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Email templates · Electrician

How to email an electrician to confirm the permit and inspection on your job

Electrical work beyond swapping a fixture usually needs a permit, a filing with your city or county that tells them the work is happening, followed by an inspection where a city inspector looks at the finished work and signs off. The electrician normally handles both. The trouble is that "we'll take care of the permit" often gets said and then quietly not done, and you only find out when you sell the house or file an insurance claim. This email asks for proof: the permit number, the inspection date, and a copy of the passed inspection. Sending it by email means the answer is on record and you can forward it to a buyer or insurer years from now.

Before you send

  • What the job was, when it was done, and the invoice number. If the work is still in progress, that is the best time to ask.
  • Whether the quote or contract mentioned a permit. If it did and you were charged a permit fee, you are entitled to see what the fee bought.
  • Your city or county's permit lookup page, if it has one. Many do. Searching your address there before you write tells you whether a permit exists.
  • The name of the inspecting authority (usually the city or county building department). You will need it if the electrician cannot produce anything.
  • Whether you need to be home for the inspection. Inspectors sometimes require access to the panel or the attic.
Subject Permit and inspection for [job description] at [address] 
Hi [electrician or company name],

Thanks for the work on [job description, e.g. the panel upgrade] at [address] on [date]. Invoice #[invoice number] included a permit fee of $[amount], so I want to make sure I have the paperwork on file.

Could you send me:

- The permit number and the date it was issued
- The name of the office that issued it, if it's not the city building department
- The inspection date, or a date if it hasn't been scheduled yet
- A copy of the passed inspection or final sign-off once it's done

If the permit hasn't been filed yet, could you let me know when it will be? I'd like to have everything in hand by [date, a few weeks out]. I'll need this for [my home insurer / a future sale / my own records], so I appreciate you sending it in writing.

Let me know if the inspector needs me home for access and I'll make it work.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A good answer is a permit number and an inspection date within a couple of days. Look the permit number up on your city's website to confirm it exists and matches your address.
  • A bad answer is "it's all taken care of" with no number, or "the inspector's backed up" for weeks with no date. Reply once asking for the permit number specifically. It exists the moment the permit is filed.
  • If you find no permit was pulled, ask the electrician to file one now, even after the fact. Many jurisdictions allow it with a higher fee. Insist the electrician pays it, since you already did.
  • If they refuse or vanish, your state's electrical licensing board takes complaints about unpermitted work, and you can call the building department yourself to ask about an after-the-fact inspection.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Confirm the permit and inspection on my electrical job 
Hi StandIn,

I'd like you to get my electrician to confirm the permit and inspection on a recent job and send me the paperwork.

The electrician: [name, company, and email].
The job: [what was done, at what address, on what date].
The invoice: [number and whether a permit fee was charged].
Where I am: [they said the permit was handled / I've heard nothing / the inspection was never scheduled].
Why I need it: [insurance / a sale / records].

Please write to them, check the city's permit lookup if you can, follow up until you have the permit number and passed inspection, and send me copies.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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