Berk’s Electrical and Lighting

In October 2015 I had another electrician scheduled to repair some broken high voltage landscaping wire in my backyard and they finked out on me saying they didn’t have time in their schedule after repeated calls from me. Since this was the second time they cancelled on me I gave up on them. I called Berke Electric and spoke to Mr. Berkowitz himself who came out to my house to review the work and provide me an estimate. They completed the work right away and gave a better price than the other electrician. In January 2016 I needed to have four non functioning outlets repaired. Berke came and repaired them and called me (I was out of town) every step to let me know their progress. They were very professional and dependable. I like that it’s a family business because you feel like they really value the customer.

We had Berks Electrical come out a few times to do some work for us. The last time they came out was a few days ago and changed out an in the wall timer for us. He did a great job and we were very pleased with the job he did. We would use them again for any other jobs we might have. We would recommend Berks Electrical.

I went on Angie’s list. Found 2 electricians I asked to come out to give me an estimate on installing a ceiling fan & check my fuses. I was very clear I wanted an estimate before I made a decision on who to hire for the job. Other company was cool with it. Berks expected me to just let the guy do the job. They didn’t want to honor their 10% offer they have because I wanted the 2^nd estimate before I decided on the job. Went with Berk’s because the guy said he could do the job with much less damage to my walls. Two years later I’m paying the other guy to come out and fix what that guy did to my house. The switch he installed blew, causing my breaker to arc and go off. I specifically asked the Berk’s electrician about how much was going thru that one fuse because it’s an old house. Guy told me I had nothing to worry about. Lesson learned. If they try and renig in a deal & try to force you in to quick decisions, run like hell.

My anxiety at the end of my visit with these guys and even after they left was at a super high level. I’m not one to get my feathers ruffled easily but seriously the way they try to squeeze money from you just makes you stare blankly at them and wonder to yourself «wow should I call the cops Bc they’re robbing me to my face»
So I setup an appointment on the phone to have a ceiling fan looked at. The ceiling fan only goes at a medium speed even though it has a high, medium, low setting. Clicking on any button, you’ll hear the receiver click but the fan speed doesn’t change. So I call and explain my situation to the operator and she says «there’s a fee for coming out, it’s $ 89 for the technician to inspect» so I’m like «uhhh ok so $ 89 for him to look at the problem and then quote work that he hasn’t done yet?» I tell her I know visually what the problem is and will the tech measure voltage or has he seen this type of issue before or what will he actually check before giving me his suggestion? She just replies back that he’s experienced. Experienced in what??? I decide to go forward hesitantly Bc I need help and I’m not sure of what else to do.
Like I thought the tech comes out, I show them the issue in person and show him a working fan in another room. I give him some time and tell him to let me know. 10 minutes later he comes and says ok well it is either 1) the fan motor or 2) the fan remote’s receiver… Ummmm duh!!! I mean it’s not the earth’s gravitational pull or because solar flares exist. Obviously it’s 1 OR 2. Even I know that. He then says, I’ll have to dig deeper, I charge $ 149/​first hour and $ 95/​each hour after to look deeper. So now my choices are, pay this guy $ 89 for the 10 min of work he’s done or have that waived and start the clock having him dig deeper at ridiculously high rates!!! Ok… I’m again stressed at my choices on how to get screwed. I choose to have him inspect the fan deeper and he prefAces by saying, «even if I dig deeper, if it’s internal to the fan I can’t do anything» and so I ask, what are you going to do then? (I keep thinking in my head if he’s somehow testing systematically!!! What is his strategy!!!)
So now I’m thinking, what if he just tears this fan apart and nothing is gained by it? And then he changes me for ripping it apart and finding nothing… Ding ding ding that’s exactly what happens when I check up on him 40 minutes later. He says the remote unit may or may it be working and he can take it with him to try and find a replacement, if that doesn’t work the motor might need to be rewound… I ask the normal how much does that cost question and he says that depending on if I have deep pockets it could be anywhere from $ 500+ dollars to figure out the true issue. WTF! A new decent or even really nice ceiling fan +install isn’t even that much…
So I tell him to wrap it up and yeah let’s go look to see if replacing the receiver will work. He then helps pack up the dismantled fan into a box I provide to him. He then takes a phone call with his boss and explains the situation. He then comes downstairs and says «yea my boss says you might as well replace the fan and we shouldn’t move forward with the legwork to fix the problem ie. The receiver he’s holding» so wait, you just spoke to your boss who told you to stop your current project? Ok…
So now the paperwork, he brings me the form he had me sign for the $ 149/​first hr rate and in my head that’s what I’m about to pay which already hurts Bc what has been accomplished here really for that rate? This guy has been in my house working on this issue and working (physically not looking at the issue but doing work) less than an hour. He then tries to charge me for almost 2 hrs of work. I’m like O_​o!!! Uhhh you only did an hour of work and he wants to charge me for the minute he walked in the door. No F@&kin way! You’re charging me from shaking your hand, explaining the issue, showing you a working fan, taking a phone call with your boss, asking me to find you a box, talking to you about your opinions on how I should proceed!!! So what if you went into a monologue about the history of fans? And I politely listen, I’m supposed to pay for that?
I told him no and now I’m like having issues not telling this guy how full of it he is. I tell him that he didn’t explain the hourly charges until 4 time and now it’s 5, I’m only paying an hour!
I pay it and he leaves. I tell all my housemates who overheard the convos what a joke that company was. This is exactly why dealing with new handymen, contractors, plumbers, or service people etc makes people so worried and have to turn to Unilocal because they don’t want get stuck dealing with money hungry do nothing companies who just get by by charging a ridiculous rates to stay afloat.
Avoid these guys. My story could be your same story and my anxiety could be your anxiety. Unless you won the lottery and don’t care about money… Don’t get Played.

We needed an electrical outlet for a big screen TV installed over a stone fireplace. Judy was able to get me a same day appointment. Roman was the electrician assigned to the job. He had to figure out how to get power from an upstairs bedroom, as there was no way to do it from a downstairs outlet due to the stone fireplace. When he finished installing the new outlet, you would have thought that it had always been there. He had to cut a small hole in the drywall in the upstairs bedroom to drill through a crossbeam. He replaced the drywall and plastered over it, leaving the wall with no damage. I did not think that electricians repaired drywall damage. I was very impressed with his knowledge and thoroughness, as well as his willingness to clean up after the job and repair any holes. I would not hesitate to use them again.

Great company! We’ve had these guys come out twice over the last five years, always prepared to do the job with gear and supplies on hand. Reasonably priced, punctual, fast workers, high-​quality results.

We had berks electrical come out to our house to do various repair jobs and also lay down new wiring for three fountains around the garden.
We are extremely satisfied with the work.
Only the highest quality material was used, especially on the outside, because it has to last long due to weather conditions.
The work was done neatly and the electrician was very concerned about the cleanliness and standard of his work.
The repairs done inside the house was neat and tidy and the electrician left no mess.
We highly recommend berks electrical