Electricians Brentwood
NICEIC Registered
Our prices are amongst the best in Essex
Call – 01277 801560
- Free Quotes
- All Electrical Work Undertaken
- Fully Insured
- No Call-Out Charges
- 24/7 Service
- Part Of The Award Winning TM Hughes Group
Our Services Include
TM Hughes & Son Electrical Services Ltd are NICEIC Electricians serving the homes and businesses in Brentwood.
Our services include domestic, commercial and 24-hour emergency services with no call-out charges.
We’ve worked with many people in the area, including homeowners, landlords, and businesses. Our trained electricians can handle all electrical systems, from designing to fitting and maintaining them.
We offer free quotes and fair prices, ensuring they are among the best in Brentwood.
If you’re looking for a competent ‘Electrician near me,’ we can help you with any electrical job, big or small.
Autumn Electrical 2024
In Brentwood, the autumn months of September, October and November are ideal for electrical work:
Mild & Predictable Autumn Weather
Brentwood experiences mild and relatively dry weather in autumn, with average temperatures ranging from 8°C to 16°C. This makes it a great time for outdoor electrical installations, such as fitting garden lighting, external power sockets, or security systems, without the risk of weather-related delays that are more common in winter. The milder conditions make it easier and safer for electricians to work, especially on external projects.
Preparation For Winter
Brentwood’s suburban setting, with a mix of older and modern homes, means autumn is the perfect time to ensure your electrical systems are winter-ready. This includes ensuring heating systems, such as electric radiators, underfloor heating, or even electric towel rails, work efficiently before the cold sets in. Electrical inspections and upgrades will help prevent issues when the demand for electricity increases in the colder months.
Availability of Electricians
In Brentwood, autumn is typically a less busy time for our Electricians than spring and summer, when home renovations and outdoor projects are more common. This availability makes electrical work easier, whether you need rewiring, an upgraded consumer unit, or new sockets.
Lighting Upgrades
In Brentwood’s more residential and semi-rural areas, outdoor security lighting is important, and autumn is an ideal time to install or upgrade motion-sensor or LED garden lights. Indoors, upgrading to energy-efficient lighting or installing dimmer switches will create a nicer atmosphere while reducing electricity consumption.
Getting Ready For Christmas
With the festive season approaching, autumn is the best time to prepare for additional electrical demands. Installing extra sockets or checking that your circuits are safe for handling additional holiday lights and appliances will prevent issues over Christmas and the New Year.
Brentwood’s Mix Of Property Types
Brentwood is known for its mix of historic homes, modern properties, and luxury developments. If you live in an older home, autumn is a good time to ensure that the wiring and consumer unit are up-to-date and safe for modern electricity demands. Homes in newer developments may need electrical work to accommodate smart home systems or energy-efficient upgrades.
Book An Electrician For Autumn 2024
Autumn is a highly suitable time for electrical work due to the mild weather, better availability of electricians, and the need to prepare for the colder, darker months. Whether you need to upgrade your lighting, ensure your electrical heating systems are in good working order, or prepare your home for the festive season, autumn provides an excellent window to complete these tasks efficiently. Please contact us for a free, no-obligation quote or to book an Electrician.
Domestic Electrical Services
Our Brentwood Electricians handle all kinds of electrical installations and repairs in homes. They undertake various jobs, such as setting up consumer units, rewiring parts or whole areas, installing new sockets, and installing lights.
Our Domestic Electrical services include:
Consumer Units
We install, upgrade, and fix consumer units (fuse boards).
Consumer Units control your home’s power supply. Inside, they have RCD fuses that trip during overloads, which immediately cut power. These fuses protect you and your appliances from electric shocks, overload, damage, and fire. Each part of your electrical system, like circuits, cookers, and lights, has its own fuse.
Modern Consumer Units use a mix of RCDs, MCBs, and RCBOs, depending on your home and budget.
- RCDs cut power during excess current or overheating, preventing electrocution and fires. They cover single or multiple circuits.
- MCBs protect against overload and overheating. If they trip, you can just switch them back on.
- RCBOs are the safest and most costly. They combine RCD and MCB functions, guarding against shock, fire, and circuit overload.
These modern fuses are safer than traditional fuses with wires. They react faster and don’t pose a fire risk. Old wire fuses need manual replacement. Sadly, many Brentwood homes still have old fuse boxes on wooden bases, which are fire hazards.
Modern consumer units meet the latest safety standards and are made from non-combustible metal. We recommend upgrading old fuse boxes to modern units. Contact us for advice, help, or a quote on a new consumer unit in Brentwood.
New Sockets & Upgrades
Adding extra power points is useful in any home. Nowadays, we use more appliances than before. More sockets mean you can use these appliances safely, avoiding electrical overloads. Too many devices on one socket can cause overloads and trips.
Our Brentwood electricians can fit new sockets or update existing ones.
There are many faceplate styles available now. You can choose the ones that fit your home’s look. You might want something other than standard white plastic, like decorative plastic, stainless steel, or wood.
We can add sockets with built-in residual current devices (RCDs) and USB ports, which are great for charging phones. We also install fused connection units (FCU) for hard-wired appliances, like boilers.
We offer various sockets, like cooker switches, shaver units, and multimedia switches. Tell us what you need, and we’ll find the right sockets.
For outdoor spaces, we install weather-protected sockets for tools like lawnmowers and trimmers. This avoids the risk of tripping over or pulling out extension cords. Our outdoor sockets have covers that protect them from weather and accidental unplugging. We can also fit RCD sockets for extra safety against electrocution.
Sockets connect your appliances to power. Cables run inside your home to the back of the socket. Just plug in, turn on, and you’re powered up.
Sockets are attached to a backbox, inside or on the wall, keeping wires safe. Contact us if you require help with your sockets.
Lighting
Lighting’s main job is to brighten your home, helping you do everyday tasks. It also improves your home’s look, sets the mood, and boosts security.
Different homes need different lights. Our electricians are experts in designing and fitting lighting that suits your interior design and needs.
- General lighting lets you see and move around safely. It’s used in hallways, living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, and utility rooms. This includes classic chandeliers and recessed downlights.
- Task lighting makes cooking, bathing, and working from home easier and more enjoyable. It provides high-quality light in kitchens, bathrooms, and home offices. Good lighting is key for productivity, especially in these areas.
- Accent lighting highlights and adds depth to parts of your home. This includes up-lighters, downlighters, cabinet lights, and low chandeliers over tables or counters.
- Outdoor lighting boosts security, prevents accidents, and makes outside areas nicer. It’s perfect for warm evenings outdoors. Lights for driveways, gardens, and garages include walls, decking, and motion-sensing security lights.
There are many bulb types, like Halogen, Incandescent, LED, and Energy-Saving, each with different fittings, wattages, and brightness.
There may be a lot to choose from, but don’t worry. Your local Brentwood Electrician will pick the best bulbs for your lighting, creating the perfect effect in every part of your home.
Wiring & Rewiring
Electrical installations involve wiring new buildings and rewiring old homes. If your home hasn’t been rewired in 30 years, it needs an inspection to see if it needs updating.
Electrical cables last a while, but they wear out. Homes in Brentwood built before 1970 might have old wiring with red for live, black for neutral, and green for earth. Since 2006, all UK homes must follow the 17th Edition BS7671 wiring regulations. This means using brown for live, blue for neutral, and yellow/green for earth, like in mainland Europe.
In Brentwood, most homes have ring and radial circuits. Radial circuits power lighting and fixed appliances like boilers and cookers. Lights are connected in a line, ending at the last light. Ring circuits run cables in a loop from the consumer unit to each socket and back. If your home has old red, black, and green cables, or you’re unsure, you might need a rewire.
Rewiring can be disruptive and time-consuming. Our experienced Electricians can safely upgrade your home quickly with minimal disruption and high-quality work.
Appliance Installation
Need to wire a new appliance into your electrical system? We provide a cost-effective installation service for hard-wired appliances, like built-in ovens and extractor fans.
We’ll connect your new appliance to the right circuit and ensure it works properly. You can trust us to install your appliance correctly and safely.
Earthing & Bonding
We ensure that the earthing and bonding in all homes we work on meet the current IET 17th edition wiring regulations and the BS7671 standard.
We always check the earthing and bonding whenever we do any electrical work.
Homes built before 1991 might have outdated earthing and bonding. We can check this to ensure everything meets the latest standards and your electrical system is safe.
EICR Certificates
We provide Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) and Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) for landlords.
The law requires an EICR for all rental properties every five years or with each new tenancy. This report must be available to tenants, letting agents, or local authorities upon request.
Our electricians can conduct an EICR at your rental property. Upon passing, we’ll issue the necessary certification, ensuring your property is safe, legal, and insurance-compliant.
PAT testing is an additional service that checks all portable appliances for safety, reducing fire and electrocution risks. Our qualified electricians inspect and test appliances in homes, rental properties, and workplaces during PAT testing. Employers and landlords should get portable appliances checked every couple of years.
While PAT testing isn’t legally required, it’s strongly advised. It keeps tenants and employees safe and protects landlords and employers if a faulty appliance causes an electrical accident. PAT testing lessens the risk of electrical accidents. Testing identifies and allows for the repair or replacement of faulty appliances.
The test covers all appliances with power cords, both portable and non-hardwired stationary ones.
In workplaces, especially those using industrial appliances regularly, annual PAT testing is common due to the higher usage frequency than domestic appliances.
Fault Finding & Repairs
Electrical issues can vary from flickering lights to fuses that keep tripping.
You might also notice arcing from your oven or hob switch or a burning smell from sockets.
If something seems off with your electrical system, don’t worry. Often, it’s just a small issue that our electricians can find and fix.
They’ll locate the problem and make necessary changes or replace parts to restore your electrical system to working order.
Outdoor Power
Do you use electric tools like lawnmowers or hedge trimmers outside? Are you using extension cords from indoor sockets for this? If so, our electricians can set up outdoor power for you.
We can install sturdy sockets connected to your main power on your home’s outside walls. This means you can plug in your tools directly outside, not indoors.
These outdoor sockets are waterproof and have strong covers to protect them from weather. They also have built-in RCD fuses. These fuses will immediately stop power if a cable gets cut.
Having outdoor power makes caring for your garden easier and safer without the hassle of long extension cords.
Security Lighting
Homes and businesses have areas that are more at risk of crime, especially after dark. Burglars and vandals often act in darkness, targeting these properties. Installing security lights can help deter these unwanted visitors. Studies show that such lighting reduces crime.
We offer a free survey to help you identify vulnerable spots in your home or business. These can be dim doorways, windows, alleys, or gardens. We can then install motion sensor lights that turn on when someone passes by or timed lights that keep these areas bright after dark.
This lighting not only wards off intruders but also highlights your other security measures like alarms and CCTV cameras. If a crime does happen, the area will be well-lit for your CCTV to record clear images, which can help the police.
We fit all security lights with energy-efficient LED bulbs, making them energy-efficient and cost-effective.
Smoke & Heat Alarms
Smoke alarms are important, but they’re not enough to keep you and your family safe from fire. They often depend on a battery and may not be heard throughout your home.
A linked system, installed by a professional electrician, is much safer. It helps everyone react and escape faster. We install these systems. Our team can come to your home for a risk assessment.
We’ll place smoke and heat alarms in key areas and link them together. They’re also connected to your main electricity supply. In a fire, all alarms go off immediately, alerting everyone in the building. These alarms have backup batteries, too, so they work even if there’s a power cut.
For the elderly, disabled, or those with hearing difficulties, we can provide more advanced systems.
Commercial Electricians
TM Hughes Electricians are skilled electrical contractors for Brentwood businesses. We cater to various commercial clients, including shops, salons, restaurants, warehouses, and offices. Our team is committed to meeting your unique electrical needs professionally.
We complete all commercial projects to a high standard, maintaining tidiness and providing a sign-off by one of our qualified and insured electricians. We handle all types of commercial wiring, including three-phase systems and Cat 5, Cat 5E, & Cat 6 wiring.
We understand how important uninterrupted operation is for your business. So, we schedule our work to minimally affect your daily activities. Our electricians are available for emergency call-outs 24/7. If an electrical issue disrupts your business, we’re here to get you back in action quickly without any call-out fees for emergencies.
If you’re facing electrical problems, like faulty wiring or fuse boards, that slow down your work, let us help. These issues can reduce productivity.
Don’t let these problems cost you money. We’ll quickly find and fix them, ensuring your electrical system is safe for you and your staff.
Electrical Emergencies
Electrical systems are essential in our daily lives, powering heating, lighting, hot water, and appliances in our homes and businesses.
In the Event of an Electrical Emergency You need a dependable emergency electrician to restore power and safety in an electrical emergency.
Our trained electricians are just a call away if you have an electrical emergency. They’ll reach you quickly, any time, to fix your electrical issues.
Our emergency electrical services are available 24/7 and don’t have expensive call-out charges.
Types Of Electrical Emergencies And What To Do
Power cuts can happen due to various reasons, including electrical supply issues. Before calling an electrician, check if your neighbours also have a power cut. This might indicate a local outage.
Contact your energy supplier for details and wait time. Often, power returns in a few hours.
Addressing Power Cuts Specific To Your Home
Check your consumer unit’s RCD fuses if it’s just your home without power. Try flipping any switched-off fuses back on. If power doesn’t return, call us. Our electricians will quickly find and fix the issue.
Recognising Serious Electrical Issues
Some electrical problems are urgent and need immediate attention from an electrician.
These include unusual noises from the consumer unit, smoke or burning smells from sockets or lights, constant fuse tripping, visible damage to electrical parts, or flooded electrical systems.
Call us right away for advice and assistance. Safety first – never risk handling electrical issues yourself.
Hi, I’m Terry the founder and owner of TM Hughes & Son Electrical Services
Please get in touch using the Phone Numbers or Contact Form