El Segundo · Est. 2001
Since 2001, Caleb Hughes and a small crew have kept the lights steady in El Segundo homes, one room at a time. Repairs, upgrades, and quiet improvements that stay behind the wall.
No commercial work. Houses, duplexes, ADUs and garages in and around El Segundo. That focus is why the work is quick and the quotes are accurate.
The phone is answered around the clock, every day of the year. Dead outlets, tripping breakers and burning smells get someone out whenever they happen.
We pull the permit, schedule the City of El Segundo inspection, and stay until it passes. You don't call anyone.
A walk through the house
Kitchens pull the most power. Hallways hold the switches you touch most. Bedrooms need to be silent. The basement or garage is where everything starts. Below is how we approach each one in a typical El Segundo home, most of which were built between 1940 and 1975.
01 — Kitchen
Dedicated circuits for the range, dishwasher, and refrigerator. GFCI protection at every counter. Under-cabinet lighting that makes a 1950s kitchen feel finished without a remodel.
Older kitchens here usually have two or three outlets sharing one 15A circuit with the dining room. Modern code wants at least two 20A small-appliance circuits plus dedicated runs for the dishwasher, disposal, microwave and fridge. We can add those without opening up more wall than necessary, and we patch what we open.
02 — Hallway
Three-way switching, hardwired smoke and CO detectors, and plates that sit flush against old plaster. The small things you touch every day, done so you stop noticing them.
California requires smoke alarms in every bedroom and hallway and CO alarms on every level, and they have to be interconnected when you pull a permit for other work. We install hardwired units with battery backup so one chirping alarm at 3am is a thing of the past.
03 — Bedroom
Ceiling fans balanced and braced properly. Bedside outlets where the bed actually is. Dimmers that fade without a hum.
A ceiling fan needs a fan-rated box screwed into framing, not the light fixture box that came with the house. We install the brace, run a separate switch leg so the fan and light work independently, and set the fan up on a remote or wall control. Bedrooms also need arc-fault protection now, which we add at the panel.
04 — Basement & garage
Panel upgrades from 100A to 200A, subpanels for additions and ADUs, proper grounding and bonding, and a clean, labeled directory so the next person knows what's what.
EV charger circuits, whole-house surge protection, and knob-and-tube replacement in the older homes between Grand and Imperial. If you still have a Zinsco or Federal Pacific panel, we'll tell you plainly: those should be replaced, and most insurers now agree.
A service upgrade here involves Southern California Edison, the City of El Segundo, and us. We coordinate all three so the power is off for one scheduled window, usually under a day.
05 — Porch & yard
Weatherproof outlets, porch and path lighting on a timer or sensor, and a doorbell transformer that can actually run the camera you bought.
Salt air off the water is hard on outdoor hardware. We use in-use covers, corrosion-resistant fixtures and low-voltage landscape lighting that survives the marine layer. Spa and hot tub circuits, exterior subpanels for the back studio, and holiday-light outlets on their own switch are all common requests.
"We've been in the same house since 2004. Caleb has been the only electrician in it."
Services
Residential electrical only, licensed and insured in California. If something isn't on this list, call anyway. If we don't do it, we'll tell you who does.
100A to 200A service upgrades, Zinsco and Federal Pacific replacements, subpanels, meter mains, SCE coordination and city inspection.
Level 2 circuits for Tesla Wall Connector, ChargePoint, Emporia and others. Load calculations first, so your panel can actually handle it.
Whole-house and partial rewires, aluminum wiring remediation, ungrounded outlet correction, with minimal wall openings and patching included.
Recessed and under-cabinet LED, dimmers that don't flicker, fixture swaps, landscape and porch lighting, smart switches if you want them.
New locations, GFCI and AFCI protection, USB-C receptacles, three-way and four-way switching, tamper-resistant outlets for kids' rooms.
Tripping breakers, dead circuits, flickering lights, warm outlets, buzzing panels. Diagnosed with a meter, not a guess. Flat service-call rate.
Fan-rated boxes and bracing, new fan locations, separate fan and light switching, chandelier and heavy fixture support.
Pre-purchase and pre-sale electrical inspections, insurance-requested panel evaluations, written reports with photos and priorities.
Full electrical for garage conversions, backyard ADUs, kitchen and bath remodels. We work directly with your contractor and the plan checker.
How a job goes
The same sequence whether it's a single outlet or a full rewire.
Tell us what's happening and send a photo of the panel if you can. Someone picks up around the clock, every day of the year.
We come out, look at the actual wiring, and leave you a fixed written price. Service calls are a flat rate that is credited toward the repair.
We pull the permit and book SCE if needed. Crews arrive in the window we gave you, wear shoe covers, and put drop cloths down before a single box is opened.
We meet the city inspector, then walk you through what changed, label the panel, and leave you the paperwork. Workmanship is warrantied for two years.
Service area
The shop is at 365 Indiana St, El Segundo, CA 90245, so anywhere in 90245 is a few minutes away. We also take work in the neighboring beach cities and Westchester when the schedule allows. Farther than that and we'll usually recommend someone closer.
Our home base. Smoky Hollow, the Hill section north of Grand, the flats between Mariposa and Imperial, and the newer homes along Imperial Highway. We know which blocks still have knob-and-tube and which have 1970s aluminum branch wiring.
Tree Section, Sand Section and east of Sepulveda.
Older beach cottages and hillside remodels.
Kentwood, Loyola Village and Osage.
Bluff homes and the Jungle, salt-air hardware a specialty.
Holly Glen and Del Aire, west of the 405.
North Redondo and the Avenues, by appointment.
About
Caleb Hughes started El Segundo Electricians in 2001 after eight years as a journeyman on residential crews across the South Bay. The idea was simple: a small shop that only does houses, only works close to home, and answers its own phone.
Twenty-five years later the crew is five people, three of whom have been here more than a decade. Caleb still estimates every project himself and is on site for every panel change. The shop at 365 Indiana St is where the trucks sleep and where you can drop by with a question.
From the neighborhood
"Our 1948 house still had the original 60-amp panel and a fuse box in the garage. Caleb walked me through what was actually dangerous versus what was just old, gave a written quote, and the upgrade to 200A took two days including the city inspection. He also labeled every breaker, which nobody had bothered to do in 75 years."
Quick one. Half the kitchen outlets died on a Sunday night. Called Monday 7:30am, someone was here by 10. Tripped GFCI hidden behind the fridge that the previous owner had wired weird. Fixed, explained, charged a fair service call. That's it. That's the review.
We had three electricians bid on an EV charger install and El Segundo Electricians was not the cheapest. We went with them anyway because they were the only ones who asked to see the panel first and checked the load calculation before quoting. Installed a 48A circuit in the garage. Permit pulled, inspection passed first time. Would hire again.
My mother is 84 and lives alone on Loma Vista. Her hallway light had been flickering for months and she was nervous about it. I called from out of state. Caleb's crew went out, replaced a failing switch and two old fixtures, put in interconnected smoke detectors while they were there, and then called me afterward to explain everything in plain English. They were patient with her. That matters more to me than anything else.
Honest 4 stars. Work was excellent — recessed lighting in the living room and a new porch light on a sensor, looks great and they cleaned up like they were never here. Only knock is scheduling: first available was about 9 days out. Worth the wait, but plan ahead if it's not an emergency.
Been using these guys since we bought on Penn St in 2011. Ceiling fans, a bathroom remodel, a subpanel for the back studio, and more than one "why is this outlet warm" call. Same phone number, same owner, same straight answers every time. In a town this small that counts for a lot.
Common questions
Project work gets a fixed written quote after we see the wiring. Diagnostic service calls for a problem that needs troubleshooting carry a flat fee, which is credited toward the repair if you go ahead.
For anything beyond a like-for-like fixture or device swap, yes, in El Segundo and every neighboring city. We pull it, schedule the inspection, and include the fee in your quote.
Usually four to eight hours on the day of the swap. We schedule the SCE disconnect and reconnect for the same day and tell you the window in advance so you can plan around the fridge.
Often yes, even at 100A, with a load calculation and sometimes a load-management device. We check before quoting so you don't pay for a panel upgrade you don't need.
Yes, any hour. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and a licensed electrician is on call every night, weekend and holiday. Burning smells, sparking, a hot panel or a main that won't reset get someone to the house right away.
Yes. We regularly sub for local remodelers and ADU builders and are comfortable coordinating with the plan checker, framer and drywaller.