Maine Electric

Daric consulted with us and explained what we needed and how they worked and provided pricing. I always ask about a company and how well employees are treated (during the bid process). Maine Electric came through in flying colors. It showed come service day. Ramon and Tomas were among the best service techs we have ever had in our house. They started on time at 8AM and finished about 830PM. Work and professionalism, from start to cleanup, exceeded expectations. Bravo!

Jason came out right away and took care of my problem — the «screw» part of the light bulb had gotten stuck in the socket, and he got it right out. He offered to screw in the replacement bulb that I had bought earlier, and unfortunately, it didn’t fit. But because of that, he waived my fee, which I thought was really awesome. Fortunately, he never tried to up-​sell me, as the other reviewers mentioned. Maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe Maine actually read their reviews and changed their policy; one could only hope that companies would do that!

They quoted over $ 1231 to supply and install an exhaust fan, wire it, and add a connected third switch to our master bathroom. They obviously did not win our bid. I ended up buying a $ 50 exhaust fan and used California Power and Electric and they charged $ 450 for the install, wiring, and adding of the third switch. Maine quotes double or triple other electricians. On a positive note, the technician who visited to give me a quote was very nice.

Gilbert came out and gave me all incorrect information for a repair that I had done by another electrician. He wanted to replace a new box that did not need replaced.
Bid was 10,000 over what I had done for just some low voltage outdoor lights.

Might be good in a pinch, but might also try to sell you goods you don’t need. Proceed with caution.
Some outlets weren’t working in our house on a Friday night. On the plus side they sent a guy out on Friday night who was eventually able to trace the problem to a GFI fuse that had tripped.
On the minus side, they wanted to replace the entire electrical panel and they put yellow caution tape around it to emphasize the importance of replacing it. Then they turned all the power off since it was «unsafe» but showed me how to turn it on so I could do so (right in from of him too) before he left.
I did eventually get the panel replaced but with a different company and for less money. Maine Electric really had a heavy up-​sell. They wanted me to re-​wire the entire house. The panel replacement quote had items on it that I later found out were not even necessary.
Surprisingly, w/​all the up-​selling they tried, the rate for the original service call was reasonable and the guy did diagnose the issue.

Our neighbors called them when one of their dimmer switches was hot. They talked our neighbors into re-​wiring their entire house, on the grounds that their electrical was unsafe. Granted, perhaps the circuit the dimmer was on might have been overloaded, but they could just rewire that one, add an additional circuit. And dimmer switches have been known to go bad – perhaps it was just the switch and not a problem with their wiring at all.
Like our house, our neighbors have good copper wiring, not aluminum or knob and tube. Worst case, perhaps as they upgraded their TV stuff and kitchen, they should have run new lines, added circuits for that, and the electricians could have simply done those fixes. But rewiring the entire house? And moving the sub-​panel to a new location? Not necessary, and very, very expensive.
Could the fact that our neighbors are older, retired, influenced the electricians to take advantage? Did the electrician have to scare them so much by playing up the risk of fire that our neighbors felt they had to sign off on getting the work done right away, and not call anyone else for a 2^nd opinion, other bids? Their house is 60 years old and has not burned to the ground yet – would another couple of days to get another bid be that big of a risk? Especially if the electrician could just disconnect the problem switch? Shut off that circuit?
A friend who has a contractor’s license and does electrical work while remodeling houses reviewed the work done at my neighbors’ and feels much of it was not necessary. (Too bad they didn’t talk to me before they had the work done.) And he pointed out that the electricians forgot to install a new grounding rod, meaning their whole electrical system was ungrounded and unsafe. So not the best quality work. Hard to tell about the work behind the walls and in the attic, so let’s assume it is OK, which is why I am giving them 2 stars, versus 1 star.
I would not want to go so far as to say do not use Maine Electric. But certainly get at least one other bid from a different licensed electrician before agreeing to having them do any major work.