SOUTH BAY ELECTRIC COMPANY

We needed to replace a 30 year old electrical panel to accommodate planned solar panel installation (old one no longer complied with code). Ian Marsh worked to get the required permits here in Palos Verdes, installed the panel complete with new ground tie to water line and roof entry port. Ian worked with us to accommodate our schedule which was tight due to vacation plans. The only available day was a Friday which concerned us since if work couldn't be completed (for any reason) we might be without power over the weekend. Ian's son and crew of three showed up right on scheduled at 7am, went straight to work, and completed by 7pm. They were very professional and polite. The crew was well organized, clean, and remarkably detailed on the trenching across the front of the house and breaking the old stucco to accommodate the new panel size. They also had to accommodate new roof SCE entry port which shows on the front our house and that looks good too. Ian handled all of the Southern Cal Edison interaction, knew exactly what forms / inspections were required before and after work was completed, all of which made our life easy. Ian is very responsive, communicates well both via cell phone and email (a real plus since we work long hours), and is very professional. First rate contractor, will definitely use again for electrical needs.

Ian and his son were terrific. The situation could have been a horror story but Ian figured a way to do the job. I will call him for any future electrical work and recommend him highly

Helped me figure out the best way to do project and cost. Worked hard and finished in 1 day. Very professional.

Better than expected - completely professional.

The whole project went very smoothly and they installed the lights exactly as we requested. Ian and his crews were very professional and they gave very good suggestions about the whole project. Ian crews arrived early on the day of project and it look less than 2 days to install 26 recessed lights throughout family room, living room, and four bedrooms. They cleaned up very nicely after the project and confirmed with me if everything meet my expectations. Ian and his crews were extremely qualified and experienced and they provided excellent customer service. One of the light bulbs got burned out and Ian came to my house right away to replace it and also provided extra spare light bulbs free of charge. I will definitely use South Bay Electric Company again in the future and will also recommend it to all my family and friends.

They spent about a week and half at our fixer-upper home and they did not install a single light switch or outlet. They have very deceptive business practices regarding pricing and the work is shoddy. We gave the company a two page typed list of the work we needed done to upgrade our electrical system to current codes. The owner, Ian Marsh is very personable and does a lot of double talk to avoid putting things in writing. He insisted on breaking up the scope of work and on the first portion, installing the new electric panel they had a lower bid than the two other contractors that gave us proposals. After that I kept asking for a written ESTIMATE of the remaining work and he kept saying they had to troubleshoot the wiring first, and he talked endlessly about the relationship of trust he was building with my husband about. He finally sent an estimate for only a portion of the work on the list. My husband talked to him in person and I sent two emails detailing the missing tasks and asking for a revised Estimate of the complete job. He was aware the second lowest bid for the job was $8000. The next thing we knew he sent us two INVOICES for the job stating they had already completed 90% while "troubleshooting. The total came to more than $11000 and they never got our authorization or signature on a contract for anything except the panel installation. It turns out the $10,427 for completed work was just for working on the wires in the walls, floor and ceiling, and installing two fans. It did not include installation of a single light switch or outlet in the house. The prices were outrageous! They wanted $600 to install the light switches and outlets plus $250 for materials. That is triple what the other electricians charged. So, we canceled most of the uncompleted worked remaining on their invoice. We would not have hired this company if we knew the prices in advance. Worst yet, now that the rest of t he remodel is nearing completion we are finding problems with the home wiring. We had to call them back because the light would not come on in one bedroom, one recessed light will not come on, and we discovered seven of the recessed light trim kits were missing. The case with those kits was locked in a room in a closet except when the electricians had a key and full access to the house for a week. When we were looking for them, my mom said she saw Ian's son carrying an arm load of those ?little white boxes? to his truck. She had been stopping by to check on the workers while I was at work. The son, who was foreman on the job came to fix the bedroom light switch wiring which was the wrong colors in the wall, but he did not have time to fix the recessed light, and he claimed not to know anything about the missing trim kits. My mother would not lie. Also, the 12 recessed lights in the living room shorted out when the contractor plugged in a power tool for installing the crown molding. That was the last straw. We call another electrician who fixed the problem, but he said the room was wired incorrectly. This was a nightmare. I would never hire So. Bay Electric again, but they collected $250 in advance to install the under cabinet lights in our kitchen so unless they give a refund, we are stuck. Update 09/20/12 This is a follow up to the original review. We had a city inspector do a final inspection on our property and they found code violations with the electrical work. We contacted South Bay Electric and sent them a copy of the correction notice from the city inspector and they did not respond. We gave them almost 2 weeks to respond, contacted them by email, left voice messages, and they never responded to come back and fix the work. We had to hire another company to come out and correct their work. Two of the smoke detectors in the bedrooms were installed incorrectly and they didn't meet city code. The total cost for correcting this work was $447 and we had to pay a handyman another $100 to come and patch the ceiling and repaint because we when we had to move the smoke detectors it left holes in the ceiling.

Ian is a professional, courteous electrician and businessman. He and his team have completed several residential electrical jobs for us and each time he's performed quality work that exceeds our expectations. His team cleaned up each time after completing the job; they even left my garage cleaner than they found it. He's knowledgeable with troubleshooting electrical issues and provided us with several options for each project we discussed. We will be using South Bay Electric again.

They were really nice. They gave me an Angie List discount. He actually came back a little while later free of charge for a follow up with the initial work they did.

We had a great experience with Ian and his team. I setup an initial appointment with Ian to get an estimate of all the work we wanted to complete. Ian was on time to the appointment and gave me an estimate right away on the cost of each item. After reviewing the initial estimate with my wife, I called Ian for a second appointment. Ian was on time to the second appointment and we finalized the work we wanted to complete, the price and the start date of the job. Ian's team arrived on time to start the job. They were very professional and took the time to explain to me what they were doing and asked for my input when various decisions needed to be made. Also, Ian and his team helped resolve a few issues that came up during the installation process. The previous owner of the home had cut corners and installed items that were substandard. Ian and his team made two trips to their supplier to get the right materials so that the job could be completed that day and on time. I will definitely contact Ian again when we decide to do more upgrades.

I had two different services done with them. I would recommend them.

They were on time. They did a good job and they did it fast.

Ian showed up on time for a site visit and estimate. Explained, in detail, our options and with patience and good nature listened to us as we tried to figure out what we wanted. The crew, two very nice young men, showed up early on the designated day and worked hard, clean and certainly professional. The job took two days and they stayed later than usual in order to finish - certainly within the projected budget. We are very pleased and will use them again for sure.

We had a list of electrical repairs that needed to be made to our 35 year old condo. Ian listened patiently, set aside a couple of days just in case I needed the time & had me email him the list. Once he saw the scope of the problem, he was able to determine the time needed. He had me send him photos of the cans that needed to be replaced (one was a really ugly eyeball), they brought exactly what we needed and the job was completed in a timely and professional manner! I would absolutely use this company again.

Finished ahead of schedule and cleaned house after completion of job.

They are really a great company. I will use them again.

Called South Bay Electric to accomplish 4 minor electrical jobs. I was told to expect the electrician between 2-4PM the following day. 2 electricians arrived at 3:30PM the following day . Work was done efficiently and in a timely manner.

Ian came, checked the electrical panel and outlets to see if they were working properly and made what appeared to be simple adjustments before flipping the switch and voila! The lights suddenly were working again! He did what had to be done efficiently and quickly. I wa samazed at how fast he worked; he really knows his stuff. He was very professional as was his assistant. He took the time to listen and answer any questionswe had and went the extra mile by installing light bulbs in hard to reach places. We has a good experience with Ian and his assistant. They were both very pleasant and professional. They took just over half an hour to fix the problem and were very effiecent without rushing.

It is almost impossibly difficult being an out of town landlord. The only thing that makes it possible is to find qualified repair persons whom you can trust. I would definitely place Ian Marsh and South Bay Electric Company in that category. Because I was not there, I can't give a blow by blow account, but I can say that Ian fixed the problem quickly at what I consider to be a reasonable price and a minimum of anxiety on my part!

Ian and crew did a great job. They were efficient, figured solutions out on the fly, kept me in the loop for all changes needed, and gave me exactly what I wanted. They removed shoes when requested, were attentive to construction dust and cleaned thoroughly when complete. We love our new lights, and highly recommend this company to others.

Prompt response from day one. Ian gave an approximate estimate and set a to come do the work about 3 days later. They were polite enough to call and let me know they were gonna be an hour late which I definitely appreciated. Once they showed up, I let them know what I wanted and they provided some tips which made sense and lessened the cost and they got right to work. They place 3 electrical outlets outdoors, one indoor and fixed my lighting in one bathroom. They worked hard and were able to complete the job within three hours of their arrival. They were awesome and would recommend to anyone. Great job I appreciate it!!

Ian was professional, direct, and knowledgeable about all aspects of this proposal. His bid was fair and reasonable. I would not hesitate to have him bid any electrical work of mine in the future.

South Bay responded promptly to my call about the job, provided a detailed bid for the scope of work discussed, including some allowances for additional work I wanted to include if the price was right, and arrived on time for the scheduled start of the job. The job took a few days overall, with the first part being the installation of the new panel and the riser/weatherhead to prepare for the migration of existing conduits from the old panel to the new panel. South Bay was thoughtful and efficient in how they re-routed the existing conduits to the new main panel. The day of the migration from old to new took longer then anticipated due to the complexity of the job, but South Bay stayed until almost 10pm that day to ensure that my family had electricity before they left for the night, even though I repeatedly told them they could leave us without power for one night. They were adamant that they never left a job and customer without power! Me and my family was very grateful as that was a 14-hour day for the crew. I should also mention that connecting the service wiring to the new panel required some tree trimming to clear the path and South Bay took this work on and did a great job as arborists! Regarding the rewiring, it was South Bay that discovered the old cloth wiring that was not evident from the existing main panel, and they worked carefully to track, remove and replace of the old cloth wiring with virtually no holes in the interior plaster! In fact it was Ian's son who discovered several junction boxes that had been plastered-over by the previous owner. Ian's son careful investigation to find these hidden junction boxes left our interior plaster intact.

I've used So. Bay Electric in the past that is why I called Ian for this work. Ian is very personable, professional and does an excellent job. Ian and Jessica arrived right on time and worked very efficiently. In the future I will continue to use So. Bay Electric for any electrical work I need done. I highly recommend So. Bay Electric Co.

I left two messages for this company but no one ever returned my call. I contacted an electrician that previously did work for me and he came out and fixed the problem. I would not recommend this company to anyone.This was my first time using Angie's list and I was not impressed.

Two guys arrived on time, very nice and professional. The work I requested was done efficiently. I would use them again anytime. I did not feel taken avantage of which is so often the case. Great job!!!