Walter Liebe

Richard C.

I hired walter to add ceiling lights in two rooms and install some fixtures as well. They showed up on time and completed the multiple jobs quickly and professionally. friendly and helpful. No complaints.

holly w.

I liked Walter and trusted him. That was a mistake. He gave me a verbal estimate of $10K to rewire my house. He was inconsistent with his work schedule, took a trip to Europe and did other jobs during the scope of my work. Instead of cutting out around the outlets and switches, he hammered holes in the wall which required lots of work to repair.
The outlets were not flush with the wall and required quite a bit of adjusting to fix. Two years later I have had to have electricians come twice to repair ceiling fixtures and switches that malfunctioned including one that smelled like it was burning in the ceiling.
So finally the electrical work was done and the cost for the $10K job was $19,000 !!!! He said that there were changes. Yes, we had to relocate some of the bathroom outlets( before the sheetrock), add an outlet in the hallway and a few very minor changes. No way that equaled $9000.
Before my job was finished, I referred Walter to some friends who were also very unhappy with his services. Apologies.
I regret using Walter and would definitely not recommend him.

Melissa F.

Walter is very knowledgeable, honest, friendly and a great electrician. We have had him at our house on several occasions and he did a great job, was able to diagnosis, repair and figure out complex issues. He is very fit and was able to hop around in the ceiling and install fixtures. I feel very comfortable working with him and he also gives you an education and I would not mind if he stayed for tea as I enjoy his visits. He is engaged and cares about things being done right, but is not out to rip you off. I had an issue with a new stove, I had a electrician come in and give me a $1,300 estimate and said it was the only way for my stove to work and would take several weeks. I wanted a second opinion so I called Walter and he fixed it on the spot for $250. He said the other guys quote was crazy and involved unnecessary work.

Marco M.

He did fix the issue but left the job incomplete. He promised to return more than once and now more than a year later I've given up in him finishing. He also was very expensive, charging for an apprentice who spent all but five minutes just hanging around talking.

Mike L.

DO NOT use Walter Liebe!!!

We bought a house that was in need of rewiring. We read glowing reviews about Walter on Berkeley Parents Network, and here as well. And we called all the references he provided us. We were so excited to have him work on our house.

Much to my regret, we agreed on a scope of work and a start date with Walter about a month ago. Walter was adamant that the knob and tube in our attic needed to come out, and we trusted him, so we went ahead and committed the $3500 to get the insulation out so that they would have a clean attic to work with (per his requirement). Also, per his guidance, we also spent $150 getting the proper permits for the scope of work in rewiring the house.

One FULL month later (2 WORKING DAYS before our agreed start date), Walter emails us to tell us that he's running behind on another job, and told us he needed to leave town, and asked us if it was ok to push our job back for almost 2 months.

We emailed him back, explaining our situation, and how he had committed us to tons of work and money to prep for him, and that pushing our job back by almost 2 months would not work for us, and asking him to help us come up with some other solution. No response.

I am literally writing this review the friday before our job is supposed to start with him.

Long story short: it seems like some people might have had good experiences with him. But clearly, Walter is inconsistent with who he keeps his commitments with.

When we agreed on the job start date and scope, he said to us ""I don't do a contract, as I trust my clients and they trust me."" I rue the day that I believed him.

Walter: if you read this, we are incredibly disappointed. And you committed us to thousands of dollars of insulation removal (and reinstallation) just to prep for your job.

Use Walter if you feel lucky. Because, clearly, it's a total hit or miss on whether he'll honor his agreements with his clients.

True S.

Walter came to our house for an estimate. We needed to have the circuits reconfigured because too many appliances were on one circuit which caused it to overload and trip, causing many outlets in the house to fail including the furnace.

We had just moved in and it had been a cold winter. We previously had other electicians take a look and give us free estimates and learned that many of the circuits were not wired properly and not up to code. We agreed to pay Walter $120 for the estimate (which would be deducted from the bill if we selected him to do the job).

When he came, he had unplugged everything on that circuit and turned the circuit back on and the furnace turned back on. Then, he did something unsual...

He cut the circuit and said ""If you pay me $500"", I'll put it on it's own circuit and get it back running."" Hmmm. A strange on the spot proposition. But we didn't think anything of it. We later find out that he cut other circuits in the house (ones that actually worked) and now we were inconvenienced, because we had less working outlets in the house. Why cut stuff when they are working? Why cut anything at all when you're assigned to provide an estimate, when you can just turn the power off at the fuze box.

We opted for another electrician who provided a lower estimate for the overall job (not just putting the furnace on it's own circuit). The other electrician got the job done and wired correctly but the furnace was still not working. He said there must be something wrong with the furnace. But the furnace was just working before, so we knew there was nothing wrong with the furnace. When we called Walter, he offered to fix it for more money. We called PG&E to see what the problem was before shelling out more money.

PG&E came the following week to check out the situation and discovered that the wires in the furnace to the thermostat had been disconnected. And for Walter to have full knowledge of the problem (since he caused it) and for him to offer to fix it for more money was unethical. He shouldn't have tampered with the furnace to begin with. What a scam artist. Don't use this guy.

Ben O.

Walter only did a small project for me, but he was able to squeeze me into his schedule with short notice, and was great at communicating via email and over the phone. He ended up showing up right on time, and was able to finish the project really quickly. I would definitely utilize his services in the future.

Matthew D.

I spoke with Walter last week and made arrangements to have him come to my house today at 10 am to work on some minor electrical problems at my house. It's 11:45 am and he hasn't shown up. No call from him. Since 10 am, I have called him (twice) and left a voicemail, and sent him an email through his website, and I haven't received any response to those communications.

I have taken the day off of work so I can deal with my electrical issue, and Walter has totally flaked on me. I don't want to take another day off of work, so I just called Roberts Electric and they are sending somebody out to my house this afternoon.

Next time, I will make sure to call Roberts Electric instead of Walter.

Eric S.

I have had Walter over several times for different projects. he is always on time, easy to talk to and has several solutions to go with the situation. He is dedicated and does not waste any time! I would hire him again.

David G.

Walter is pleasant, informative and high skilled. He arrives when he says he'll arrive. He is responsive to your questions and stated electrical needs.

Walter installed 3 prong sockets, drilled sconces to add manual switches, and repaired fixtures.