Generation 3 Electric

1257 S 26th St, Philadelphia, PA 19146, USA

Address:	1257 S 26th St, Philadelphia, PA 19146, USA
Phone:	+1 215-512-4102
Site:	gen3electric.com
Rating:	4.9
Working:	8AM–8PM 8AM–8PM 8AM–8PM 8AM–8PM 8AM–8PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 4

Dustin Elliott

Disaster. More harm was done to our home. I cannot emphasize how much I regret them entering our home. We wanted to fully ground our first floor and kitchen. We received an estimate from Gen3 for 12 outlets that simply needed the grounding wires to be attached, which was relatively simple and cheap. They also recommended updating the grounding system by installing two grounding rods in the basement floor and bonding the whole system to the water meter and gas meter. We agreed to this work, quoted at $1000. The electricians that came out were pleasant and nice, but they didnt understand what the job entailed. The electrician that changed out the outlets didnt know that we wanted all outlets grounded; as it turns out only 4 of our 12 outlets had grounding wire in them - he should have noted this immediately. We were told in our original estimate that all 12 had grounding wire. So, great, now we have 4 random outlets grounded (none in the kitchen where they matter most). We didnt discover this until the end of the work, when the grounding rods were already placed and bonded to the water meter. Very unfortunately for us, for their work cause a 1-2 liter per hour leak in our lead pipe feeding the home from the city water main. (As an aside, we were interested in replacing this pipe but had the water tested the day before and found lead levels well below the EPA recommendation - so decided not to replace the pipe). Had we known the true situation of our houses electrical system (4 outlets with grounding wire instead of 12), we never would have had them out in the first place. I should have done the work myself! The cost to replace the lead pipe was $4500 (Goodman Plumbing I heartily recommend). I spoke with Debbie, one of the Gen3 owners, who refused to take any responsibility of the faulty original estimate and avoided any ownership for a pipe that her employee damaged. She only offered to waive the cost and pay $85 for the fee the plumbers changed to come out the following day. She committed to sending us the $85 2 months ago. After much prodding from my realtor to Debbie, we are still waiting for the check. ___________________________________________ After my 9/16/16 review, one of the Gen3 owners reached out to me and made good on her commitment. Though I still would not recommend their business, she did what she thought she should do to make a disaster-situation right.

Darlene Olsen

I had several needs for an electrician, but the most pressing was to have heat wire/tape in my gutters/downspouts to prevent an ice buildup (ice dam) from happening again (water from thawing snow leaked into by kitchen ceiling during two of the last four winters). Also, I was living with only one light in the basement, which I use a lot because it is a dry basement. I wanted more light and outlets and I wanted an outlet for a dehumidifier near the sink. Finally, I wanted to buy some antique lighting fixtures to replace the cheap ones that came with the house, and so I added that to the list. The owner Bill Lutz came out and gave me a very detailed estimate, itemizing and costing each item. As I talked about what I wanted my basement to look like and asked and answered questions, we came up with a plan. I decided on track lights but on two switches in the basement at the bottom of the stairs, so that I could choose to light up the laundry part of the basement or the "casual den” part of the basement. Bill also recommended that they expand my electrical box and label the breakers. My South Philly row house is a very old house and when I bought the house I really didnt know what breakers in the box went to where. Bill scheduled two days for the work. Lisa and Dotty in the office were very helpful when I deleted a couple of the items, to revise the bill. Dave and intern Alex came out the first day and worked very efficiently to wire the basement, install the outlets and hang my antique lights, putting in a full day of work. Mike and Alex came the next day and installed the track lighting, the heat tape to the gutters, and upgraded the electrical box, also a full day of work. As Bill had told me, they only hire pleasant employees. And they went beyond but doing a few little extra favors, like hooking up the dehumidifier, securing some old wiring, and putting a coat of spackle on my ceiling. I was pleasantly surprised at how the good track lighting looked in the basement, i.e. the quality of the track lights. They were mounted on the cross beams and the light heads swivel to direct the light to as desired and it is easy to remove the light heads and place them somewhere else on the track). I chose black track lights.

Anonymous User

Overall I have been satisfied by the work Gen 3 has done. The folks who came out to the house have been pleasant, efficient, and cleanly in their work. However, on a job that was already on the expensive side compared with other estimates, when I asked to have a no-frills dimmer placed instead of a regular switch in one location, I was told it would be an additional $55 (their "standard" charge). They stated it was $22 for the switch (more than at Home Depot) and $33 for the "labor." I have installed dimmers before. There is no additional labor compared with a standard switch-- still the same hook-ups of hot-to-hot, neutral-to-neutral, and ground-to-ground in the same switch box. I was then told that the extra charge was covering the fact that they "guarantee" the dimmer since these are more likely to fail than a regular switch (though the electrician could not remember ever having to fix a dimmer he had installed). It seems like a pretty significant surcharge for a "guarantee" that I dont really care about anyway-- if the dimmer goes bad, it would take about 5 minutes for me to replace it. Its a small amount of money in the big picture. What bothered me was the fact that the company would make a standard large mark-up on such a simple item-- an easy but basically dishonest way to generate more revenue for virtually no extra work. When Im paying over $1000 for a job, I dont think I should get nickled and dimed like this.

Anonymous User

Received many estimates and spoke to different companies. At first I thought that Generation Three was too pricey, but after signing a contract with another company, I began to wonder if I was wrong. The other guy kept telling me that my house was worse than he thought, and now would get more expensive as he started new things. I paid him for what he did and stopped the job. A few months passed and I called Generation Three back. This time Michael came out. I walked him through the work that the other contractor did or started to do. He pointed out that some of the things that I just paid to have done may not have been done correctly. He gave me some advice which led me to look on the internet and find out for myself how the job should have been done. I called the other company and, after about a month, they finally called back. After a rather disappointing conversation which turned into fight over the phone, the other guy told me that I wanted a cheap price so he gave me cheap work. I did not pay to have an inspector approve his work, so it was not his responsability to do work to code. That is what he said. A lawsuit is currently in progress against that other company. I plan to call Michael and Generation Three back again soon to help me fix the problems caused by the other guy. Advice to anyone looking for an electrician...Hire Generation Three. They care.