Jordan L , Manhattan , NY
We had Alex take a look at our newly purchased 1950s home shortly after we bought it. We wanted to have a professional electrician take a look at the electrical items on the inspection report, which had flagged concerns about potential knob and tube wiring in the attic, and we wanted to add recessed lighting in 7 rooms, track lighting in the family room, upgrade our main service panel to 200 amps, and install all new smart switches, dimmers and outlets. Basically, and electrical equivalent of a full gut job.
We got a few quotes, and Alex was not only the most cost effective, but his design ideas for the track lighting configuration were creative (we had a weird layout).
We picked Alex and a few weeks later, he and his crew started the three weeks project. He communicated regularly leading up to day one, confirming the start date and time and letting us know that he could start earlier if we could. And then once they started, he would give daily updates and address any decisions needed or issues we had in the evenings. The crew was very neat, and the work product was very clean. Our complicated track lighting looks impeccable.
For a big project like this, they stayed on budget and never nickel and dimed us for small things. Unlike working with some other trades, working with Alex felt good and we very much enjoyed the experience. Wed use him again in a heart-beat!
Manolete C , San Mateo , CA
Alex and his crew were very efficient with the work they did upgrading my panel from 100A to 200A, despite PG&E being absolutely horrible to deal with. PG&E delayed the project by a couple of months, but once their approval was received, Alex got to work.
I am giving Eminent 5 stars because they did professional work. The work was so great that I overheard the city inspector complimenting Alex on his work and how it is always so clean and professional.
Alex did relatively well on communication, though there were some delays at some points. He did, however, try to deal with the PG&E issue along with me, which was appreciated. He even provided me with some supporting items to provide to PG&E, though that did not do too much.
Pricing was market value, if not a little lower.
That being said, I do have a couple of items that I hope Alex can keep in mind for future work.
Some remnants of their work were left behind for me to clean up, such as part of the roofing, side panels, screws and wiring. As I had to go underneath the house to work on our sump pumps, I noticed a lot of old stripped wires left in the sump pump holes and all around. Same with the work area around the old panel and the new panel.
Note for anyone with a foam roof. If you are doing the same type of work, they will likely need to cut into the roof, which can only be resealed with foam. They did seal the new pole (cant recall the correct term for it) at the roof, but not very well. In fact, they did not seal it all the way around, even though the section that had no sealant was on the downslope.
You will need to have that resealed by a foam company. I did not realize in my head that this would be done, but that is an error on my part.
Overall, I would contact Alex again and definitely recommend him for work.
Kathy M , San Mateo , CA
I contacted Alex because we had a recent kitchen, dining room and bathroom remodel and we were concerned about the work the electrician did on the job. I asked Alex to look at EVERYTHING the electrician did, and he found a number of problems---reverse polarity, outlets not properly grounded, the electrical box mislabeled, etc. He corrected everything and even printed up a diagram of our electrical box so we could label it properly.
We also asked Alex to do some other electrical work in our home, and to properly connect some speakers in the back of our house that were no longer working, along with our DVD player, etc. The speakers took quite a while to troubleshoot, because we didnt know if the speakers were no longer working, or if the control on the wall was not working, or if a wire was disconnected somewhere along the way. Alex figured out that the speakers were not correctly hooked up to the back of our receiver and fixed the problem. All of our equipment had gotten unplugged by a carpet cleaner and a handyman tried to hook everything back up, with limited success.
Alex was very friendly, responsive, patient and knowledgeable. He was assisted by Kwong, who is a hard worker and very capable. Kwongs English is limited, but he is not shy, and does his best to communicate. They were both a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend Alexs company for your electrical needs. He is also a licensed contractor. Judging by his work in our home, he must be a good contractor. He does very neat work.
C K , San Mateo , CA
I have used Eminent Electrical on several projects and always found them to do the job right, on time and within budget. They installed air conditioning in my house, changed a dining room ceiling mounted light fixture, set up an HD TV, changed our ovens and installed outdoor lighting. At another property, they installed new lighting units in the garages. The owner, Alex Tong, who has an electrical engineering degree is very reliable and easy to deal with. Overall, I have had excellent experiences with Eminent Electrical (they are a licensed contractor) and I would encourage you to contact them for an estimate if you have any electrical needs. If you have any questions about them, please feel free to send me a Yelp message.
Kirsten B , San Mateo , CA
I cannot say enough positive things about Alex and Eminent Electrical. I had an electrical outlet spark and trip the circuit breaker covering all the homes bathrooms, just before the New Year’s holiday weekend. I feared flipping the breaker switch back on because there was no apparent reason why the circuit sparked to begin with (other than the House has old wiring) - I did not want to start a fire in the townhouse and burn down the complex! I called Alex we communicated via text throughout the day, as he tried to find time to fit my job into his companys schedule. He was able to make it and fix the problem, giving me piece of mind that the house would be safe with the power turned back on. While he was there, he was also able to deactivate an old electrical wire that I was trying to remove from the back of a closet, so the little girl living in the room could finally make full use her closet.
After completing the work, he simply wished me a good night. Alex clearly made quite a bit of effort to fit my job in that day, did a great job completing the work, made more time to complete the extra job I sprung on him while he was there (and it was definitely near/past the end of his work day already), and only asked for very reasonable monetary compensation for his work...this review was NOT solicited!
Alex is knowledgeable, professional, and his prices are reasonable. I will definitely be calling Eminent Electrical for future electrician needs and highly recommend Alexs work.
Erin G , San Mateo , CA
I hired Alex and his team to do a complete upgrade of our first-floor electrical (getting rid of knob and tube, and then bringing everything up to current code), and they were great to work with! Very reasonably priced. Started and finished the work on the timetable Alex provided in advance (which is not the norm from my experience working with contractors), which made it so much easier to plan life around the work. The workers tidied up at the end of each day and made an effort to minimize the inherent mess of the work. And knob and tube work can sometimes require cutting into walls to get to the wiring, but they were able to REALLY limit the amount of damage to the walls; only had to cut into the walls in a few, small spots and patched them up well. Alex was very responsive and helpful through the whole project (even on a holiday weekend when an urgent need came up). All in all, I was impressed! I would use Alex again and would certainly recommend him.
Momo R , San Francisco , CA
I hired Alex and his team to do a complete upgrade of our first-floor electrical (getting rid of knob and tube, and then bringing everything up to current code), and they were great to work with! Very reasonably priced. Started and finished the work on the timetable Alex provided in advance (which is not the norm from my experience working with contractors), which made it so much easier to plan life around the work. The workers tidied up at the end of each day and made an effort to minimize the inherent mess of the work. And knob and tube work can sometimes require cutting into walls to get to the wiring, but they were able to REALLY limit the amount of damage to the walls; only had to cut into the walls in a few, small spots and patched them up well. Alex was very responsive and helpful through the whole project (even on a holiday weekend when an urgent need came up). All in all, I was impressed! I would use Alex again and would certainly recommend him.
Erin G , San Mateo , CA
I contacted Eminent Electrical to install 2 pendant lights and some dimmers.
Scheduling was tricky, but once Alex (the owner) arrived, things were gravy. I suggest they use a virtual assistant to smooth this out.
One of the pendants was elaborate - 7 globes with differing drop lengths requiring attachment to a heavy metal base, but he was able to build and install it without issue.
Hes quick, detail oriented, comes with tons of his own equipment/hardware, and is a fount of knowledge.
He was able to answer all my questions about dimmers and the bulbs that worked with them. He also noticed the placement of naked LED bulbs where overhead lamps used to be made the ceiling look unfinished. He introduced me to inexpensive LED retrofit kits and installed the few he had with them. He briefly ran into an issue during the installation but worked the problem until resolution. Our ceiling looks so much better! He even gave us a discount on the kits.
Expertise + adaptability + reasonable rates = recommended.
Lana N , San Mateo , CA
Alex and his team just wrapped up rewiring my entire home from old knob and tube. I got several bids and his bid was competitive, plus Alex was very responsive with my questions.
His team worked tirelessly in just over a week to rewire our home and update an electrical panel. It was tough work going through our crawl space and attic, cutting open ceiling and wall, but they got the job done professionally.
During the project, we discovered that electrical work that should have been done during our kitchen/bath remodel was not completed properly. This is what happens when you dont have good contractors with proper electrical experience.
Ultimately, his team fixed our electrical issues and the inspections passed. As a bonus, the project was completed early despite the incremental issues.
Alex is an expert in his work, understands the codes and has a good relationship with PG&E and the city inspectors. I recommend working with Alex if youre looking for any electrical work. You definitely want someone who knows what theyre doing!
Anthony F , San Mateo , CA
Working with Eminent - wow. These guys not only saved our ass but did it on budget, within quote and 3x as fast as the previous guys we let go.
Alex the owner was very level headed and easy to work with. He exhibits great tact and problem-solving skills. Solutions to difficult problems were addressed, easier to implement, professional looking and had user functionality considered. My input was always received well and without ego.
He worked with our schedule. Either Alex or his crew showed up on time and always put forth 110% effort. This is something I highly appreciated after dealing with the (nicely put) much slower and less detail oriented (professional crew) drawing out the job to make more $.
His crew member, Kong was fun to work with. I was around for part of the rewire and Kong did much of the work I was paying 3 other guys to do formerly.
At first I was concerned b/c Eminent cost the same as the previous crew I let go with a larger team. But truly Eminents pricing is of a competitive tier and a testament to the confidence, conviction and proficiency of a quality team. Literally Kong did the work of 3 people in the same amount of time. When he needed support, Alex or additional crew were there. Kong was able to balance a multitude of tasks that a home rewire demanded, keeping busy and working hard in the brutal attic heat. He took direction well from his boss Alex. Hes knowledgeable and hard working.
Kongs tag line is it’s easy!. This way, when he said it’s not so easy, it was clear what we were dealing with. 90% of the time all I heard was, it’s easy, and man, I consider those things, HARD. At the end of the day it’s not so easy was always completed with all daily goals per usual, on time and on budget.
Finally Id like to say I truly appreciated the level of integrity and sincerity. Eminent helped us in what I felt was a tough and trying time in our lives. They could have taken advantage but always took the higher road while the crew and their level of integrity exhibited the same. Irony struck when I learned 2 others I work with hired them and had nothing but overwhelming goodness to share. On a final note, Eminent carried me all the way through inspection with full service. The level of quality work was echoed as the inspector unsolicited, commented on these points.
And with one giant felt swoop Eminent laid the foundation of safety, removing exposed, arcing, fussy Kobe-and-tube wires from the loins of this oldy but goody single family home. With vigor Id recommend them to anyone. In fact, moving forward I dont ever want to deal with anyone else.
Thank You Eminent for what you did and how you did it. Lets do it again sometime!
