I need to have a 240v service brought ought to my shed and have a sub panel installed so that I can finalize the hook up for the lighting, mini split, and EV car charger I installed. I contacted a fairly prominent regional electrical company to come to my house and quote me. He was a younger guy, seemed to know his trade pretty well, but openly stated that he could do the work without permits by “tilting the meter” because “the city just causes headaches.” That raised my eyebrows a bit, but to be honest I hadn’t even considered the need for permits until he said that.
When they texted me the next day to ask if ninjas questions I asked about the permits and I was surprised to find them willing to put it in writing.
Tangential, but maybe worth noting, he spent most of his time building estimates in a slick iPad app that was beyond what I would have figured an electrical company would have developed. I dug around and they don’t appear to have been bought by a PE firm, but they’re a lot larger than I realized when I called them. He also encouraged me (and provided quotes) to replace my entire main panel and add whole house surge protection, neither of which I asked about.
Is this normal? I could imagine this on a cash job from a guy I met at the bar, but seems high risk for a big company with a lot at stake.