(503) 936-7863
When you hire an electrician to work on your home, experience matters.
Much of your home's electrical system is hidden behind walls, above ceilings, and inside electrical panels. As a homeowner, you have to trust that the person performing the work understands not only how to complete the installation, but how that work affects the electrical system as a whole.
One way to evaluate an electrician's level of experience is to understand Oregon's electrical licensing system.
What many people commonly call a Master Electrician is officially known in Oregon as a General Supervising Electrician. Reaching this level requires years of education, extensive hands-on experience, and state examinations.
At Classic Electric, there is another important distinction:
The person with that advanced level of experience is also the person who evaluates your project, prepares your estimate, and performs the electrical work in your home.
The traditional path to becoming an Oregon General Supervising Electrician is a long one. It begins with an electrical apprenticeship, progresses to a General Journeyman Electrician license, and then requires thousands of additional hours of journeyman-level experience before an electrician can qualify for the General Supervising Electrician license.
For many electricians, the career begins with an approved electrical apprenticeship.
Oregon's inside-electrician apprenticeship is an 8,000-hour program—approximately four years of full-time on-the-job training.
During that time, an apprentice works under the supervision of licensed electricians while also completing classroom education.
Training includes subjects such as:
The on-the-job portion of the apprenticeship provides experience with residential, commercial, and industrial electrical systems as well as troubleshooting, maintenance, remodeling, underground work, controls, fixtures, and other aspects of the electrical trade.
That combination of classroom education and hands-on field experience is an important part of learning the trade.
After completing the required training and experience, an apprentice can qualify to take the state examination for a General Journeyman Electrician license.
Becoming an Oregon General Journeyman Electrician is a significant professional accomplishment.
A General Journeyman Electrician is authorized to make electrical installations under the supervision, direction, and control of a General Supervising Electrician, except where another license or circumstance applies.
Journeyman electricians work throughout the electrical industry—from single-family homes and multifamily buildings to commercial and industrial facilities.
For many electricians, the journeyman license becomes the foundation for years or even decades of work in the electrical trade.
But Oregon provides another level of licensing for electricians who qualify for additional responsibility.
In Oregon, the license commonly referred to as a Master Electrician is officially called a General Supervising Electrician.
To qualify through the traditional path, an Oregon General Journeyman Electrician must document an additional 8,000 hours of on-the-job journeyman experience.
That's approximately another four years of full-time electrical experience after reaching the journeyman level.
Combined with the traditional 8,000-hour apprenticeship, an electrician following this path accumulates approximately 16,000 hours of field experience before qualifying for the General Supervising Electrician level.
The General Supervising Electrician license also carries additional authority and responsibility.
Under Oregon licensing rules, a General Supervising Electrician may:
This is an important distinction.
Electrical work isn't simply about knowing how to install a receptacle, replace a panel, or connect a circuit. Many projects require someone to evaluate existing conditions, perform calculations, understand code requirements, select appropriate equipment, plan the installation, and consider how the new work interacts with the rest of the electrical system.
That broader responsibility is one reason the General Supervising Electrician license requires substantial additional experience.
Electrical contracting companies can be organized in many different ways.
Some are large companies with owners, office staff, estimators, project managers, supervising electricians, journeymen, apprentices, and service technicians.
Others are much smaller.
The important question for a homeowner is understanding who will actually be involved with their project.
Consider asking:
Those questions can be especially important when working on an existing home.
Unlike new construction, residential remodeling and service work frequently involves existing conditions that aren't visible until the project begins. Older wiring, previous remodels, crowded electrical panels, unusual circuit layouts, and changes made over the life of the home can all affect how a project should be completed.
Experience can make a meaningful difference when those situations arise.
Classic Electric is intentionally structured as a small residential electrical company.
Thomas Adams, the owner of Classic Electric, has spent more than 30 years working in the electrical industry and holds the following licenses and certifications:
Those credentials represent years of education, field experience, electrical-code study, continuing education, and state examinations.
But the biggest difference for our customers isn't simply the licenses Thomas holds.
When you contact Classic Electric about a project, Thomas discusses the project with you and evaluates the existing electrical system.
He determines what will be required and prepares a detailed estimate explaining the proposed scope of work.
And when you decide to move forward, Thomas is the electrician who returns to your home and performs the work.
There isn't a handoff from salesperson to estimator to project manager to an electrician you've never met.
The person performing the installation already knows what you wanted because he was there when you discussed it.
Residential electrical work often involves decisions that can't be made from a photograph or a price sheet.
For example, adding an EV charger may require evaluating the home's existing electrical service and available capacity.
Installing a hot tub involves more than simply running a circuit. Equipment requirements, disconnecting means, grounding and bonding, GFCI protection, conductor sizing, and the physical location of electrical equipment all need to be considered.
A panel replacement may uncover previous modifications or existing conditions that weren't visible before the old panel was opened.
A remodel may involve electrical work installed under several generations of electrical code.
And sometimes a homeowner's plans for the future should influence how today's project is designed.
An experienced electrician isn't just thinking about how to make today's installation work.
The electrician should also be thinking about whether the installation is safe, code-compliant, serviceable, appropriate for the home's electrical system, and practical for the homeowner's future needs.
Licensing is important, but we don't believe a license number by itself tells the whole story.
Experience develops over years of seeing different homes, electrical systems, equipment, problems, and solutions.
It also develops through troubleshooting.
When something doesn't work the way it should, an experienced electrician has a larger body of knowledge to draw from when determining why.
That's particularly valuable in residential remodeling and service work, where every home is a little different.
At Classic Electric, our focus is residential electrical work. We work with homeowners on projects such as:
Our goal isn't simply to complete as many projects as possible.
Our goal is to understand what the homeowner is trying to accomplish, evaluate the electrical system carefully, recommend an appropriate solution, and perform the work correctly.
Classic Electric is small by choice.
That allows us to offer something that can be difficult to provide with a larger operation: continuity from beginning to end.
You know who evaluated your project.
You know who prepared your estimate.
You know who will arrive at your home.
And you know who is responsible for the electrical work.
For homeowners who value experience, detailed planning, clear communication, and working directly with the electrician performing the job, we believe that model offers something valuable.
You don't have to take a contractor's word for their licensing.
The State of Oregon provides online tools that allow homeowners to verify electrical licenses, and the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB) provides a separate search for contractor licensing.
We encourage homeowners to verify both.
When considering an electrical contractor, you can also ask a very simple question:
“Who will actually be doing the electrical work in my home?”
You may also want to ask what license that individual holds.
An electrical contracting company may have several people involved in a project, and the qualifications of the company's supervising electrician don't necessarily tell you the experience level of the individual electrician who will arrive at your home.
At Classic Electric, the answer is simple.
The owner, estimator, Oregon General Supervising Electrician, and electrician performing the work are the same person.
If you're planning an electrical project in Sherwood, Tualatin, Tigard, Hillsboro, Wilsonville, Newberg, McMinnville, or the surrounding area, we'd be happy to talk with you about it.
Whether you're remodeling your home, replacing an electrical panel, adding an EV charger, wiring a hot tub, preparing for a generator, adding circuits, or trying to solve an electrical problem, you'll work directly with an experienced electrician from the beginning of the project through completion.
That's how we've chosen to operate Classic Electric.
One electrician. One point of contact. Decades of experience.
