Master electrician Heath Eastman tells us what he loves most about his trade. After the planning and roughing in, Heath explains that he genuinely loves the finish work. He appreciates this stage of the work, from installing electrical outlets and switches to fixtures and lighting because it’s the first time the homeowner gets to see progress.
Why Heath Loves Finish Electrical Work
When it comes to the electrical trade, master electrician Heath Eastman’s favorite step on any job is the finish work. Finish work is the job stage that comes after the planning, wire pulling, and junction box installations when the electrician can finally install the switches, outlets, and fixtures. Heath loves it because it’s the stage of the project where the homeowner can see the results.
There’s a lot of hard work at the beginning of the project. From the layout and measuring, it’s time-consuming and painstaking. Heath needs to ensure that he has dimensions and measurements for every appliance and fixture first to ensure he’s installing the wiring and boxes correctly. And even though the homeowner doesn’t get to see those steps, when he installs the fixtures and outlets, and they fall right where he intended, he feels there’s no better day for an electrician.
While other electricians might find them tedious, Heath’s favorite part of finish work is installing light fixtures. He knows that homeowners have often been waiting weeks in anticipation from the day they ordered their fixture until it arrives. When he can walk into a home and install that fixture and see how it changes the space, he enjoys the job that much more.
Pro Tip: Heath Eastman advises wearing gloves when handling certain light fixtures during installation: “The finish on this particular fixture is very oily. So, if we were to touch it with our bare hands within the first couple of weeks of it being up, we’ll actually leave a black spot where our fingers touched it. So we certainly don’t want to have a bunch of fingerprints all over your brand new fixture.”
Heath wants a home to feel warm and inviting, so he appreciates properly installed sconces. He thinks that, if done correctly, the sconces can offer warm, indirect lighting to accent a piece of art, a sitting area, or another space in a home.
Ultimately, Heath’s in it for the homeowner. He enjoys seeing them flip the switch and see their ideas and vision come to life.
During a recent porch project on This Old House, Heath summed up his enthusiasm while working alongside Kevin: “This is honestly my favorite part. This is when you get to do all the finish work and really see things kind of come together.” That particular job had him heading straight from a fixture selection trip with the homeowner to the install — the kind of start-to-finish involvement that makes the final reveal even more satisfying.
