Arlington County, VA
Licensed Electrician in Arlington, VA
Ahmad Shaban is a Master Electrician, Commonwealth of Virginia #2710086216, working out of a Fairfax shop about 20 minutes from Arlington via I-66. A Cherrydale panel and a Rosslyn high-rise circuit are different jobs with different rules — he does both, plus the 24-hour emergency calls in between.
Arlington electrical work, in five lines
- Ahmad Shaban holds Master Electrician, Commonwealth of Virginia #2710086216 — the Commonwealth’s highest individual electrical credential.
- The Fairfax shop is roughly 14 miles from Arlington, about 20 minutes via I-66.
- Arlington splits into two jobs: legacy wiring in older close-in homes, and board-coordinated work in the high-rise corridors.
- Permits are filed through Arlington County’s Permit Arlington portal. We confirm the exact requirement for your address before work starts.
- No trip fee, free estimates — and a standalone safety inspection, free, after the job is finished.
Why the Same Job Costs Different Amounts Across Arlington
Take one job: a new dedicated 240-volt circuit. In a Cherrydale bungalow that means checking what the existing panel can still carry, and usually a conversation about grounding. In a Ballston tower it means a route through a shared garage, a certificate of insurance, and building management’s access schedule. One line on an invoice; nothing in common underneath.
Where the number comes from instead
Ahmad walks the job first, then writes the price for the whole scope; nothing gets opened up before you have seen that number. Two separate things set it.
- What the wiring decides. How hard the fault is to find, how many circuits are involved, the age and condition of the panel, and whether the branch wiring is legacy material that needs extra care.
- What the address decides. How much board coordination a condo job needs, and the permit work your particular address turns out to require.
No trip fee, free estimates. Call 571-500-6637 or request an estimate — you see the price before work begins.
From a Dead Outlet to a New Service Panel
That is the range, residential and commercial, across Arlington County, all by a Virginia-licensed Master Electrician. Grouped below by why people call rather than by trade category.
Something is wrong right now
Electrical Troubleshooting
Flickering lights, a breaker that keeps tripping, a dead outlet or a circuit that drops under load — traced on site with test equipment, not guessed at.
Emergency Electrical Service
Power gone entirely, a smell of burning, something sparking. The regular schedule is 8 AM to 5 PM; emergency calls are handled outside those hours.
The place needs to carry more than it was built for
Electrical Panel Work
Service upgrades, panel replacement and sub-panels, including the load calculation that shows what your service can actually carry. Arlington County is served by Dominion Energy, so we coordinate any service disconnect and reconnect with them.
EV Charger Installation
Level 2 home charger circuits for garages, driveways and condo parking spaces, starting with a load assessment rather than ending with one.
Circuit Breaker Replacement
Single breaker swaps plus GFCI and AFCI upgrades — breakers that cut power when they sense a shock hazard (GFCI) or an arcing fault in the wiring (AFCI).
Rewiring & New Circuit Runs
Rewiring legacy circuits, plus new dedicated runs for kitchens, home offices and workshop equipment.
Something needs putting in, or swapping out
Outlet & Switch Installation
Added outlets, kitchen and bathroom upgrades, and 240-volt outlets for ranges, dryers and shop tools.
Light Fixtures & Chandeliers
Fixture replacement and chandelier hanging, including heavy fixtures that need the box reinforced first.
Ceiling Fan Installation
New fans and replacements, with a fan-rated box and proper support for the ceiling framing you have.
Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarms
Hardwired, interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide alarm installation and replacement.
Low-Voltage & Data Cabling
Cat 6 network runs and camera wiring, done alongside the electrical work on the same visit.
Commercial Electrical
Ahmad takes commercial work as well as residential: offices, small retail and tenant spaces around Arlington.
Which Kind of Arlington Home Are You In?
Arlington is really two electrical markets sharing one county. A 1920s bungalow and a twelfth-floor condo have almost nothing in common once the panel cover comes off. Find the one that sounds like yours.
Older close-in homes
Bungalows, colonials, capes and rowhouses in neighborhoods such as Lyon Village, Lyon Park, Ashton Heights, Cherrydale and Clarendon were wired for a fraction of today’s load, then added to repeatedly. Panel, branch circuits and grounding are often three different eras stacked on each other. Four things come up most often, and all four are questions of condition rather than automatic replacement.
Knob-and-tube and cloth-insulated wiring
Legacy wiring · Condition-dependentKnob-and-tube is the earliest residential wiring method: separate hot and neutral conductors run through porcelain knobs and tubes, with no ground wire. Cloth-insulated cable came next, and its insulation turns brittle with age.
Neither is safe to assume fine, and neither is safe to assume dangerous — the condition of the insulation and the terminations can only be judged in person.
Aluminum branch wiring
Termination risk · Remediation optionsAluminum was substituted for copper in branch circuits in homes built roughly 1965 to 1973, when copper prices spiked. It expands and contracts more than copper, which can loosen connections at outlets, switches and fixtures.
Remediation usually means devices rated for aluminum, or approved connectors pigtailed at each device — not a whole-house rewire by default.
Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels
Obsolete equipment · Parts discontinuedFederal Pacific Electric (FPE) and Zinsco are two panel brands installed widely from the 1950s through the 1970s whose breakers have been the subject of long-standing failure concerns.
Replacement parts for both were discontinued, so there is no like-for-like repair. If either name is on your panel door, it is worth having looked at.
Grounding and outlet gaps
Common in pre-war homes · Usually fixable in placeTwo-prong outlets, three-prong outlets with nothing connected to the ground terminal, and kitchens or bathrooms with no GFCI protection are the most common findings in Arlington’s older homes.
These are usually addressed circuit by circuit, keeping the work scoped to what the house needs.
High-rise condo and co-op towers
The Rosslyn to Ballston corridor, Crystal City and Pentagon City are mostly towers, and tower work runs on different rules. There is no attic or basement to pull a new circuit through, the panel is a compact load center inside the unit, and anything touching the garage, the facade or a shared space is not yours alone to decide.
Exterior and shared-space work needs the building on board
A condo or co-op board is private governance, separate from anything Arlington County does. Approval from one is not approval from the other, and where your job sits decides how long the path is.
- Inside your unit only Fixtures, outlets, a breaker or an in-unit circuit. Normally a notification to building management and a certificate of insurance, rather than a board vote.
- Garage or shared space A charger in a deeded or assigned parking space. Expect a written request to the board covering the circuit route, metering, and who pays for the electricity.
- Visible from outside Exterior fixtures, or a meter or panel on a shared wall. Plan for the longest of the three paths.
We work to whatever the building asks for: scope letters, certificates of insurance, coordination with management for elevator and garage access. Tell us the building and we will work through its process.
Nine Neighborhoods, Sorted by Which Path They Fall On
Arlington County end to end. Which of the two paths above a neighborhood sits on predicts the job better than the address does.
Mostly Path A — older close-in housing
- Cherrydale. Older single-family homes; the calls are usually legacy wiring or a question about the panel.
- Lyon Village. Pre-war and inter-war homes, where grounding, panels and added circuits come up most.
- Lyon Park. Bungalows and colonials, and the outlet, fixture and rewiring work that goes with them.
- Ashton Heights. Pre-war and post-war stock side by side, and where most requests for a whole-house wiring assessment come from.
Mostly Path B — Metro-corridor towers
- Ballston. Metro-corridor high-rises almost throughout, so the work is in-unit circuits and charger requests.
- Rosslyn. Towers and mixed-use buildings, which means building-coordinated work nearly every time.
- Crystal City. High-rise condos and offices both: garage charger circuits on one side, commercial calls on the other.
- Pentagon City. Condo towers, where the work is panel and circuit work inside the units.
A mix of both
- Clarendon. Rowhouses, older homes and newer condos in one place. Troubleshooting and fixture work dominate.
Three Things Arlington Does Differently on Permits
Arlington County runs its own permitting, not Fairfax County’s: its own portal, its own review tracks, its own inspection rules. Three of those differences move your dates. The portal is called Permit Arlington, and applications go through it. Whoever will be on site must contact the inspector by 7 AM on the day, or the inspection is cancelled. And some residential properties are classified as commercial under Arlington’s building code, which changes the review track and the timeline.
The clock, step by step
- Applications are filed online through the county’s Permit Arlington portal.
- Roughly 2 business days for the completeness check.
- Up to 2 business days for residential review, and up to 3 for commercial.
- About 2 business days for contractor verification and fee calculation.
Who does which part
We confirm the exact permit requirement for your address before work starts. We do not assume it from the job type, and neither should anyone quoting you.
Where a permit applies, we handle the paperwork and coordination, and Ahmad meets the inspector on site.
Maywood: Maywood is a locally designated historic district in Arlington County, with a Certificate of Appropriateness (CoA) review process overseen by Arlington’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) that can apply to exterior work. We confirm whether HALRB review applies to your specific job in Maywood — the same way we confirm any permit requirement — before work starts.
Twenty Minutes Up I-66
I-66 covers most of the distance between 9488 Fairfax Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22031 and an Arlington driveway or a tower garage.
Distance, drive time, hours
- Arlington, VA (via I-66) about 20 min
- Distance about 14 miles
- Regular schedule 8 AM – 5 PM
Arlington sits well inside the roughly 30-mile radius we work from Fairfax County, so Arlington calls are a normal part of the week rather than a special trip.
Ahmad works alone: the licensed Master Electrician who quotes your job is the one who turns up to do it.
What Happens Between Your Call and the Inspection
Four steps, and they do not change between one outlet and a whole panel. The longer walkthrough, service by service, lives on our services page.
You call, or send the form
Call 571-500-6637 or send the contact form, describe the problem or the project, and we book the visit.
Ahmad sees the job in person
Ahmad looks at the panel, the wiring and the access, and confirms the permit position for your address.
You get the number, in writing
You get the price for the whole scope in writing before work starts. No trip fee, free estimates.
The work, the inspector, then the free safety check
We do the work and meet the inspector. Once the job is finished, the standalone safety inspection is free.
About EV-Electric Services
Ahmad Shaban — Master Electrician, Commonwealth of Virginia #2710086216
Ahmad Shaban holds Master Electrician, Commonwealth of Virginia #2710086216, and runs EV-Electric Services from 9488 Fairfax Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22031. He does the work himself, which is why the person who quotes your Arlington job is the person who performs it.
5.0 stars from 122 reviews on the Google Business Profile for EV-Electric Services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Arlington homeowners ask before hiring an electrician.
How much do electricians charge in Virginia?
Hourly rates are the least useful number in the trade, because the same job name can mean an hour of work or a full day of it. EV-Electric Services quotes by the job. Ahmad assesses the work on site, then gives you a written price for the whole scope before anything starts. No trip fee, free estimates.
A certified electrician and a licensed electrician — is that the same thing?
Not necessarily. Trade school. Manufacturer training. A voluntary credential someone paid for and renewed. All three get called “certified,” and none of them involve a government exam. Licensed is narrower: the Commonwealth itself has examined and registered the person, through the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR). Ahmad Shaban holds Master Electrician, Commonwealth of Virginia #2710086216. You can look up any Virginia license holder yourself at dpor.virginia.gov.
What questions to ask an electrician?
Ask for the license number and look it up rather than taking it on trust. Ask who will actually do the work, and whether that is the same person who quoted it. Ask how permits and inspections are handled for your address. Ask whether you get the price in writing before work starts.
How quickly can you get to Arlington?
Most Arlington assessments land within one to two business days of the call. The drive makes that workable: about 14 miles and roughly 20 minutes via I-66 from the shop at 9488 Fairfax Blvd in Fairfax. Regular hours are 8 AM to 5 PM, and calls outside them are handled as emergency calls.
Do I need a permit for electrical work in Arlington?
Very likely, but we check rather than assume. Arlington classifies some residential properties as commercial under its building code, so the job type alone does not settle it — your address does. We confirm the exact requirement before work starts, file through the county’s Permit Arlington portal, handle the paperwork, and Ahmad meets the inspector on site.
Do you work in Arlington high-rise condos and co-ops?
Yes. Work in the Rosslyn to Ballston corridor, Crystal City and Pentagon City towers is a normal part of our Arlington week. Anything in a shared space, or visible from outside the building, usually needs your condo or co-op board’s approval alongside anything the county requires.
Related Services and Nearby Pages
Each of these has its own page with the full detail, process notes and code requirements for that job.
Older House or Twelfth Floor, Same Number to Call
Whichever path your address falls on, the job is priced in writing first and carried out by the Master Electrician who quoted it. Panel work, troubleshooting, EV chargers, fixtures and emergency calls, across Arlington County.
571-500-6637