Gibbs Electric

I don’t care how good an electrician is he is useless to you if you if he does not show up. I should’ve heeded several Unilocal warnings about this guy being a no-​show. He scheduled an appointment with me, then rescheduled it, then promised the third time that he would «absolutely definitely do it Saturday» or as he put it by definitely by Sunday morning. He didn’t call as promised Saturday and he didn’t call Sunday. Just a total no-​show who let me sit at home, waiting for him, when I had things to do. Skip this guy and pick someone who will perform. Oh, he also complained that «business was off.» Gee, I wonder why…

Had high hopes based on the positive reviews. My experience, not so great. No show for the first appointment. Phone call, no show for the second appointment. It’s amazing this place stays in business, but somehow it does. Good luck with this one!

Ben is the real deal. As good as it gets. He’s my only electrician in the SFV.

Ben was really great. I am a realtor and I needed an electrician to look at some issues the the house had. He checked out everything that the inspector called out in the report, and fixed them. He explained everything to my buyers and took his time so they would understand.

Ben spent a lot of time (free estimate) trying to find out why a whole side of my house was out. He crawled under the house, he climbed into the attic, he pulled out plugs and switches, he analyzed both the old and new circuit breakers looking for the broken line. Finally, we decided to just put a new line in and bi pass any old lines we couldn’t find. He came back the next day with a helper and fixed it in 2 hours adding and replacing a few old plugs for no extra charge. WONDERFUL!!! Everything works great, Thank you Ben!
The bill was a little confusing to me… Ben told me several times that my charge would be $ 120. per hour… That he and/​or his guys would come out for $ 120. per hour and that the job would take 3 maybe 4 hours. When we were done and working on the bill he charged me additionally for parts which surprised me because he never mentioned «parts» before and he wanted to charge me extra for his helper but I reminded him he never said anything about a separate charge for extra crew people that the quote he gave me included a crew. He did not accept my credit card so I gave hime a check.
He was fast and efficient and did a great job… just Next time I would like a work order up front so that I understand that the parts are extra, and the labor includes one or more people and maybe an hourly limit so I know approximatey how much it will cost. I like Ben, I would definitely hire him again! I am very happy with the job.

— Updated July 20^th —
Ben Gibbs Electric subsequently contacted me with a written apology, information about his rates, and a bottle of wine. We might not have connected on the work, but I sincerely appreciate his gesture. Unilocal says that four stars means «Yay! I’m a fan.» Sounds right! Thanks Ben.
**********
I really hate giving a negative review. Unfortunately, I’ve wasted over an hour of my time with Gibbs electric, and even two stars (which Unilocal captions with «Meh, I’ve experienced better») seems too high. Ben gets business based on his Unilocal reviews (that’s why I called). if you’re going to do that, you have to understand that you’ll get poor reviews when things go badly.
On June 27^th, I called Ben and said I was interested in an estimate. He said he was available the following afternoon and would call me when he was on his way. He asked that I send a follow-​up email to him when we got off the phone with my address, which I promptly did.
The next day, I received no phone call and no one came by. I called, and he apologized and said that my email had gotten buried (never mind that we had spoken on the phone, too). He said he could come by on July 2^nd in the early afternoon.
On July 2^nd, no one came by and no one called. I called him. He apologized and said he would send someone right over, he asked me to text him my address, which I did.
His associate Issac came over, and I spent roughly 45 minutes with him going over all the elements of my project — fixes and additions to my outdoor lighting system in both my front and back yards, and a lighting fixture installed in my gym. Issac said that Ben would send me an estimate «in a couple of days.»
By July 17^th, I still had received nothing from Ben. I emailed him, reminded him that I had met with Issac on July 2^nd, and asked that he please send an estimate as soon as possible,
He did not respond. :-/

Unlike plumbing, drywall, or painting, where the consequence of faulty work are not dire, I have never been comfortable with the idea of using a non-​licensed person to handle my electrical needs. I’ve contracted with about 6 different electricians over the years on various personal and business properties, and have rarely used the same electrician twice, not because of their workmanship, but because of their lack of professionalism, their inability to articulate the process and align my expectations. Sorry for the preamble here, but I wanted to give the reader a sense that I am a very discriminating client.
I found Benjamin Gibbs electric on Unilocal,and read positive reviews. I own a four-​plex, built in the 1940s, that wasn’t designed to accommodate the electrical needs of the modern day appliances. I was quite busy the day I decided to tackle the electrical issues, but have learned to trust Unilocal’s reviews, so I gave Benjamin a call. He answered the call himself and answered all of my questions. He met me at the job site several times and explained how he works, that he doesn’t cut corners with liability coverage, what his costs are, how long the job would take, and how much the job would cost me.
He upgraded my 1940s electrical panel, brought it up to code, communicated with the city inspectors, referred and a managed a professional plumber to move my gas lines (I didn’t have to get much personally involved with the plumber), and communicated with me frequently by text, email, and phone calls. He took pictures of the project as it progressed and was flexible with payment options. There is no BS with him. He makes a conservative profit on his jobs, and does the job right. Sure, I could have done the work cheaper with unlicensed workers who are not accountable, but that’s a gamble;and I don’t gamble with electrical issues.

I’ve called Ben out twice now. The first time to ease my mind over something a hack electrician had told me. Ben assured me my house was NOT going to burn down if I did not pay someone thousands ASAP and he did not charge me for the advice. The second time he installed an outdoor outlet for us and came in under his original quote. Ben and his crew are pros and fun to work with. Best part of all, he made my 3 yr old son feel like a superhero by taking him up in the truck crane.

I’m so sad that this man does not service my area!!! :(I live waaaaaaay too far out of his range. Anyway–
My husband was calling around today, and he was so impressed with this guy from one phone conversation! He took 15 minutes out of his busy day to walk us through finding a good electrician. He listened patiently, and thoughtfully answered every question.
…You VALLEY folks are very lucky… Pick GIBBS!

I can’t say enough about the excellence of service these guys provide. We had an extraordinarily difficult problem to solve and Ben did it when I’m sure others would have thrown in the towel.
HIGHLY recommend these guys. Terrific service at reasonable prices. Can’t ask for more.

Ben and Isaac are electric ninjas — our industrial machine the size of a Fiat required 3 phase, 220v, 50hz, 60a (3 hots, 1 ground, no neutral). Confusing as all hell. Our building puts out 3 phase power, but, as far as I could tell, nothing like the machine required. Another electrical company, referred by our landlord, wanted $ 4300, half of which was making a profit on a stock electrical transformer.
Ben figured out the solution, realizing the specs on the machine would work with our power given some slight tweaks to compensate for the 50hz and 60a specs. He was determined to understand our machine and find a solution, unlike the other company we called. His final bill was a fraction of the other company, and only for labor — he doesn’t upcharge for parts and will even direct you to websites to purchase the parts yourself.
Top notch, highly recommended for crazy electrical jobs.

First, props to the Unilocal community for great recommendations! Second, the guys at Gibbs were incredibly helpful.
We were looking for someone to give us a second opinion on an electrical issue, called Gibbs, and Isaac showed up within about 30 minutes. Talk about service! He was professional and respectful, and explained his assessment in a way that I could understand.
He was here and gone within less than 25 minutes. I didn’t feel like Isaac was trying to upsell anything — he was straight forward with his opinion of the work that needed to be done. He was friendly and jovial, which made me more comfortable to ask the questions I needed to ask.
I can’t recommend Gibbs highly enough. If ever we have another electrical issue, we’ll definitely be calling these guys!

What a nice surprise!
I found Gibbs Electric though Unilocal.I was looking for an electrician to do some small jobs around my parent’s house. I called five electricians and got return calls from two. The other electrician charged a fee to come over to give me an estimate, and when he showed up, told me the work was going to be $ 500 (for running a line of an existing outlet to an outdoor GFI — one of the easiest jobs to do other than change a switch).
On to Gibbs. I got a return call, set up a same day appointment, and the electrician showed up on time. The electrician was a great guy, friendly, professional, worked fast, did the job right and clean, and most importantly of all — charged a reasonable price. I’ve since had Gibbs Electric out another time — same great experience.
Highly recommended!

thanks Ben, for your awesome service! Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, fixed our problem (tried to help me on the phone first) then gave us some very useful advice for future improvements. Thank you Ben, for your professional and friendly service. Thanks Unilocal,for being right on again!

Honest, friendly, and knowledgable.

Ben showed up within an hour of contacting him. He was quick, knowledgeable, personable and didn’t try to oversell or up-​sell me on work. In fact I ended up asking him to do more work than he said was necessary just for my own peace of mind since I have original electrical wiring in a 100-​year-​old house.
Thanks, Ben!

I had 2 issues with the electricity in the kitchen of our new house. One was a minor issue dealing with a 3 way switch that didn’t work right. The second was more of a serious issue with a range hood that wouldn’t turn on anymore.
When I called Ben he was polite and was able to squeeze me in the same day I called (Sat). He arrived on time and was ready to get right to work. After troubleshooting for a bit both issues were cleared up. The price was very fair and Ben explained the issues in detail.
I would definitely call Gibbs Electric for any electrical issues I have and would recommend him to everyone.

Ben Gibbs came out to my house after I had already had 3 estimates and was amazing he convinced me the other folks who had told me we needed a complete rewire were wrong, and fixed the short in my outlet free of charge with the expectation that I would be hiring him for a the job. So far i haven’t had any further electrical issues, so have decided to wait on the repair he suggested. Thanks Ben!

Ben is honest, reliable, hardworking, and reasonable. He has worked for me many times on both large and small projects and I have always been very happy with the results.

Ben was fantastic! He was really knowledgeable, prompt, friendly and fast. His price was very reasonable as well. We had two electricians come out before Ben and they couldn’t find the problem with the track lighting. Ben identified it quickly and gave us options to fix it. Thanks Ben!