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SOBY ONE FAQ’s

Are you competitively priced and do you provide written estimates up front before doing the work?

Yes, Soby One Home Services offers competitive pricing and written estimates on all electrical and air conditioning installations. We also offer financing plans.

Are you licensed and insured?

Yes, Soby One Home Services is fully licensed and insured. We carry a Massachusetts Masters Electrical License A20378, Massachusetts Journeyman Electrical License B10097, and the EPA “Universal” certificate for handling refrigerants. We carry Liability and Workman’s Comp Insurance as well.

Do you warranty your work?

Yes, Soby One Home Services offers a lifetime warranty on our labor. In addition, we offer a 1-year warranty on any materials we supply. Simply put, if something doesn’t work or isn’t right for any reason, for up to one year we will come back and fix it 100% free of charge, period. Our air conditioning equipment warranty is good for 10 years. 

Do you clean up after yourselves when you’re done with the work?

Yes, Soby One technicians will lay out floor covers everywhere they will be working. They wear boot covers and gloves and carry a full array of cleaning supplies to clean up after themselves. When they leave the house, the area they worked in should be cleaner than when they started. 

Why should I purchase an Electrical Maintenance plan?

Proper care of your electrical system and equipment can not only prolong the life of your electrical system, but can also prevent major problems before they happen. For instance, because of the constant flow of electricity through your electrical panel, the heat generated can cause the set screws terminating the wires to the breaker, neutral, or ground bar to back off, which in turn can create a loss of a ground, or neutral, or even arcing, which can cause a fire. Regularly tightening the set screws to a specific torque rating is just one of the many things that you won’t have to worry about. Rest easy knowing your electrical system is up to date and safe.

Do you offer Emergency Service?

Yes, although spending time with our families is always a priority, we understand that in our line of business, emergencies do happen. If there is an emergency that can’t wait until the next day to be addressed, we will always be there for our customers, no matter the time of day or night.

Some of my lights or plugs just stopped working. I think it’s a tripped breaker but it wont reset. Do I have to have you come out or can you tell me how to reset it?

No one wants to pay a service call fee just so an electrician can come out and flip a breaker in 2 seconds. You can try this first and see if this does the trick…

First, your breaker needs to be reset from the “OFF” position and your breaker is probably in the “TRIPPED” position – Push your breaker into the “OFF” position (push away from the middle) – Now  push your breaker to the “ON” position (push towards the middle). If this works, then you should be all set.  If it TRIPS again immediately, then it’s not a simple flip of the breaker. There are several things it could be, but for safety reasons, you should have a qualified electrician come out to look at it.  

The power went out and now my garage door won’t open.  Can I still open it?

Yes, you can still open the garage door even if the power is out. First make sure the garage door is unlocked. Next, there should be a release cord, usually a thin cord with a handle at the end hanging down. Pull the release cord and you should feel it click and loosen. Now you should be able to manually open and close the garage door until the power comes back on.  

I just changed my lights to LED but now my dimmers won’t work right.  What should I do?

That’s great that you’ve made the jump to LED, however, not all dimmers will work with LED fixtures. A common problem may be that the dimmer is only rated to work on halogen or incandescent fixtures. If this is the case, you would now have to change the dimmer to a LED- rated dimmer. Even after changing the dimmer, you may experience some dimming issues, such as it doesn’t dim down very far, or it does dim down but when you go to turn the dimmer switch on when the dimmer is all the way down, the lights don’t come on or they don’t all come on together. If this happens there is an adjustment lever (usually on the face of the dimmer) that you can adjust by turning to the right or left until they work just right. 

Should I get a whole-house surge protector or just use a surge strip behind my TV and other sensitive equipment?

Surge protection is something that should be done in layers. I would always recommend starting with a whole-house surge protector that is usually mounted next to the electrical panel. In addition, any appliances, TV’s, computers, etc. that you want to protect should use a surge protector strip. The idea is that when a big surge hits, the whole house surge protector will either knock down the surge completely or knock it down to a manageable size so that once it gets to the equipment or appliance you are trying to protect, it will be small enough that the surge strip can finish the job. A couple things to keep in mind… If you decide to go with a whole-house surge protector, I would strongly recommend getting one that you can add cable and telephone wire protection to, because surges can run through those lines as well. Usually whole-house protectors will have a LED light letting you know if it needs to be replaced because it has done its job and stopped a surge. Also, not every plug strip is a surge protector. Look for one that clearly states it is and look for a high “joule” rating. A good joule rating is something that has 800 joules or more. The higher the joule rating, the more surge it can take before the surge protector fails. 

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