How do I check if an electrician is licensed in Texas?

Use the free TDLR License Data Search at tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch. Choose Electricians from the License Type dropdown, then search by license number, business name, city, county or ZIP. The database covers active licenses only, so a company that does not come up is either unlicensed or not current. TDLR's own note on that page is to call Customer Service at 800-803-9202 if a license you expect to find is not there.

Does the individual electrician or the company need to be licensed?

Both, and they are separate licenses. TDLR licenses individuals as Apprentice, Residential Wireman, Journeyman, Maintenance or Master Electrician, and licenses the business as an Electrical Contractor. To hold the contractor license, the business must employ a licensed Master Electrician, who may be the owner. If that master leaves, the company has 30 business days to designate a new one.

What insurance should a Texas electrical contractor carry?

To hold a Texas Electrical Contractor license, a business must carry commercial general liability of at least $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage combined, a $600,000 aggregate, and a $300,000 products and completed operations aggregate. Workers' compensation is a separate question - Texas lets employers elect not to carry it, and TDLR's own contractor application accepts that election - so ask about it directly and ask for a current certificate of insurance.

Can I do my own electrical work in Texas?

TDLR lists an exemption for electrical work on a dwelling by a person who owns and resides in it, under Occupations Code 1305.003(a)(6). That exemption is about the state license, not about permits: Section 1305.201 lets cities and counties regulate anyway, so a permit and inspection are usually still required. Panel, service and new-circuit work is also where a mistake is most expensive, which is why most homeowners hire it out even where they could legally do it themselves.

What should an electrician's quote include?

A written scope, not just a number: the specific work, the materials and brands, whether the permit and inspection fee are included, who repairs drywall or landscaping afterward, the labor warranty, and the timeline. For reference, electrician labor in North Texas generally runs $85 to $160 an hour for standard work and $150 to $300 an hour for true emergencies. When two quotes are far apart, the gap is almost always in the line items rather than the hourly rate.

How to Choose a Licensed Electrician in Texas

Most people hire an electrician in a hurry. The panel is buzzing, half the kitchen is dead, somebody can be there Thursday - and that is exactly when the checking gets skipped.

The good news is that Texas makes this easy if you know where to look. The state licenses both electricians and electrical contracting companies through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, publishes a free public license lookup, and requires every licensed contractor to put its license number on its trucks and its advertising. Fifteen minutes of checking will tell you most of what you need to know. Here is what to check, in order.

The short answer

Hire a company that holds a Texas Electrical Contractor license, verify that license yourself in TDLR's free search, ask for a current certificate of insurance, and confirm in writing that the electrician pulls the permit. Everything after that - reviews, response time, the price itself - only matters once those four come back clean. A contractor who gets cagey about any of the four has already told you something useful.

Texas licenses people and companies separately

This is the part most homeowners miss, and it is where "he's licensed" quietly stops meaning what you think it means.

TDLR issues licenses to individual electricians - Apprentice Electrician, Residential Wireman, Journeyman Electrician, Journeyman Industrial Electrician, Maintenance Electrician and Master Electrician, along with sign and lineman classes. Separately, it issues licenses to businesses: Electrical Contractor, Electrical Sign Contractor and Residential Appliance Installation Contractor.

The one that matters when you are hiring is the Electrical Contractor license. The person who shows up at your house holds an individual license; the company that sold you the job needs the business license. One does not substitute for the other.

To hold that contractor license, a company has to employ a licensed Master Electrician, who may be the owner. TDLR adds two details worth knowing: a Master Electrician can be assigned to only one electrical contractor, unless they own more than 50 percent of the business, and if the master leaves, the company has 30 business days to designate a replacement. The license runs one year and must be renewed annually. So "licensed" is not a permanent condition - it is something that can lapse between the day someone printed their business cards and the day they open your panel.

Verify the license yourself in two minutes

TDLR publishes a free lookup: the TDLR License Data Search. Choose Electricians from the License Type dropdown, then search by license number, business name, city, county or ZIP code.

Two things to know about the results. First, the database covers active licenses only - the page says so at the top - so a company that does not appear is either unlicensed or not current, and either answer is your answer. Second, TDLR's own instruction on that page is to call Customer Service at 800-803-9202 if a license you expect to find does not come up, which is worth doing before you accuse anyone of anything. Businesses operate under assumed names, and the legal name on a license is not always the name painted on the truck.

While you are there, check that the name on the license matches the name that will appear on your contract and your invoice. If the quote comes from one entity and the license belongs to another, ask why before you sign.

Read the truck

Here is the fastest field test in Texas, and almost nobody uses it.

Rule 16 TAC 73.51 requires a licensed electrical contractor to display its name and license number on both sides of every vehicle used for electrical work, in contrasting lettering at least two inches high, with the number preceded by the letters TECL. The same rule requires the contractor's name and license number in advertising designed to solicit electrical business, and it specifically includes business cards. There are narrow exceptions - a phone book listing with only a name, address and phone number, or a promotional item of nominal value - but a van working a residential job is not one of them.

So before anyone opens a panel, you can read the TECL number off the side of the vehicle and type it into the TDLR search on your phone while you stand in the driveway. A work truck with no company name and no TECL number is not a cosmetic detail. It is a rule violation, and it is the single easiest red flag in this entire article to spot.

Ask for the certificate of insurance

"Licensed and insured" is a claim. A certificate of insurance is evidence, and any real contractor's agent can email one the same day.

Texas sets the floor. To hold an Electrical Contractor license, a business must carry commercial general liability of at least $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage combined, a $600,000 aggregate, and a $300,000 products and completed operations aggregate, documented on TDLR's Electrical Contractor Certificate of Insurance form when the license is issued. Those are minimums, and they are proof of what was in force at application - which is why you ask for a current certificate rather than taking a website's word for it.

Workers' compensation is a separate question, and in Texas it is genuinely optional. TDLR's contractor application accepts any of three things: proof of workers' compensation, a certificate of authority to self-insure, or a statement that the business elects not to obtain coverage under Labor Code Chapter 406. That means a fully licensed, fully compliant Texas electrical contractor may carry no workers' comp at all. It is a fair question to ask before someone climbs into your attic, and a fair one to raise with your own homeowners insurer.

Ask who pulls the permit

For panel work, service changes and new circuits, the licensed electrician doing the work pulls the permit - not you - and the finished work gets inspected. Our guide on whether you need a permit to upgrade an electrical panel in Texas walks through how that runs in Collin and Denton County cities.

The reason to ask up front is that the answer sorts contractors quickly. A company that pulls permits as a matter of course will say so without being pushed and will already have the fee inside the quote. A company that offers to skip the permit "to save you a few hundred dollars" is offering to move the problem downstream to you - to the home inspection when you sell, to the insurance adjuster after a fire, to the next electrician who has to retroactively permit someone else's work.

One nuance worth knowing: TDLR does list an exemption from state licensing for electrical work on a dwelling by the person who owns and resides in it, under Occupations Code 1305.003(a)(6). That exemption covers the state license only. Section 1305.201 lets cities and counties regulate anyway, so permits and inspections generally still apply to your own work.

Compare quotes on scope, not on the number

Three quotes for the same panel upgrade can land thousands of dollars apart, and the hourly rate is rarely the reason. For reference, electrician labor in this market generally runs $85 to $160 an hour for standard work and $150 to $300 an hour for true emergencies - the ranges we publish in our electrician cost guide for North Texas.

The spread almost always lives in the line items. Before you compare prices, make sure every quote answers the same questions:

What exactly is being replaced, and with what brand of equipment?
Is the permit fee included, and who schedules the inspection?
Does the price cover the meter can, the grounding electrode system and any service-entrance work, or only the panel itself?
Who patches drywall, repairs landscaping, or replaces siding where conduit is run?
What is the warranty on labor, and how long does it last?
When does work start, and how many hours will power be off?

The cheapest number on the table is usually the quote with the fewest answers. Our panel upgrade cost breakdown for Collin County shows what a complete scope looks like priced out.

Check the complaint record

TDLR publishes an Administrative Orders search covering orders that assess a sanction, an administrative penalty, or both, for violations of its program laws and rules. It covers the current fiscal year and the two most recent ones - TDLR's fiscal year runs September 1 through August 31 - and older orders are available by written request to the TDLR Records Center.

Most companies you look up will have nothing there, which is exactly the result you want. It takes a minute, and it covers a kind of problem reviews do not: a four-star average does not tell you whether the state has sanctioned a company for working unlicensed or uninsured.

Red flags worth walking away from

No company name or TECL number on the vehicle, the estimate or the business card
An estimate that exists only as a verbal number or a text message
Refusal or delay in producing a current certificate of insurance
"We don't need a permit for that" on panel, service or new-circuit work
Pressure for a large cash deposit before any materials are ordered
A free safety inspection that immediately becomes a same-day, fear-based sales pitch
A business name on the paperwork that does not match any active TDLR license
A price that climbs after work starts with no change order explaining why

The questions to ask before you hire

Copy these into a text message. The answers take any honest contractor about ninety seconds.

What is your Texas Electrical Contractor license number, so I can look it up?
Who is the Master Electrician of record for the company?
Will you send me a current certificate of insurance?
Do you carry workers' compensation?
Do you pull the permit, and is the permit fee in this quote?
Can I get the quote in writing with the scope itemized?
What is your warranty on labor, and how do I reach you if something fails in six months?

How we answer these questions

A homeowner should be able to check us the same way we are telling you to check anyone else. Tamenator Electrical Services is a licensed and insured Texas electrical contractor regulated by TDLR, owner-operated by Tamen Privratsky with 13-plus years of residential experience, and based in Celina. If you want our license number to run through the TDLR search yourself, ask and we will give it to you.

We pull the permit on permitted work and schedule the inspection. Quotes are written and itemized before anything starts. Our review record is public - 5.0 stars across 186 reviews on Thumbtack - and you can read those reviews on our reviews page or more about how we work on our about page. If you want a second opinion on an existing system rather than a sales pitch, that is what an electrical safety inspection is for, and if the question is capacity, start with electrical panel upgrades.

If you are in Celina, Prosper, McKinney, Frisco, Plano, or anywhere else across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, request a free quote. Check the license first, though - ours or anyone else's. It is the fastest fifteen minutes you will spend on the project.