Lars S Fossel Licensed Electrician

Lars was transparent and professional throughout the process, from bidding through performing the work. He made it clear what the advantages and disadvantates were of a few options -- in terms of utility and of his labor time. The town inspection went flawlessly. Overall, a great job -- I'd definitely use Lars again.

Lars is a very competent electrician and the work was of high quality. But the job ended up being completed much later than I had expected.

Our first electrician only found some of the faulty wiring in our condo prior to our purchase. We therefore had to look elsewhere to someone who would be more thorough. Lars fit the bill perfectly. He was extremely responsive by both email and phone. We did have to push the project back a few weeks because of some delays at other jobs, but the fact that he is busy is testament to the great work he does. Lars was very flexible in getting a new date and always showed up on time. Lars did a great job explaining what would need to be done in his estimate. He also made some great recommendations such as upgrading some of the light switches to the Lutron Pico system. This was a bit more expensive for materials, but saved us in labor, prevented more holes from being put in the plaster and looks/operates much better than traditional switches. Our final cost came in about $200 less than expected. His estimate and final bill were extremely transparent and accurate, which seems to be the exception in the home improvement industry. We really appreciated that. Being responsive and honest are two qualities that Lars definitely exhibits. Equally as important, the quality of his work is excellent. Lars finished about a day earlier than expected because he works hard. He completely removed the remaining K&T wiring and will be writing us a letter to confirm this so we can present that when we go to sell several years from now. Lars was also very careful in only making small holes where needed. He cleaned up all the dust every day and even put in temporary patches on the holes. I have not met another electrician who provides this service. I therefore do not have to rush to put permanent patches/repaint, which is great. When Lars saw something unexpected and outside of the original plan, he always called to give his recommendation and make sure it was ok to proceed. My wife and I greatly appreciated being kept in the loop throughout the project. All in all, we had a great experience with Lars and are happy that are condo now has a completely modern electrical system. We will definitely hire him in the future and will recommend him to any friends and family in the area.

He showed up, did everything quickly, was friendly & helpful.

I made arrangements for him to come to house, leaving the bottom door unlocked so that he would have access to the panel inside. He showed up and texted me this morning asking if the house was unlocked (I had already confirmed in an email and in a text message that it would be). I texted back yes. My friend did happen to be home. He then texted to ask if she could "secure the dog that just charged me". First, my dog is the nicest dog on the planet, but either way I said I'd take of it. I talked to my friend who said my dog was asleep in the kitchen. I confirmed it was in fact my dog that was barking at him (because it honestly could have been the neighbor's), and he said yes, a black lab. I then assured him that either way the dog was secured inside the house and sleeping soundly and couldn't get back out. He then texted a few minutes later to say that the door was locked. My friend confirmed that the door was in fact still unlocked but that she went down and physically opened it. I let him know. He then said he was closing the panel and walking off the job "due to the complications" he encountered. He told me that over text message. I asked him to call me to discuss, and he did not. I sent my friend outside to talk to him, and he was rude to her and just blew her off. When I originally booked him, my house was closing in two weeks. He cancelled on me twice due to rain (no problem - I understand safety concerns), and then rescheduled once due just due to scheduling, so now, a week away from closing, I'm left scrambling. Completely unprofessional.

Great experience, very professional.

This is our second review of Lars in less than one month. We just moved into a new house and had Lars come to fix a few things before we moved in but within weeks we had a new list of electrical issues that needed to be addressed. Lars was fantastic. He is extremely professional, honest and friendly and handled all of the work without any problems. Lars took time to explain everything he did and was so helpful in showing me how I could even fix some minor problems myself. He also takes great care to trouble shoot and walk us through his work so that we are better informed. It is so good to know that if we ever have any electrical issues we can just call Lars. We would recommend him to anyone.

Lars was fantastic! We just moved to a new house and after the house inspection we had a laundry list of electrical issues that needed to be addressed. Lars was a real expert and it turned out that a bunch of things we thought were problems weren't. We thought these repairs were going to cost hundreds of dollars but it only ended up costing a fraction of that. Lars was totally honest and explained everything he was doing. One problem was a poorly wired light in a closet, it turned out that he wasn't equipped to fix it that day (we had only spoken on the phone so he hadn't actually seen the light) he recommended a solution that will save us a lot of money and I will definitely be calling him soon to come back and fix this. By the time he comes back I am sure we will have some other work that needs to be done. We won't be calling anyone but Lars for any future electrical issues.

All the projects have been handled in a professional manner. I will use his services in the future and would recommend his services to anyone.

Lars is very professional, organized and knowledgeable. We were getting quotes to upgrade our 100 amp circuit breaker to 200 amps in our 125 year old home because that is what everyone told us we needed to do prior to updating further electrical needs. Lars determined that to do so would require digging back out to the main, which would ultimately incur thousands more in costs (which none of the other electricians took the time to determine prior to offering their quotes). And most importantly, he helped us to realize that we didn't actually need 200 amps, just more individual circuits on our box (if appliances are all getting more energy efficient, the 200 amp box is overkill..) - which ultimately was another cost savings. I appreciated that he gave us the information we needed to make the best decision for our needs. We are pleased with our new box, and it has plenty of room for upgrades that we anticipate in the coming years. Lars sets up a time to review the project and gives a written proposal of the job. He is prompt with communications, and he is very transparent in his process. He was neat and efficient with the work, and actually came in under his original estimate. Then when I thought there was an issue with the laundry outlet, he listened to my concerns, actually came out to check on the issue without a visit fee, and was so kind when we realized that it was just our overworked kitchen circuitry that blew a fuse, not his newly run laundry line. It is so nice to be able to do laundry AND run the microwave at the same time now! I have years worth of work for Lars, starting next with our kitchen. I cannot wait to work with him again.

Because the nature of much of this work does not lend itself to a fixed-price estimate, after Larscompleted an initial set of fixed-price tasks, we then proceeded on a T&M basis, and I have no hesitation in recommending him completely on that basis also. He works very diligently, is scrupulous about charging just for the hours actually worked, and is absolutely trustworthy. He gives excellent value for his labor rate. I am happy to recommend Lars unreservedly. Arthur Bass, Newton MA

We have had problems with the electricity in our family room for months. I've had other electricians look at it and make temporary fixes but the root of the problem was never addressed. Lars figured out the source of the problem and fixed it! In addition, I found him very easy to talk to, friendly, professional, efficient, and priced appropriately.

I have been tripping a breaker for a while, and decided to call someone. Lars answered his phone right away, and I explained my problem. He told me he was in an attic and would call me back in about half hour. He called me back and asked me some questions, and said he would try to get to my house the same day. He called me once more to confirm a time. He had asked me the brand of my circuit box. He arrived on time with the part that he would need and was able to replace the bad breaker and then tested it in the room. The job took about 1/2 hour. I was very impressed with his professionalism. I plan to have more work done, now that I have found someone I can trust.

Everything went smoothly. Was professional and pleasant to deal with. Came when he said he would and, as far as I can tell, did an excellent job. I'm not in a position to evaluate the price very well, but he did a lot of work.

He picked up the phone the first time I called him. I told him that my outlet on the front porch was out and it probably needed to replaced, or at least fixed. He asked me a bunch of questions. I answered them and told him that I would take a picture of the outlet and the location of the outlet on the porch and email it over to him. I think that was helpful. He said he would show up at 8am. I am VERY punctual and I notice when others are a minute late. He rang the bell at 7:59am. Lars looked at things and then explained what needed to be done. He sounded like he knew what he was doing. I live in a two family dwelling and we needed to add outlets to the front and back porch. I figured I'd contact him again. He came over to provide an estimate. On a side note - I'm Indian, it's customary to remove your shoes when you enter someone's home. I never ask someone to do that when they come over to fix things at home. Lars took off his shoes when he came in without asking. He said he has done a lot of work in Indian homes. I know it's something small to most people. Most South Asians will appreciate this though. There is one more thing that needs to be done. We agreed that it can wait until next Spring. We'll then co-ordinate it then.

I was extremely satisfied with Lars's work. I found him trustworthy, fair, and personable. Highly recommended.

Lars has been great to work with. The project ended up taking significantly longer than we anticipated, but this was due to having to coordinate with many different workers (plumbing, general contractor, flooring, plaster, etc), and because of significant amounts of strangeness in the construction of our house. Despite the bumps in the schedule, Lars was always thorough and professional. We initially began work on a Time and Materials quote. He anticipated it would take him 11 days to rewire whole house as described above. After two or three days of work, it was clear to him and to us that the house was not behaving and it would be longer than he had estimated. After some discussion, we changed to a fixed price for the initially quoted work. Any time we added something to the scope of the work, Lars was very upfront about what the new portion would cost. The initial T&M quote was $9,500. After he had a better sense of how the project was going to go, the fixed quote was $12,000, plus $200 for the permit. Throughout the project, we added $800 worth of additional work, for a grand total of $13,000. (This is a good time to step back and say we had gotten 4 quotes. Lars was about even with the next lowest quote. Two others quoted $20,000 and required all ceilings to come down, which would have added another $5-7000 in cost to have new ceilings put back up). After we switched to fixed quote, my wife could relax and stop stressing about what Lars was doing every second, which made it much more enjoyable. As so many other reviews have stated, Lars is friendly, personable, professional, and really good at his job. He helped us walk through all parts of the project, and even gave suggestions and advice on other aspects of the overall project. Lars was also very skilled at working with the oddities of bringing a 100-year old house up to code. We were able to work together to find acceptable locations for sub-panels, switches and outlets that would meet electrical code, fit in the structure of the house, and match our wishes for functionality. He clearly takes great pride in his work, and was available to us by phone at all times. There were several occasions where we called in the later evening or weekends to discuss the project, and he was always available. The whole renovation project has finally wrapped up (took about 9 weeks from start to finish) and although it is not visible to anyone else, the updated electrical is one of the things we are enjoying the most. We know the house is safe, we have adequate light in all rooms, and there are no longer half falling out of the wall ungrounded plugs in some of the rooms.

Lars offered the lowest of the five bids we solicited for our semi-DIY kitchen renovation, AND I can not imagine finding a better electrician to work with. First, he was the only electrician we found who was really willing to brainstorm with us about the various options available for doing what we wanted to do. Given that we were on a strict budget, we really appreciated that! Even better, he did not hesitate to tell us when safety was an issue (for example, when he found some water damage in the service panel) and we should stop being such tightwads. He was prompt, professional, and pleasant on all his scheduled appearances, and put up with our extremely protracted construction schedule (hey, DIY with a couple of rugrats is hard!) with patience and good humor. He was flexible and accommodating when we threw him a few last-minute requests and when some unexpected structural work meant he had to relocate some switches. He always took the time to explain to us, in detail, what he was doing and why so that we didn't have any misunderstandings. Creative solutions to the challenges of older houses seems to be a specialty of his, and I would absolutely not hesitate to recommend Lars for anything. Our new kitchen is a bright and cheery place thanks to his wonderful lighting scheme.

It was really fine, professional, responsive and absolutely no complaints!

Lars was easy to contact and showed up on time for all scheduled appointments. The work was easy to schedule and when he arrived he worked efficiently while minimizing power disruption to the other tenants in the building. He gave an honest estimate for the cost of the work and came in under the estimated time, leaving everything clean in the end. Pleasure to deal with. Would definitely hire again.

He was extremely professional, knowledgeable and thoughtful in his evaluation of the situation. (Our prior electrician had not been able to sort through the problem.) We were very impressed by his suggestions and have plans to move forward with the project based on his recommendations.

Extremely satisfied with the work! Lars was professional, knowledgable, and did a terrific job. He showed up when he said he would. I expect to hire Lars again to install another ceiling fan.

Lars was great. He was responsive, answered all my questions, and he worked quickly. He did all four jobs in well under the time he anticipated, bearing in mind our schedules and needs to have everything done by a certain day and time. He was methodical and clean. When the job was all finished, and a few days later we realized that our boiler was not working, he came back to our house to take a look ... only to discover that the switch had simply gotten turned off. (That trip alone must have cost him an hour, but he didn't charge us.) He is a nice guy, very reassuring and clear, and we felt very much "at ease" with him in our home. Getting in touch with him initially did take an extra phone call or two, but I'm pretty persistent that way and it didn't bother me.

Lars arrived on-time to begin work, and didn’t mind me looking over his shoulder from time-to-time and answering my questions. He was also at-ease working in the midst of our family’s daily routine. His installation was neat and well thought-out and he did not leave a mess or any clutter when he left at the end of the day. Despite significant up-front planning, he did encounter one problem related to the generator that I had purchased independent of his project quotation. The fix required a small upgrade to a component that Lars installed as part of the project; however he only asked me to pay for the difference in materials costs between the originally installed component and the upgrade; he did not charge for his time and labor required to make the fix. Importantly, Lars offered this arrangement without any input from me; this is a strong testament to his commitment to customer satisfaction.

We recently purchased a new home and quickly identified a number of electrical items to be addressed prior to moving in.We found Lars on Angie's list and called him. He came by to look at the job site that same day and scheduled the work to accomodate our schedule. On that day he arrived as scheduled and professionally addressed the various tasks. He did a quality job, including cleaning up thoroughly after the work was complete.