Prefabs provide on-site, off-site and other hidden advantages. For instance, faster installation at the job site reduces the project duration. Prefabs have the potential of cutting the installation time by almost a half. In addition, the project will require fewer workers in the field resulting in a big reduction in labor costs and improved profitability.

There’s also a significant savings on labor, which can be very expensive and in short supply. The prefabrication process is considered more of a manufacturing function so the contractor is able to achieve success with fewer workers. The workshop can make use of semi-skilled workers and apprentices, unlike a construction site where an electrician is required to perform the installation.

Fewer materials and less activity at a job site mean that the project is completed faster with a reduced opportunity for accidents and delays. In addition, by delivering all the individual components to the workshop for assembly, the level of material handling is narrowed. This equates to an easy-to-manage supply chain. Fewer materials reduce clutter, waste disposal, and the need for extra storage space.

The workshop provides the best environment for producing the assembly fast without the interruptions that might be found at a construction job site. Further, the production of prefabs is not affected as much by delays from other trades, bad weather, and other construction project hold-ups.

Electricians spend less time working at dangerous heights and precarious positions, hence reducing safety risks. Prefabs allow contractors to reduce the need for as many licensed electricians on the job site. This can result in greater productivity and profitability.

Increased competition and high labor costs have caused declining profits for many electrical contractors. However, with the use of prefabs, profitability can be improved by reducing the labor and time spent at the construction site. Additionally, fabricating electrical assemblies in a workshop makes it easier to stay on budget and hit your project timelines.

1-by-4-foot,  LED light panels use Even-Glow® technology and diffused optical lenses to deliver smooth, flawless illumination without visible bulbs or hot spots. They can be recessed mounted or surface mounted to an existing ceiling junction box. The LED fixtures emit up to 4,600 lumens of natural white illumination for home lighting, kitchen lighting, living room lighting, office lighting, basement lighting, sign backlighting, hospital lighting, and more.

LEDs in the panel lights are designed to last five times longer than fluorescent tube light bulbs without the notorious hum or flicker they produce. Each LED panel light has a slim, white aluminum alloy frame and an internal 0-10-volt dimmable constant-current driver. Dimming can be achieved with a 0-10-volt switch or by using the light’s power-cycle feature to activate set brightness levels. The energy-efficient panel lights operate within a 100-277V AC range.

Spring and summer are traditionally the busiest shopping seasons for potential homeowners. With the current housing stock dwindling as buyer demand increases going into the warmer months, a seller's market has emerged across the country, giving residents looking to unload their current properties the upper hand in negotiations. However, even with the advantage laying in the hands of owners, a closing can still get derailed - or at least made less-than ideal for a seller - when a buyer hires a home inspector to come investigate the property.

In many cases, these contractors will unveil deficiencies in the property that even the homeowner didn't realize existed, causing the prospective purchaser to demand a slash in the asking price. Often, the amount of money that these home inspections cost the seller on a closing exceed the price it would have cost them to be proactive about minor fixes in the first place.

Before putting your home on the market, have a home inspector come in and evaluate your property to check for the deficiencies that potential buyers will be watching out for. Simple things like the water heater being outdated - or even not positioned correctly off of the floor - can be caught, allowing you to preemptively address them before the open house.

As a Top Plano Electrician, I know better than anyone how powerful and useful electricity is. It also makes me more aware of what most people tend to ignore or forget: electricity is dangerous. Electricians are required by law to carry insurance, and for good reasons. Electric current is capable of starting fires and destroying your property and equipment in a matter of moments. The proper safety precautions really can save lives, and there‘s always something we can do to improve home safety.

One of the most important precautions is located in your electrical panel: the circuit breaker. It is designed to keep you from using more electricity than the wiring or receptacle can handle at one time, what we refer to as overcurrent protection. This protects your wiring from taking on too much current, which can cause the coating around your wiring to melt, the leading cause of electrical fires. Circuit breakers serve another purpose as well; not only to protect from surges coming from outside your home, but from potential hazards within it as well. Current flowing through a failed piece of equipment or appliance can cause sparks, which have the potential to start fires or damage other electrical devices. A properly functioning circuit breaker can shut off the power to this device. It’s very important, however, that you use a circuit breaker of the proper size for the circuit to ensure that your wiring is properly protected.

Circuit breakers come in specialty varieties as well; the most important are ground fault circuit breakers (GFCI), for wet locations, and arc fault circuit breakers (AFCI). AFCI’s, in particular, can help prevent some of the most common dangerous situations in your home.

I’ve dealt with plenty of cases where electrical fires have started because people ran an extension cord under the carpet, so that they can power the lamp in the center of the room. Over time, people walking over the cord stretches out the wiring, making it so thin that the current overloads the thinly stretched wire, creating an arc fault; the electricity “jumps” the wire, completing the circuit in a way the cord can’t handle and generating heat that starts a fire. Arc fault circuit breakers prevent this by shutting the circuit down when the arc fault occurs.

So what do you need to know about arc fault circuit breakers? To start with, by code AFCI’s should be installed on any circuit that isn’t protected by a GFCI or directly wired into an appliance. It’s in your best interest to have your safety devices routinely inspected to maintain their optimum performance and capabilities; in particular, your circuit breakers should be inspected at least once a year. The inspection process is quick and relatively inexpensive, and something that simple really can save the lives of you and your family.