Hiring an unlicensed electrician or doing it yourself for even the smallest job could spell disaster. The risks associated with hiring someone who may or may not have certified electrician training just to save you a comparatively small amount of money are just too great.
Electric work is a very specialized field. Not picking a licensed electrician is not picking someone who is going to do the job properly the first time. And when it comes to electric work, if something goes wrong it means your house could catch on fire.
The worst case scenario of going with a licensed electrician is they install some faulty wiring and your house catches on fire. Because they are fully licensed, this means their work is fully insured. So if you lose everything in a house fire due to the faulty licensed wiring, the electrician’s insurance will pay for all the damages. This is protection you simply do not have when enlisting the services of an unlicensed, uninsured electrician.
Just adding to the risk, if something were to go wrong, unlicensed electricians cannot be held liable for anything that may go wrong as a result of their negligence. The risk electricians without proven credentials are inherently much greater to begin with. And without any liability, you are essentially putting you and your family at even greater risk of losing a home.
Be sure to get a full house electrical inspection through a certified, licensed individual or company at least every 10 years. In between, look for certain warning signs throughout your home telling you your home may be a fire hazard. These include frequent breaker trips, charred outlets and flickering lights. And being proactive is a much better approach than the alternative.
Always make sure whoever you hire to conduct your electric work is licensed. An unlicensed may be less costly, but do you really want to pay for substandard quality. And in the end, going with an unlicensed electrician could wind up costing you a lot more than the few extra dollars to go with a legitimate electrician.