Electrical work is the one trade where choosing the wrong person costs you safety rather than comfort. A badly laid tile means redoing the floor; a badly wired consumer unit means a fire and an insurer who declines the claim. The good news is that vetting an electrician before work starts comes down to three things: the licence, a written quote, and a clear hand-over.
The licence: what to actually look at
Electrical work in Israel is governed by the Electricity Law (חוק החשמל), which grades electricians by licence — and the grade decides what a person may legally touch.
- חשמלאי עוזר — an assistant, who works only under supervision and cannot run a job alone.
- חשמלאי מוסמך — the basic independent licence. Enough for an ordinary flat: sockets, lighting, circuits, a domestic board.
- חשמלאי ראשי and above — larger supplies, three-phase systems, commercial premises.
Ask to see the licence and check the name against an ID. This is routine, not an insult: someone whose paperwork is in order shows it without a fuss. Ask separately who will physically do the work — it is common for a licensed electrician to price the job and an assistant to turn up.
What you must not do yourself
The dividing line is about risk to the installation and to people, not about difficulty:
- anything inside the consumer unit — breakers, RCDs (מפסק פחת), moving circuits;
- the incoming supply, the meter, earthing;
- running new cable inside walls;
- any work on shared building circuits.
Changing a bulb, connecting a ready-made light fitting or swapping a socket on a dead circuit are not on that list. But if you are unsure which side of the line you are on, that uncertainty is your answer — call an electrician.
What a quote should contain
An honest quote has three parts, each named separately.
Call-out and diagnosis. A fixed amount for coming out and looking. Ask up front whether it is deducted from the job if you go ahead.
Labour. Either per point (socket, switch, light) or hourly. Hourly is fairer for fault-finding; per-point is fairer for installation, where the scope is known in advance.
Materials. Cable, breakers, back boxes, fittings. Ask who buys them. If the electrician does, ask for receipts — the mark-up on materials is sometimes larger than the labour.
The logic is the same in any home service: for how a quote is put together more generally, see the breakdown of what drives the price of a home clean.
Settle two more things that otherwise surface halfway through: what happens if hidden problems appear (old aluminium wiring, no earth), and who makes good the walls after new cable is chased in.
Three checks before you pay
- The RCD trips. Press the test button on the residual-current device; it should cut the power. That is the shock-protection check, and it takes a second.
- New points are earthed. A socket tester costs almost nothing and shows whether the protective conductor is connected.
- The board is labelled. After the work, every breaker should say what it feeds. Without that, the next repair starts with guesswork.
For a substantial job — a new board, a new supply, a full rewire — ask for an inspection report (בדיקת חשמלאי). It is a document you will want when selling the flat and when talking to an insurer.
What a normal conversation sounds like
A good electrician asks questions before naming a price: when was the building put up, has the wiring been replaced, what is the supply rating, what exactly stopped working and under what circumstances. Someone who quotes a figure without seeing the place and without asking anything is guessing — and will almost always revise it once work begins. If you would rather not do the searching yourself, describe the job in a request and we will find licensed electricians in your city.
