The Electric Handyman

Josh H.

Julian is a great dude.

I originally hired Julian for the simple task of installing several ethernet jacks throughout the house. This included running several long ethernet cables through the tiny horrible crawl space under our house. One particularly cool thing was converting our old Comcast jack into two ethernet jacks. That process went very quickly and smoothly.

That project eventually blossomed and grew into a truly huge (and officially permitted) project that included a service change from 70 amp to 100 amps, replacement of a main panel, demolition of an old and very dangerous subpanel, and installation of a new subpanel in a new location, and finally concluding with adding drywall to replace all the lathe and plaster in the closet where the old dangerous panel used to be.

Julian does very high quality work and was careful about obeying local code. Where he was unfamiliar with the code, he did the research (free of charge) needed to make sure that everything was compliant. Overall, he spent quite a lot of unbilled time for needed preparatory work, and once when Julian made a mistake while we were setting up armored cabling in the crawlspace, he was happy to do the two hours of work for free needed to fix it. There were no surprises when we did our inspection, and Julian was able to anticipate and avoid any of the many potential problems, including relatively obscure issues like the need for a 30"" x 36"" working area outside our house where the new main panel was installed. There were other little things like this that were great, e.g. when plaster got on the floor under the tarp during demolition, Julian noticed and got his shop vac to remove the plaster bits to avoid letting it harm the finish of the floor.

The cost of the project did go over Julian's original estimate by 20%, largely owing to some code issues involving exterior landscaping. When the cost got too large, Julian took time to teach me how to some of the electrical work myself to cut costs, and I've learned a great deal in the process. To reduce costs, he also did the drywall work at the end at a cut rate. Throughout he was very scrupulous about his accounting, and made sure to lay out potential costs as they appeared. He was also very generous with his tools, leaving a bunch of stuff with me so I could do some work on my own.

Julian is a master electrician and not a master carpenter. Our job involved some very gnarly wall repair work (see pictures) with a very complicated set of things to juggle including mounting of multiple junction boxes for old knob and tube wiring. Since we were trying to save money, rather than hiring a 3rd party to do this tricky wall repair, Julian went far beyond the call of duty and spent 3 days working for a very low rate on the repair and teaching me as we went. I can't imagine many contractors willing to do this.

One major plus of Julian is that even though we only really had a professional relationship, he was unafraid to be a real human being. I learned a bunch about his past, including his attempt at a photography career, tumultuous Bay Area upbringing, and appreciation for the Yuba River. Also got some free framed photography out of it. He also really likes that cat emoji with the heart eyes: https://emojipedia.org/smiling-cat-face-with-heart-shaped-eyes/

Thanks Julian!

Linda E.

Julian does excellent work and provides great service. He shows up within the agreed upon time frame, or calls to let you know if he is going to be late. He was willing to troubleshoot an outdoor light that wasn't working. He came out first to diagnose the issue-was it the light fixture or the electrical to the light? After confirming it was the light fixture he made recommendations for a replacement fixture and then returned to install the fixture. The previous connection was old so he had to make some small modifications to the connection. After getting everything installed, he tested the fixture. He then followed up with me about a week later to make sure everything was working. I will definitely contact Julian for future needs.

Kaleem K.

I've been remodeling houses for 15 years and have always done my own electrical, but was feeling intimidated about installing a new 200-amp main service panel on my own, so I hired Julian as a consultant. He inspected the house, reviewed my plans and helped me figure out all the code requirements for the new equipment. I felt confident doing the work supported by his experience and knowledge. We passed inspection first go.

I'd also add that Julian clearly cares about his clients. He does quality work and isn't out there just to make a quick buck. High quality service.

Michael E.

Great service. Thinks things through and is willing to teach you as much as you are capable of learning. Good communicator and shows up on time.
He was able to help me figure out the best location and most efficient model for Wifi coverage in my house, and to help with ideas on increasing cell phone coverage.
Will use again.

Keith W.

This is your guy. Julian really is a wizard. Home networks are tricky. I've pretty good at setting stuff up from out of the box but it's really hard to get all the various routers and hubs and extenders from many manufacturers to work together. I easily mastered Basque but network language and all those crazy numbers drive me to despair.

Julian helped me diagnose a bad Apple AirPort Extreme (I've got 2 running),checked my Xfinity connection, pointed out that the hub for my cameras was jamming my WiFi, explained that my range extenders weren't helping and showed me how to figure out which WiFi channels my neighbors are using. He saved me a lot of time and aggravation.I don't have to spend a lot more money on new hardware and my family is happier too!

Peter D.

Julian installed a hard wired network in my home. He devised a neat and efficient solution after we did some problem solving. This is where his experience shows. He communicates well, listens, and is easy to work with. Highly recommended.

HaeJin H.

I have a 1890 Victorian that amongst many other things did not have a working doorbell. After reading many positive reviews, I was eager to hire Julian. He came out for a initial inspection of what the problem might be. Although we mutually decided that fixing the doorbell would not be worth the time and money, he was helpful throughout the process and referred me to a handyman that could help with the other pesky household tasks. He was prompt and was good at communicating. I plan on using him soon for kitchen electric work.

Dina C.

I contacted Julian to help with network issues in my house. The wifi signal to my computer in a back room was spotty, my downstairs renters couldn't get wifi at all, and the signal to my Roku/TV kept getting dropped. He was very responsive, returning calls and emails quickly every time. Julian was great about explaining things and answering questions and it was clear that he knew what he was doing. He had the items that were needed with him and reconfigured a used device which worked perfectly for the downstairs (saving me some money) and was able to resolve the other issues in that same visit. He also was knowledgeable about the various options for service, ie Comcast vs Sonic vs AT&T etc., which was very helpful for me in deciding whether to change service or not, as I had contemplated. (Turned out I didn't need to.) I would absolutely call him again and recommend him highly.

Antonio T.

I hired Julian to help me address my girlfriend's tenants failed wifi router. While we knew they shared our comcast connection, we couldn't figure out which wire was the bad one.
Julian rapidly and methodically mapped out the wire runs which were a disorderly patchwork of work resultant from my own efforts and my predecessors. I knew of a hidden dumbwaiter space which turned out to be the perfect way to run a new line to the tenants unit. We worked as a team to run a new line and Julian speedily reset the tenant's router and optimized it's wifi to minimize interference from the numerous other wifi networks in the neighborhood. If you need network services, I highly recommend him. Not cheap but well worth it.

Rafael O.

The Electric Handyman earned all 5 stars. I highly recommend their services for your residential and small office networking.

I called looking for a quote to extend our networking capabilities into a remodeled basement office. The scope was fairly modest:
1. Add a WiFi access point via Ethernet and extend the landline phone into the basement. Situate the Ethernet and phone ports in a professional looking outlet box.
2. On the main floor, relocate the current phone and WiFi router from a bedroom to an office room.

I'm glad I called Julian. He's a one-man shop. He's got the know-how and the can-do attitude to tackle residential scale jobs. Although he was rather booked up, he found a way to review my scope notes, send me a quote, and then implement the work. Was it immediate? No, I had to get in line. Was it worth the wait? Oh yes! Julian and his ""crew"" of one helper were able to come on site, review the particulars, make some tweaks to the plan, and then execute it. By the time they left 3.5 hours later the new basement access point was broadcasting a new network name, and Ethernet and phone outlets were exactly where I wanted them.

But then trouble! My PC became unable to resolve some web sites. Error messages became common. I tried rebooting, but the problem persisted. I called Julian. He quickly returned my call and then came back! He performed some quick diagnostics and determined that the network and phone were ok, and suggested some local PC updates and switching to the 5G option. I installed a BIOS update and switched to the 5G network, and the connection issues disappeared. Julian actually followed up two days later to find out the result. Now that's what I call customer attention!

My advice for customers:
- Identify your goals in advance. Get specific about what you'll need: a TV? Business-quality WiFi? Only casual internet? A printer?
- Make a sketch. Draw out the layout of your home or office showing where you'd like outlets. The sketch doesn't have to be exactly to scale. The point is to communicate to the vendor (and yourself) what the end result should be.
- Be patient. A good vendor may be busy. So get in line and be prepared to provide a concise description of goals and scope. That will make the process go as fast as is practical.

When you understand the goals and scope, then you can intelligently communicate with the vendor. In Julian's case, the sketch helped him figure out that he could fit my project between some of his larger projects. And it helps for cost estimating, too.

Julian, The Electric Handyman, is honest, results-oriented, and creative at figuring out how to reach good solutions economically. He willingly shared his process, providing useful information along the way. 5 stars for delivering results at a fair price point and going above and beyond to make sure my project worked as intended!