The things people actually ask.

It depends what's in the diary, but same-day does happen — one customer rang early one afternoon and had the work carried out that evening, another had a tripping fuse board looked at within the hour. Ring early in the day for the best chance of being fitted in, and be straightforward about whether it's urgent or it can wait until next week.

Because an honest price for electrical work depends on the property, the age of the installation and what's found once a cover comes off — a price list would either be wrong or padded to cover the worst case. What you get instead is a figure before work starts: small jobs priced on the phone, larger ones after a look.

Yes — an extra socket, a dead circuit, a light fitting nobody else will touch, a supply out to a garage or an outbuilding. Small jobs are the ones most firms quietly won't return calls about; they're a good part of what we do.

Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 6pm. That's when the phone is on and jobs get booked — it isn't a 24-hour emergency service and we won't pretend otherwise. If the mobile rings out, Anthony has both hands full; leave a message and you'll get a call back.

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is a structured inspection and test of a fixed electrical installation — the consumer unit, the circuits, the earthing and bonding, a sample of accessories — written up with any problems coded by severity. Landlords need one for a let property; homeowners tend to have one done when buying, before a refurbishment, or when the installation is simply old enough to want checking.

For privately rented homes in England the regulations require an inspection at least every five years, and at the start of a new tenancy if the existing report has expired. Owner-occupied homes are commonly recommended at around ten years, and commercial premises are usually on a five-year cycle — though your insurer or licence conditions may set something shorter, so check those first.

C1 means danger present and it gets made safe there and then. C2 means potentially dangerous and it needs putting right for the installation to be satisfactory. C3 means improvement recommended — not a failure, and not something you have to spend money on. FI means further investigation is required. Anything coded will be explained in plain English rather than left as a letter on a page.

Usually not. Most unsatisfactory reports come down to a handful of C2 items — missing RCD protection, poor earthing or bonding, a damaged accessory — and get resolved with a board change and some remedial work. A full rewire is the answer when the wiring itself has had its day, and you'll be told which of the two you're looking at before you're asked to spend anything.

The British Standard for emergency lighting, BS 5266, sets out a short monthly function test — the fittings are put into emergency mode and checked that they illuminate — and an annual full-duration test, where the system runs for its rated duration, usually three hours, and must still be working at the end of it. Both should be written into a log book kept on site.

Where the job allows, yes. Tell us what the premises can't be without and when the doors have to open, and the work is planned around that — including weekends, since Saturdays and Sundays are normal working days here rather than an overtime request.

Yes — trunking, tray and conduit, distribution boards and sub-mains, power and lighting for units, shops and offices, and high-level work off an access tower. It's the same person doing it as does the domestic work, which for most small commercial customers is the point.

No. "There was no mess and everything was left clean and tidy" is a customer's phrase, not marketing copy, and it's the standard for every visit — dust sheets down, mess cleared, and nothing left for you to deal with after the van's gone.

Customers have mentioned "a great guarantee on his parts" in their reviews. What applies depends on the job and the manufacturer of what's fitted, so ask at quote stage and you'll get a straight answer in writing rather than a slogan.

You get a phone call before anything is spent, not a surprise on the invoice. Sometimes the honest answer is that a job doesn't need doing at all, or not yet — you'll be told that too.