GFCI trips every time one machine starts
Either a genuine earth leakage fault in that machine or a device at the end of its life. Testing separates the two, and moving the equipment to an unprotected socket to stop the trip is not the answer.
Small electrical work that accumulates: an outlet that stopped working, a GFCI that trips every time the coffee machine runs, a scorched faceplate behind a piece of equipment, a run of sockets the fit-out never provided. Work covers testing and replacing devices, tracing dead circuits, correcting loose and overheating terminations, and adding properly sized circuits for equipment rather than running it on an extension lead.
Enter your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with their phone numbers.
Most of these jobs land near $380. The full spread runs $160 to $2,400, and the gap between those two ends is diagnosis against replacement rather than one business being dearer than another.
What moves it: how much of the job is parts, whether the fault is found in the first hour or the third, access to the equipment, and the hour of the day you call. We never speak to the businesses listed here, so there is no rate card behind any of this. It is our own band for the category, and there is no regional index: the figure does not change with your metro.
| How soon you need it | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visitBooked in advance, no urgency multiplier applied | $380 | $160 to $2,400 |
| Same dayOur band multiplied by 1.12 | $425 | $180 to $2,690 |
| Emergency calloutOur band multiplied by 1.35 | $515 | $215 to $3,240 |
Our estimate from national cost bands, not a quote from any business. Every row is the same band with the urgency multiplier the site applies everywhere else, so this table can never contradict the headline number. Ask for a written price before the work starts.
In California the classification that squarely covers this is C-10 electrical, and the register says who holds it. Every listing on this site shows the classification, the license number and the date we read it, with a link back to the register entry so you can check it against the state rather than against us.
One thing worth being plain about: CSLB classifications do not distinguish commercial work from residential. There is no separate commercial license to hold and no register field that would prove one. That is why this page describes the equipment rather than the contractor, and why nothing here says a business has been checked out. We read a public record on a stated date. That is the whole claim.
Before you pay for a callout
We would rather you did not need a callout at all. These are the checks that end the most calls for this fault.
Try a quick fix first
Some issues resolve without a truck roll. Two minutes now can save the callout.
Check for a tripped GFCI first. One GFCI often protects several outlets downstream, so a dead socket in one room is regularly a tripped device in another, and resetting it is free.
Count everything at once. Adding four outlets on one visit costs far less than four visits.
If a faceplate is discolored, warm or smells of hot plastic, stop using it and treat it as urgent. That is a loose termination heating up.
Extension leads running permanently across a commercial floor are a trip hazard and an insurance problem. If that is why you are calling, ask for proper circuits rather than more leads.
Diagnosis
Written from how these faults actually present on a working premises, not from a manual.
Either a genuine earth leakage fault in that machine or a device at the end of its life. Testing separates the two, and moving the equipment to an unprotected socket to stop the trip is not the answer.
A failing back-stab connection or a loose terminal in the first device in the chain. Cheap to fix, and a genuine fire risk left alone.
Listed for this trade
Read from public license registers, so there is no ranking here and no distance: this page has no location to measure from. Enter your ZIP to sort by who is nearest to your site.
By location
Local pages show which businesses are listed for that metro, how far out they sit, and the local conditions that drive demand.
Counted from the businesses we have imported for each metro center inside a 25 mile radius, and counting only those whose own license classification names this trade. General contractors licensed widely enough to take it on and subcontract it are excluded here, and still appear in a search. A metro reads “none yet” until we load a register that covers this trade there.
All coverage areasQuestions owners ask
Short, specific answers. If yours is not here, ask the business you call before you agree to the visit.
Related work
Batching jobs into one mobilization is the cheapest way to buy this kind of work.
Electrical & Lighting
Read next
Three minutes on the state's own lookup, what the result does and does not prove, and the two questions to ask on the phone.
7 min read
Five checks that take ten minutes, plus the three readings a refrigeration tech needs before loading the truck.
7 min read
A spring cooling check and a fall heating check cost $340 to $700, and they are what stand between you and a $9,000 unit replacement.
6 min read
Ready when you are
Search your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with the license numbers and phone numbers we hold, then call them yourself.