I'm so glad I got two bids on my electrical work. The first guy figured he could give me a quote over the phone and came in way high. The second one, mentioned above who has worked here before, came over and looked. His bid on two of three things I asked him about specifically was so reasonable that I added the third project back in and am still way under the first guy's bid.

I also wanted to put a low wall plug in my hallway (mostly for using the vacuum cleaner), fishing a wire down from a box near the ceiling where there was once apparently a wired-in smoke detector. I questioned him about code and learned that I need a detector in each (3) bedrooms AND the hall. (Now I have that hole covered with a battery operated smoke detector.) I'm going to have him wire those in and add my plug. I wasn't going to touch the project based on the first estimate because if the village caught wind of work in here and anyone touched that outlet, I figured they'd compel me to put in the smoke alarms to code at that time. And based on the first quote, that would have gone way out of my budget.

I don't know if that's entirely clear, but I'm feeling virtuous that I can finish a couple of projects I've been wanting and also one that I didn't even know I was needing at a reasonable price.

SRS