Available 24/7, Call Our Licensed Electrician, Des Moines, IA

We commonly fix:

• Breakers that won’t stay on
• Flickering or dimming lights
• Dead outlets
• Warm or discolored cover plates
• Burning smells near an outlet or panel
• Sparks when you plug something in

A few of these electrical issues you can handle yourself, like resetting a tripped GFCI outlet in the bathroom or garage. But the rest need a licensed electrician. Call if a breaker trips repeatedly, an outlet feels warm, you spot scorch marks, or sparks appear. Working on wiring, panels, or outlets without training and the right tools puts you at real risk of shock, electrocution, and fire.

Watch for breakers that trip under normal use, lights that dim when the dryer or microwave kicks on, a burning smell near the panel, a panel more than 25 years old, or fuses instead of breakers. Plenty of older Des Moines homes still run on 60-amp or 100-amp service, while homes adding an EV charger, a heat pump, or a hot tub usually need 200 amps. Panels from Federal Pacific Electric (especially Stab-Lok breakers) and Zinsco have well-documented problems with breakers that fail to trip. If you find either name on yours, have a licensed electrician in Des Moines inspect it soon, no matter how old it is.

Start with the simple stuff. A loose bulb, a worn switch, or a bad fixture connection explains most flickering in a single room. Flicker across several rooms is different. It often points to a loose connection at the main service or a failing panel, and that needs attention fast.

Some Des Moines homes built between about 1965 and 1973 have aluminum branch-circuit wiring. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper, and connections loosen over time. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that homes wired with aluminum are far more likely to reach fire-hazard conditions at connections than homes wired with copper. If lights flicker in more than one room, book an electrical safety inspection with our team before the problem grows.

Both need one. EV charger and standby generator installations require electrical permits from the Des Moines Permit and Development Center, plus inspections to confirm code compliance. Skipping the permit can cause trouble when you sell the house, and it can complicate warranty and insurance claims later. We pull the permits and schedule the inspections for you. Our electricians know the Des Moines PDC process well and check every installation against current code before the city inspector arrives. Suburbs like Ankeny and West Des Moines run their own building departments, and we handle those permits too.

We handle the electrical side of both. A standby generator connects through a transfer switch that moves the house to generator power when the grid drops, and we size the setup to what you want running: furnace, sump pump, fridge, or the whole house. Maintenance visits cover the transfer switch, connections, battery, and a load test. Engine repairs are outside our work, so if a unit needs mechanical service, we’ll tell you plainly and point you to a generator shop.

Central Iowa offers good reasons to have a backup power source. The August 2020 derecho left much of the Des Moines metro without power for days, and winter ice storms bring down lines too.

Most hot tubs need a dedicated 240-volt circuit, usually 40 to 60 amps, with GFCI protection. NEC Article 680 also calls for a disconnect within sight of the tub and at least 5 feet away from it, so nobody can reach the shutoff while standing in the water. Saunas need their own 240-volt circuit sized to the heater. Pools add bonding requirements that tie metal parts and the water together to prevent shock.

Check your panel before you order the tub. No open space for a two-pole breaker? The project may include a panel upgrade, and it’s better to know that before the delivery truck shows up.

Underground or overhead, both are options when running power to a shed, garage, or other detached building on your property. Underground runs look cleaner and keep lines away from tree limbs and ice, but we'll need to dig a trench, which will add to the overall scope of work. The burial depth depends on the wiring method. Under the NEC, direct-buried UF cable typically needs 24 inches of cover, PVC conduit 18 inches, and some GFCI-protected 120-volt residential circuits can go in at 12 inches. Overhead runs don't need trenching but need proper clearance over driveways and walkways.

Before anyone digs, Iowa law requires a call to Iowa One Call (811) at least 48 hours ahead so buried gas, power, and fiber lines get marked. We make that call as part of the job.

For most homes, yes. The U.S. Department of Energy says residential LEDs use at least 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 25 times longer. Swapping bulbs is the easy part—the real work lies in the retrofitting of old fixtures. Old dimmers often make LEDs buzz or flicker, and some older fixtures need new trims or drivers before an LED retrofit works right. We replace incompatible dimmers, convert older fixtures, and switch landscape lighting to low-voltage LED, which cuts the bill on lights that run every night.

A whole-home surge protector is a device that is mounted at your main panel and shields every circuit from voltage spikes. Most surges don’t come from lightning. They start inside the house, when big loads like air conditioners and heat pumps cycle on and off. Iowa’s spring and summer storms add lightning strikes and utility switching to the mix.

The 2020 NEC added Article 230.67, which requires surge protection when a home’s electrical service is installed or replaced, and the 2023 edition kept that rule. Plug-in power strips protect a TV or computer. They do nothing for a furnace control board or a refrigerator wired straight to the panel. Our electricians install Type 1 and Type 2 surge protective devices sized for Des Moines homes.

With more than two decades of local electrical work, we were voted the best electrician in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2024 and 2025. Our licensed electricians coordinate with the Des Moines Permit and Development Center on permitted work, including panel upgrades, EV charger installations, generator installations, and new circuits. We pull permits, schedule inspections, and confirm the work meets code before we close out a job.

We serve Des Moines, Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes, West Des Moines, Ankeny, Altoona, Pleasant Hill, Bondurant, Polk City, Norwalk, Carlisle, Newton, Mitchellville, and Colfax. Every job comes with the Neighborly Done Right Promise®, flat-rate pricing, and electricians who average 15 years in the field.

Call us any time, day or night, or request an estimate online. Whether you found us by searching for an electrician near me in Des Moines or a neighbor passed along our name, the next step is the same: we send a licensed electrician to your home or business and give you a flat-rate quote before work begins. We handle repairs, safety inspections, panel upgrades, EV chargers, generators, lighting, and outdoor power across Des Moines and Central Iowa, all backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise®. Schedule your appointment with a Des Moines electrician today, and we’ll confirm a time that works for you.