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Licenses, Insurance and Common Work Environments
When hiring either a commercial or residential electrician for your project, you need to make sure that they are licensed and insured for your own protection. You do not want an unlicensed, and uninsured contractor getting injured while working on your project. Work environments vary for both residential and commercial electricians. One of them specializes in home electrical, while the other specializes in commercial electrical.
What Electrical Services Do They Offer?
When you start calling around, this needs to be one of the first questions that you ask them. You do not want them showing up the following day, only to tell you that they do not work on residential ceiling fans. Make sure you communicate your needs, give an accurate description of the problem, and receive confirmation that they can complete the job on time and within budget.
What’s the difference between a residential and commercial electrician?
There are two streams of electrical work, the residential electrician and the commercial electrician. A residential electrician works in homes and residences only, while a commercial electrician works in buildings and storefronts supporting businesses and their needs. One of the main differences between these settings is the amount of power that runs through the buildings and each wire individually.
Residential Electrician
A residential electrician works in home and can do repairs and installations for residential buildings. This includes all types of residences including townhouses, condos, and detached houses. The electricity in these homes is capped at a specific voltage, and they are well trained in safety and procedures for the lower voltages. Included in this is wiring for a new home, replacing outlets, receptacles, lighting, and more in a home. Within a home the wiring is hidden behind walls or other barriers, to keep it out of the way and out of sight as much as possible. This is different from a commercial building where they keep wires more easily accessible for repairs,
A residential electrician is not certified to work in commercial locations where the power flow is higher.
Commercial Electrician
You can contact a Commercial and Residential Electrician serving Kiama, NSW and they are pretty much guaranteed to be approved for working in buildings for businesses, storefronts, salons, and more. The voltage in these buildings is higher and creates a higher risk of injury to those working with it. There are additional safety measures and supplies for these buildings, and each commercial electrician must be properly certified to work in the environment that they are currently in.
Commercial buildings include office buildings and can be several stories high. This adds more work and longer stretches of wire, as well as requires the ability to adjust or repair the electrical wires as time passes, leading to the need to keep the wires more easily accessible. In this situation wires are often contained in conduits that run either along the floor outside the walls or through the ceiling These are well hidden to appear attractive throughout the building, but to remain accessible for any needed repairs.
Key Differences
The key differences between these two types of electricians include the voltages that are being worked with and the safety measures, such as alternative wiring techniques, that are required for them. There are different tools that are used for these two separate types, as well as different safety equipment. Differences in equipment and voltages require different sets of skills, so they are trained in different ways. Requirements and compliance standards also differ between the two, and it is necessary for each to know the rules and regulations for the jobs that they are doing.
In order for a residential electrician to become a commercial electrician, they must take the necessary courses and pass the exams. This certification would allow them to work in both settings as they will be certified for each separately.