Licensed electricians serving Burlington and Des Moines County, Iowa.
★★★★★ More than 80 five-star Google reviews · BBB Rated · Licensed IA + IL · Available 24/7
About half the homes in Burlington were built before 1950
Burlington was Iowa’s first territorial capital — before Iowa City, before Des Moines, this was the seat of state government from 1838 to 1840. The houses tell a long story too. The median Burlington home was built in 1951, and about 48% of the city’s housing stock went up before 1950. That’s part of what makes Burlington feel like Burlington — but it also means a lot of homes still run on wiring that was installed decades before modern code. Knob-and-tube wiring, two-prong outlets that aren’t grounded, fuse boxes instead of breaker panels, electrical service rated for the appliances of 60 years ago. If any of that sounds like your house, you’re not alone. And it’s fixable.
We have been the local electricians in Burlington for years
Our shop is just up the road in West Burlington, and most of what we do is right here in Burlington — Heritage Hill, the older neighborhoods near downtown, the postwar streets out toward Highway 34. We have 20+ years experience working in Burlington’s historic homes, and we know what to look for when we open a wall. Knob-and-tube under plaster, fuse panels that haven’t been touched in decades, two-prong outlets in rooms where a modern HVAC unit was added without a service upgrade — we’ve seen all of it, and we know how to bring it up to code without tearing into more wall than we have to.
What we do for Burlington homeowners
Most of what we do in Burlington is residential work in the homes along Heritage Hill, the older neighborhoods downtown, and the postwar streets out west toward Highway 34. We also handle commercial calls; Burlington has its own footprint between Great River Medical Center, American Ordnance, the BNSF rail operations, and the manufacturing employers along the corridor — and that creates real electrical service demand on the commercial side too. A few of the calls we take most often:
- Whole-home rewires — replacing old or unsafe wiring throughout the house, including knob-and-tube
- Electrical panel upgrades — fuse box to modern breaker panel, 100-amp service to 200-amp
- Ungrounded outlet replacement — bringing 2-prong outlets up to current code, including GFCI where needed
- Service upgrades — for homes with electrical service rated for a different era
- EV charger installation — Level 2 chargers at home, even for older homes that need a service upgrade first
- Generator installation — we’re a Generac dealer
- Smart-home wiring and lighting — when you want your historic home to keep up with modern demands
- Commercial and industrial work — about 20% of what we do; if it’s electrical, we can handle it!
24/7 Emergency Electrician
For the calls that can’t wait until Monday morning.
Don’t See What You Need?
Call us! Every electrical need is unique. We will walk through your exact issue and find a solution.
Same transparent pricing across all of Southeast Iowa
Most electricians in this part of Iowa won’t show you a number until they’re already at your door. We do it the other way around. Our pricing page lists the prices for the work we do most often — service calls, panel upgrades, rewires, EV chargers, generators — and the price we publish is the price we quote. The only thing that changes a quote after that is something we couldn’t see from the outside (the kind of thing nobody can quote sight-unseen, like asbestos in old plaster). If we find something like that on a Burlington job, we stop, show you what we found, and update the quote before we keep working. Same way we’d want it if it were our house.
The houses around Burlington aren’t all the same
Burlington’s housing isn’t one thing. Heritage Hill and the older neighborhoods on the bluff above downtown have Victorian-era homes from the 1880s and 1890s — beautiful, photogenic, and quietly running on knob-and-tube wiring under plaster with two-prong outlets and 60-amp fuse panels. South and west of downtown, the postwar tract neighborhoods from the 1940s and 1950s are mostly cloth-insulated copper wiring — they need service upgrades to handle a modern HVAC unit and an EV charger more than they need a full rewire. The newer subdivisions out toward Highway 34 and the Highway 61 corridor are modern panels with grounding and AFCI/GFCI protection, where the work tends to be EV chargers, generator interlock, or whatever you’re adding next. We’ve worked in all three.
What sets us apart from a typical Southeast Iowa electrician
Most electricians in this part of Iowa work the same way: you call, they come out, they tell you the price at your kitchen table, you decide on the spot. That works if you have time and the patience to compare three quotes that all arrived at your door. We do it differently. Our pricing is published before you ever pick up the phone, our 24-hour callback promise is on every call, and we tell you what we’d want to know if it were our house — including when we’d recommend a different approach than the one you called about.
What Burlington Customers Say
★★★★★
“Was delighted to have contacted T.A.P Electric and them able to come service issues at my rental unit, went beyond service that was asked of. Very friendly and knowledgeable of work detail performed. I very much likely will be referring them to more people needing work projects completed. Thanks.”
— Chris S. · Google review · December 2024
A note about Iowa’s first capital
Burlington was Iowa’s first territorial capital from 1838 to 1840 — before Iowa City, before Des Moines, this was where the state legislature met. Burlington also gave its name to the Burlington Route railroad, which became the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, then Burlington Northern, and now BNSF Railway. Power, rail, and government have flowed through this stretch of the Mississippi for almost two hundred years. We’re proud to keep it flowing safely into Burlington homes.
Licensed, insured, and easy to call
- Licensed and insured in Iowa and Illinois (IA Contractor Registration #C143094)
- BBB Rated
- More than 80 five-star Google reviews at a 5.0 average
- Available 24/7 — call, text, or use our quote form
- 24-hour callback promise — every call gets a response inside one business day
- No surprises — we stop and check in before any scope or price changes
Common questions from Burlington homeowners
My home was built in the 1920s and still has the original wiring. Do I need to rewire?
Not every old home needs a full rewire, but most homes built before 1950 have at least some wiring that wouldn’t pass a modern inspection. The most common safety issues are knob-and-tube wiring with no grounding wire, brittle insulation, and undersized service for today’s appliances. The honest answer is we’d need to take a look to tell you for sure — and we can usually do that with photos and a phone call before anyone comes out.
What’s the difference between a fuse box and a breaker panel? Do I need to upgrade?
Fuse boxes were standard until the 1960s. They work, but they were designed for the electrical loads of that era — a refrigerator, a few lamps, a radio. Modern homes pull a lot more current, and a 60-amp fuse box can be a fire risk under that load. Upgrading to a 100-amp or 200-amp breaker panel brings the house up to current code and gives you the headroom for everything from a new HVAC unit to an EV charger.
How long does a whole-home rewire take in an older home?
It depends on the size of the home and how the walls and ceilings are built — plaster-and-lath takes longer than drywall. Most rewires we do in older Burlington-area homes run between three days and two weeks. You don’t usually have to move out; we work room by room and keep power running where we can.
What does a panel upgrade cost in Burlington?
Our pricing page lists the prices for panel upgrades, and those prices are the same across our whole service area. The final number depends on what we find when we look — every panel upgrade is a little different. If we need to do anything beyond the standard scope, we tell you before we do it.
Are you really 24/7, or is that marketing?
Real 24/7 for emergencies. If you’ve got sparks, smoke, a panel that’s hot to the touch, or a power loss that isn’t a utility outage, call (309) 333-3912 — you’ll get a person. Routine work happens during business hours like anyone else.
Need an electrician in Burlington? Let’s talk.
We’d rather answer a quick question on the phone than have you wonder. Call or text (309) 333-3912 — we’ll get back to you within 24 hours. Or use the quote form below, and we’ll come back with a real number, not a sales pitch.