haven’t even gotten back to me yet.
Walter is great and I’m happy I found him.

Called Walter on Sunday afternoon and came on Monday Am
Fixed our problem within 20 Minutes and at a very reasonable rate
Can not be more pleased with the quality, speed and reasonble Charges
He is the Best

Walter is great. Nice guy, fixed our problem fast, very reasonable rates. Can’t recommend him highly enough.

The model of German efficiency, and a nice guy besides. His free estimate quickly turned into a paying gig once I realized just how comprehensive his knowledge was. He worked fast and rounded down (!) when we calculated his total time spent on the job. You can be sure I’ll hire him again for bigger projects.