Roemke Electric

David L.

Roemke is not the cheapest out there, but you get what you pay for! When it comes to something that can burn your house down, why not pay to have the job done right the first time. I found these guys to be very professional and got the job done on-time!

Raf S.

Mark is great to work with. My only concern regards the difficulty in getting hold of him as his voice mailbox is always full!...Just too busy I guess. That being said the quality of his work is outstanding. His bid was reasonable as compared to others and he made improvements to the job as needed and did not charge more for doing so.

Teri M.

Very disappointing. After all the rave reviews on Yelp, I was willing to wait for them to return my calls, emails and texts.

WEEK ONE: When I reached Mark on a Monday he said he was at lunch, but that I should text all my contact info and he'd get back to me. By Wednesday of week one, I'd had no communication, despite sending 3 text messages, and could not leave a message for him because his voicemail box was full, and sent an email. He said they were slammed with a job, and it would be next Monday at the earliest when they could get to me.

WEEK TWO: Here it is Thursday, and I have had no communication despite an email yesterday and another sent today.

How hard is it to send a text that says you are too busy and I should find another electrician? I've wasted almost 2 full weeks.

Corie J.

My sister lives in Capitola and needed electrical work to put in a new washer & dryer. As her Yelp guru, I searched for Santa Cruz electricians, came across and contacted Roemke after reading the wonderful reviews. Having done such a great job on setting up her breakers and outlets months ago, she called on Mark again last week to put in a fixture. Both times, Mark and his staff provided my sister with outstanding work at a reasonable price; and more importantly, he made the effort to fit my sister's jobs in with the short notice he had. I also got the impression (with just one phone conversation) that Mark is the ""real deal"" who truly cares about his customers. I plan on calling on Roemke next time I need a reasonably priced, quality minded and trustworthy electrician...just hope he isn't too busy to do work on this side of the hill :)

Joel G.

Well, I waited 4 months thinking that I would get over the bad feelings that I had about the situation that occurred right before thanksgiving...but it didn't pass...so hopefully this review will help save someone else some grief.

Our relationship with mark and roemke electric started earlier, in april 2012, when they came out and did some ""rough in""work for a kitchen remodel. The guys did a good job and I had been quoted a price of $1200-1300 for the work performed at this time and then we would pay for the finish work when that time came.

I had to leave for work a couple of hours before they were finished and my wife would pay them that day when they finished.

When I returned home I found that my wife had been charged over $1800 for the work performed. The reason??? They had charged her $75/hr x 3 workers (mark, his journeyman, and a fairly new apprentice...who cleaned up for the other 2 all day)

I talked with mark about it and told him that I had no problem paying him that rate, but that I would NEVER had agreed to pay an apprentice and a laborer that wage...with the original quote it was certainly never mentioned...except that I had told him I could't believe they would be able to do the work for $75/hr (meaning all of them together)...I was NEVER, at that time, corrected about the price.

We came to an agreement that mark would owe us a credit that would be put toward the finish work, when that time would come.

We finished the remodel in early November and hoped to get the finish electric completed before the holidays. Called mark and discussed what was left to be done.

I was told SPECIFICALLY (made sure that I asked this time, since I knew there would likely be unexplained grey area) that I would receive the agreed upon credit, would NOT be charged a markup on the needed supplies and would be charged the contractor rate $65/hr instead of the regular rate. One worker would come out and the job ""shouldn't take that long"" and that everything would be finished prior to end of day. When job was done, I would receive an estimate on the next job.

No show with no call the first day...finally got ahold of mark at 5:00pm and was told that he had a major problem at another job and that was the reason no one had come that day...they would come first thing 9:00am the next day.

Worker showed at 10:25a (started charging from 10:00a per the bill) stopped at 4:00 and then spoke with me for about 45 min about the next job. Charged me for 7hrs...uh...FREE estimate....uh...5hr 30 min actual work...then the big surprise...mark had charged me 2hrs for ""picking up the parts needed at a the store"" then they tried to charge me $30-40/fixture that they installed ( not marked up though...nonsense)

When I showed him the SAME EXACT PARTS that I had purchased at the EXACT SAME STORE for $15-20/fixture. We replaced the overpriced parts and put the credit toward the bill.

I also let him know that with no experience, I had managed to pick up the parts in less than 30 min. for what it took mark (an expert) 2 hrs to pick up and charged me for.

I went ahead and payed him for the 7 hrs even though it should have been 5 1/2...I also payed the 2 hours for marks time. Saved some money on the parts that were not ""marked up"" by replacing them and said good riddance.

In ""7"" hrs...the worker managed to get 8 switches, and 8 under cabinet fixtures put in...the problem....there were still another 4 switches/outlets not completed and a vent cover (installed the first time out) that remained unfinished.

I tried to get over it, fool me once, etc.,etc., but at a rate of 1 switch every 30 min. I couldn't rationalize (or pay for) anymore of these guys time.

I (handy, but untrained me) managed to put in the other 4 switches in about 1 1/2hrs...I was later told that 15 min per switch is around the time it should take for someone who is in that profession....but that the under cab lighting shouldn't have taken anywhere near as long as it took him....whatever.

Still have the rest of the house to remodel...probably at least $8-10k in electrical work alone...could've been their job...but I just can't stand being thought a fool.

Hey mark....did you really think none of your customers could add...or tell time...or expect the job to get done on time and on budget...no markups on your supplies??

Maybe this will be the review that helps keep someone else from making the same mistake I did.

For anyone contemplating using roemke electric, ask him for his references, and don't hire him until he gives you one for a guy who remodeled his own kitchen in Sunnyvale...you'll know me when you talk to me.

I expect 2 things to come from this review....

#1 - you will never be in contact with me...he'll never give me as a reference...even though I WAS one of his customers.....and

#2 - if you don't get me as a reference, that should speak volumes about the kind of person you are about to do business with

Good luck with your projects!!!

Ginger S.

I had an unexpected electrical problem on Sunday morning, Super Bowl . Discovered a GFI outdoor receptacle had shorted..not sure extent of fire hazard. Read reviews for Roemke on yelp. Fortunately, reached Mark,the owner. He said he would be at house within an hour. He was prompt,courteous,knowledgeable. . Mark is honest and a professional. I feel so fortunate..the problem was fixed.
We were so lucky ..our house didn't burn down and we found Mark. Outstanding service..oh and even reasonable.. Have never written a review before, but must pay our good fortune forward.

Mary H.

Did a search, this electrician was highly rated on Yelp. Called and owner answered phone himself (two days after Christmas). Made an appointment for same day. Arrived promptly and got right to work. That's already astonishing in Santa Cruz! He analyzed problem and had it fixed in probably less than a half hour. I was expecting to pay a lot of money but he astonished me by only charging $80 for job and advice. He and his assistant were lovely, personable people and I'll always use them from this point forward. He even had the capability of taking a credit card payment over the phone and that is just magic :)

Isadora D.

I saw all these amazing reviews on yelp and thought he must have real integrity. We signed a contract with Mark at Roemke to do a whole house solar installation. He came out to see the job, then got all the information and told us he was going to apply for permits with the County. He said he'd gotten the flu so we waited another week more and told us specifically he was going down to the County that day to get the over the counter permits. He didn't follow up by phone with a start date so I called to check in 5 days later, when he did not call back in two days, I called the County to see if he did indeed apply for the permits. He did not. He lied to us and would say he is rather flakey.

Laura W.

I had 1940 knob and tube, needed entire house rewired; sparks from outlets, flickering lights. Asked 1500 FB friends for referral. Called 4, no return call from 3, Earle's, from Oakland, was only one who responded. Said he would be here before noon; never showed, never called. Flustered and ready to go up in flames.

THEN...I got Roemke's number.
Was expecting more flakiness, probably another no show since they were in Santa Cruz, and coming to Richmond annex would be quite a haul.

Glory be! Received call that crew would be here in 90 minutes. I'll be damned if they didn't show up exactly on time! Totally professional, friendly...5 guys snapped into action, working like a synchronized drill team. I was in awe.
They continued diligently until the whole house was rewired, 11 hrs. later. I was expecting a few days and a tremendous mess.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!! No mess...in fact, a few areas were cleaner than before! They must have thought I was kooky as I couldn't stop spouting out effusive praise and appreciation...I do believe I heard a choir of angels singing ""hallelujah"" also :oD

In this day of ambivalence, incompetence, poor quality and bad attitudes, my faith has been restored. Mark and crew are the exception--a model of how a business should be run.

In conclusion: punctual, friendly, skilled, finished on time and on budget, no lengthy wait for appt. and they were all dog guys to boot! Oh, BTW, the price was incredible!
Thanks Roemke, you absolutely rock!!! I give you an 11!

Nancy N.

My parents had power drop to one of the rooms in their house so they checked with me to find someone to take a look. I searched Yelp and based on all of the other positive helpful reviews I gave this number to my parents. My mom reported back that she spoke with the owner and he offered to come out after a job he was on but it didn't work with her schedule. So then as promised he called and followed up the next day when he had a better idea of availability and it was decided to come out on Monday. The only surprise was that it wasn't the owner that came to the job but that was ok because Shane came out and was great! He had the patience and good nature to chit chat with my curious ""do it yourself"" father and fixed other small issues at my parents house. He was in and out of the house in record time and the rates were outstanding. We will call them out in heart beat for future work. Just a little background on my parents house is that it's about 40-50 years old. So if you ask why I'm writing this review and not my parents, well, they're of the older generation and doing this kind of thing isn't their forte. But I asked them if they would like me to provide good references and they couldn't say yes fast enough. Thank you Roemke for taking care of my parents home!