D. E. Small Electrical Contractor

Two reviews, eight months apart in 2024, and they read like two different companies. That March, a homeowner who needed a generator hookup said someone came out the next day to scope the job and the install was scheduled soon after — quick and easy to reach, the way they told it. In November, another customer wrote that of roughly eight contractors on their renovation, this was the one who did not show up and did not follow through. D.E. Small Electric & Media Solutions works out of North Andover and, by its own account, has been at it since 1980 — a family-owned, second-generation shop, with 46 years in business claimed on its site and testimonials that point to Michael and his crew. The work spans residential, commercial and industrial electrical, plus audio/video and security installations, across northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Google shows 3★ from 2 ratings, and that split pair is the entire public tally. A base that thin cuts both ways: it is not enough to convict them on one bad job, and not enough to vouch for them either. If you call, scheduling is the thing to pin down — get the start date and the follow-up plan in writing, given what the November 2024 reviewer described. For a discrete job like a generator hookup, the March 2024 account suggests they can move fast; for anything running weeks, ask for recent references you can actually phone.