How to Choose a Licensed Electrician in NH

To choose a licensed electrician in New Hampshire, ask for the license number, confirm the insurance in writing, and expect a clear written estimate before any work begins. New Hampshire lets you verify an electrician's license yourself, free, through the state, and a real licensed pro will hand you their number without hesitation. Those three steps rule out most of what goes wrong when a homeowner hires the wrong person. Lembo Electric's owner, Paul Lembo Jr., is a New Hampshire Master Electrician, license number 13087, and a Massachusetts Master Electrician, license number 9058-EL-A1. The company is licensed and insured in both states, and we are glad to have you confirm every bit of it before we ever run a wire.

How do I verify a New Hampshire electrician's license?

New Hampshire licenses electricians through the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, the OPLC, and it runs an official public license lookup online at oplc.nh.gov. You type in the name or the license number and the state tells you whether the license is real, what type it is, and whether it is active and in good standing. In New Hampshire, essentially all electrical work at 30 volts or more has to be done by a licensed electrician, and a master electrician is the license level that is allowed to pull permits and supervise the job. Earning a New Hampshire master license, the license that stands behind every Lembo Electric job, is not a weekend course. The state requires thousands of documented hours of field experience and passing the licensing exam, plus continuing education every code cycle on the changes to the National Electrical Code. When you verify a number, that is the training you are confirming stands behind the work.

How do I check a Massachusetts electrician's license?

Massachusetts licenses electricians through the Board of State Examiners of Electricians, and you can verify a license through the state's ePLACE portal on mass.gov or by contacting the board directly. The credentials do not cross the border automatically, which is exactly why it matters that Lembo Electric carries both. A New Hampshire license does not authorize work in Massachusetts and a Massachusetts license does not authorize work in New Hampshire, so if a contractor tells you their NH license covers your home in Haverhill or Methuen, that is a red flag worth heeding. Our Massachusetts work is done under a full Massachusetts master license, number 9058-EL-A1, and to the Massachusetts Electrical Code, 527 CMR 12, which adopts the National Electrical Code with the state's own amendments. For a home in the Merrimack Valley, that is the license and the code that apply, and both are yours to verify.

Why does the license number actually matter?

Because it is the difference between work that passes inspection and work that quietly becomes your problem, often at the worst possible time. A licensed electrician pulls the permit, does the work to the code of your state, and has it inspected, so there is a record that the job was done right. An unlicensed handyman leaves you holding whatever goes wrong, with no permit on file, no inspection, and no accountability. That gap shows up when you sell the house and a buyer's inspector finds unpermitted electrical work, or when a fire or an insurance claim turns on whether the work was done by a licensed pro. The license is not red tape. It is the paper trail that protects your home and your equity.

Why does insurance matter as much as the license?

Because a license says someone is qualified, and insurance says you are protected if something still goes wrong. A properly insured electrician carries liability coverage, so if there is damage to your home during the job, that is on their policy, not on you. Ask any contractor for proof of insurance and treat hesitation as an answer. Lembo Electric is licensed and insured in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and we will show you the coverage the same way we show you the license number. The two together, the license and the insurance, are the baseline you should expect from anyone you let touch your panel.

What should I ask an electrician before hiring them?

Ask four plain questions and listen to how they answer. Are you licensed and insured, and what is your license number? Will you pull the permit and have the work inspected? Will I get a written estimate before the work starts? And who actually shows up to do the job? That last one matters more than people expect. With a lot of larger outfits you get a salesperson at the kitchen table and a rotating crew you never met. With Lembo Electric, you deal with our own family-run team from the first call to the final inspection, with a licensed master electrician leading every job, not a dispatcher reading from a script. A straight, patient answer to those four questions tells you almost everything about who you are dealing with.

What are the warning signs of an unlicensed or dishonest electrician?

A few patterns show up again and again, and any one of them is worth slowing down for. The person cannot or will not give you a license number, or gets defensive when you say you plan to verify it. They want to skip the permit to save you money, which really means skipping the inspection and the record. They ask for a large cash deposit up front, or push hard for you to decide today before the deal disappears. The quote is a single lump sum with no detail about what the work actually involves, or it is far below every other number you have gotten, which usually means something is being left out. And they cannot show proof of insurance. None of these prove someone is bad at the work, but each one shifts risk onto you, and in a trade where the mistakes are hidden inside walls and show up as fires or failed inspections years later, that risk is not worth the savings. A licensed, insured electrician who pulls permits has no reason to dodge any of it.

How can I tell an estimate is honest?

An honest estimate is specific, it explains what the job actually needs, and it holds. It should name the work, not just a lump sum, and the price you agree to should be the price on the invoice. Neighbors across Atkinson, Salem, Derry, Londonderry, and down into Methuen say the same thing in their reviews: the work is explained in plain language, the number is clear, and the job comes in at that number, not a dollar more than the quote. A quote that is vague, pressures you to sign today, or balloons once the work starts is telling you something. That is what Honesty and Quality above all else is meant to look like where it counts, on the estimate and on the final bill.

Does hiring a licensed electrician cost more than a handyman?

On the day of the job, a licensed electrician can look more expensive than a handyman working off the books, and that is exactly the comparison that trips people up. The handyman price does not include the permit, the inspection, the insurance, or the years of training and the code knowledge behind the work, and it does not include what it costs you when the work is wrong. Unpermitted electrical work can fail a home inspection when you sell, force you to tear out and redo a finished job, void a warranty, or complicate an insurance claim after a fire. When you add those risks back in, the licensed number is usually the cheaper one over the life of the home, not the pricier one. We quote the real work at a fair, honest price, and the permit and inspection that come with it are part of what you are actually paying for. That is the value the license represents, and it is why the true comparison is never just the number at the bottom of the page.

What if I am not even sure what electrical work I need?

That is completely normal, and it is one of the most common ways people start. You do not have to diagnose your own panel or know the code to make the call. We will look at the situation, tell you in plain English what is actually going on, and lay out your real options, including the honest option to wait if the work can safely wait. We would rather tell you a repair can hold another year than sell you something you do not need. The estimate is free, in New Hampshire or Massachusetts, and there is no obligation attached to finding out where you really stand.