Homer's Electrical

I have used Homer's Electric service for some major projects, replacing a storm-downed power line at my home, and installing new service to a rental property. He solved a conundrum at the rental property, that other electrical services couldn't, which was to construct an electric room on an open porch that had been converted from an enclosed porch. All work was done with permits and sign off by a City of Chicago Inspector. This is in response to Nessie X's negative review on this site, that claims he is operating without a City of Chicago License. His license and billing are under VT-Tech Service Inc which IS listed on the City's site with a current license thru 1/2024.

Homer and his team are the best. They were courteous and knowledgeable throughout the entire process. We had two workmen come in and replace two old (and potentially dangerous) electrical panels in our new condo unit. They worked quickly and efficiently and were able to do the work in less time than scheduled. They were friendly and cleaned up the areas nicely after they were done. Despite our condo management being clueless and slow to respond, Homer and his team did an excellent job.

While shopping around for contractors for this job, we received a lot of quotes; Homer's estimate came in the lowest.

We are very happy with the service. We highly recommend Homer for any electrical work needed and would definitely use them again if we needed to.

These guy's are great! I had called several electricians, including the people I had been using for the past three months, and could not get anyone to come out; scheduling for service was at least several days out and I needed service right away.

I looked further in Yelp and discovered Homer's, who happens to be right in Rodgers Park (don't know why I didn't find these guys earlier because I sure as hell would have used them). My previous electrician, I could never understand his pricing because it seemed as though he would never have an idea what the costs of the job was going to be until after the he finished a job, and I really hated writing checks at the end of each job.

Anyway, Homer and his partner came on the same day I called and discovered the problem I was having was so minor that they didn't charge me. Don't find that happening very often. Aside from that, they were very friendly and give me great advice. I will be using these guys moving forward.

I would be very careful before taking this electrician's advice.

I had an odd odor in my kitchen I wanted investigated, as I was concerned that this might mean I was having an electrical problem and at risk of a fire.  

I called Homer and he was prompt and courteous in arriving for our estimate/appointment.  

I then experienced the most noxious bait-and-switch experience I've had with a technician in a long time.  He intentionally used overly technical language and I felt like I was with a used car salesman trying to sell me rustproof undercoating.  

Homer exited my kitchen almost immediately, going to my panel box on a completely different floor and explaining all the different ways that my electrical system wasn't wired correctly.   This was very confusing to me- since all the electrical in my house was newly installed 3 years ago by a contractor I know personally who is an electrician, and my house passed inspection.  

Homer cited a few minor issues such as a few connections being double-tapped, and the box being incorrectly installed which apparently would put it at risk of fire, and the wrong screws being used.  He blew up these minor issues into a huge problem that, apparently, was putting me at imminent risk of a fire and would require him to re-wire the whole box for $500.  EXCEPT he wasn't available until almost a week later and never advised me to turn off the breaker for the area of the house where the issue was (the kitchen)- so how big of a risk was it, in his mind?? AND, mind you, he never explained why I would get a smell in the kitchen.

Next, Homer  furthermore stated my 200 amp box wasn't being properly serviced by a 100 amp line from ComEd, and this was dangerous and he needed to fix it and would work to get the necessary permits.  Look- I know my house wasn't updated to code, but when he said this job would cost $2,000-2,500. I almost fell off my chair.  Obviously if this was a major problem, my house would not have passed inspection and I would have chronic electrical issues in my home, which I do not. PLUS, he said it would be OK to wait until Spring when I could save up for it- so, again, how urgent is the issue???

I had trouble sleeping that night, worrying about how imperative these supposed necessary safety issues were, and concerned about cost.

Thank God common sense prevailed and I contacted another electrician- someone HONEST, thank goodness- who came out the next day and thoroughly inspected my house for 90 minutes.  He explained the double-tapping issue was minor and didn't need correction; he didn't feel the foreign screws were anything to be concerned about; he covered a very minor hole in the electrical box at no cost to reduce moisture intrusion; he inspected every single outlet in the kitchen (and hypothesized since they were all in excellent working order that perhaps the GFI circuitry was about to fail and could account for the occasional smell); yes my box was a 200 amp but so was the external wire; the 100 amp Com-Ed wire needn't be a major issue unless I'm trying to sell the house (as this is technically a code violation, but not a safety concern since there's no way I'm using anywhere near 100 amps of power at one time), etc. etc.  

I paid him for his time and promptly cancelled my follow up appt with Homer.  Who, by the way does not appear to be a licensed electrician- a fact you can easily check for yourself here: webapps1.cityofchicago.o…  

If you want to work with a dishonest cheat who treats women like idiots and uses fear to try to sell unnecessary goods and services, well you know who to call.  His number is above.

Homer was very professional. He answered my call immediately and was out the same day to look at our issue. He diagnosed an overloaded circuit but when he and the crew came out to fix it he discovered we had lost partial power and thus we also had a ComEd issue. He was kind enough to understand we wanted to get that resolved first before fixing the circuit. He even called ComEd for us to schedule the fix. I will be calling him again for any electrical issue!

We had an outage at dinner and I wanted to get it looked at that night.  Homer and Raye were great, and I appreciated that they were able to schedule an appointment that night. Raye diagnosed the problem accurately and we were able to get it resolved that night. Professional, prompt and courteous.

Homer is the hardest working man in Chicago!  Had a big branch fall on my wires and the electric company said no power until it was fixed. Asked friends for suggestions, made several calls, couldn't get anyone to take a look in a timely fashion.
I did find Homer on Yelp, and I'm happy I did.  He came out that day and walked me through all my options. The major repair was all finished within 24 hours, which even allowed us to keep what was in the fridge!
He even helped with getting the electric company to reconnect the power. I would recommend Homer and Eric to anyone.

I called Homer to install two Ring security lights/cameras after a break-in a few hours prior.  He showed up within 2 hours of my phone call and a fabulous job!!   He also recommended a contractor to install a new back door, that the burglars had kicked in.  I will definitely call Homer for future electrical work!   Great job at a fair price!

Homer is a fabulous electrician.  It is obvious that he knows what he is doing and is very responsive when contacting him.  He does his work quickly and stands behind it.  He is also very punctual.  He has done work for us twice and I highly recommend.

I've used Homer on a couple different occasions to update wiring in an old building. He is extremely responsive, always on time, and you can tell he knows what he's doing. We've been very happy with his work and will use him again in the future.

We really appreciated his knowledge and recommendation to first check with Commonwealth Edison first. He didn't charge anything to assess what work.mau be needed. We will definitely recommend him to our friends.

Where shall one begin? This was the question that plagued myself when searching for an electrician and now has beset once more. In the latter case it is about how to describe the immense work ethic, professionalism and unfathomable attention to detail that these electricians possess. As a matter of course one should assume to be nervous while having others check and repair a utility that has the potential for catastrophic consequences if done incorrectly, but in this case, that anxiety was relieved as soon as I witnessed the replacing of a single electrical receptacle (outlet), deservedly so since about 20 more needed replacement and/or repair. The attention to detail and most importantly, safety that was undertaken when doing the work, was carried out so eloquently, so refined, so meticulous, yet at such an impressive speed was truly a conglomerate of qualities that no other contractor or tradesmen could possibly hold, at least not in my experiences (especially having worked in trades). This was the real deal and so very comforting due to the age and condition of the amateur endeavored wiring practices in my home from previous residents that could only be described as a patchwork of old and barely useable to ancient and likened to a powder keg with a lit match on the rim. Electrical work is absolutely not my first 'rodeo', I do know quite a bit and the parts that I didn't, were refined by being privy the sheer and unadulterated professional installations by these guys, as well being shown technique to improve my own electrical work. In essence, I know what faulty, shoddy work is, and the work done, namely by Erik, and Homer, is the opposite. For lack of better terms the work was; top notch, dead on, perfect in every possible way! The only thing that was better were the rates for the volume of work (whole-home and garage device replacements). I can sleep at night knowing that my building will not perish in flame, nor myself in my sleep due to the absolutely top quality work done by these men (especially Erik). I am still astounded that I actually found honest contractors who stuck to quote, were really reasonable in cost, and best of all did the work with integrity and pride and even arrived before they were due, very likeable and courteous as well. No shortcuts, no trickery, just quality and solutions. If you are in need of an electrician, there is absolutely no other choice. You will absolutely not find better. I worked in trades and I couldn't, until now.

Just wanted to leave this review as a thank you to Homer, Erik, Tyler and Mark. Excellent work, I couldn't imagine something better. Thanks again!

Homer and his staff were great from start to finish. Homer called me right away in response to an appointment made online.  He came out on a Sunday morning, explained my options, and gave me a very reasonable quote. The next day his staff came to my business before store hours and completed a small wiring, lightbox install, and drywall patching job all by 10:15 a.m.! Awesome.

Extremely prompt and troubleshot the problem and did everything they could to fix it on the first shot. Reasonable rates and far less expensive than other options.

Showed up on time, was knowledgable and friendly. Did a fairly long investigation of my electrical problem before suggesting a cost-effective solution. We are in the process of identifying several small problems and I'm confident that he is the right partner for that. SW

I started using Homer last year, when I needed grounded outlets installed in my 75 year old house. He was fast friendly and efficient, and fair with his price. Earlier this year I need my wiring upgraded to 100 amps. I got 3 estimates, Homer was on the same par as the higher end, so I went with him. He brought in a crew was able to supple me with an outlet so I could continue to do work on the internet, while the power was off, they finished the job in 7 hours, cleaned up everything, and you can see that no shortcuts were taken. Yesterday I called to have a new internet ceiling fan installed, he came buy to see where I was installing it,He noticed the wiring was cracked and about 65 years old, told me what we would have to do, showed me how I could save money buy keeping the old box, and just replacing the wires. And at the same time would install my new security cameras for the house. He is upfront with his price, he provides all the parts, so I don't have to search and shop around.Highly recommend him for all electrical work.

Homer was fantastic! I had an electrical box that started loudly humming.  It was not only driving me crazy as I tried to work but made me worry about a fire.  I called about 5 companies without anyone picking up the phone.  I left a message for Homer and he called me right back and was at my condo in 30 minutes.  By the time he arrived the buzzing had temporarily stopped, so he explained that humming from an electrical box generally means a fuse has gone bad and showed me how to figure out which fuse needed to be replaced.  As soon as he left the buzzing started again.  He immediately came back and detected that it wasn't my fuse box at all.  It was an A/C condenser on the roof of my condo building that was directly over my fuse box causing it to vibrate.  He explained that there should be a pad under the A/C unit to prevent the vibrating.  He was extremely honest and I avoided needing to pay for any repairs.

Homer was extremely responsive, professional, and reasonably priced with his estimate for the job.  The day the job was scheduled, he was flexible with timing, and came within the timeframe we discussed.  Homer and Arthur came in, took a look at the area where the light install was to be done, and did the job not only much quicker than I expected, but with beautiful results.  It was an easy and extremely pleasant experience working with Homer for the work I needed.  Would highly recommend him based on my experience, and will call on him for future electrical needs.