Residents judge a building by the hallway before they ever see the apartment, and a dim stairwell with two burned-out fixtures says plenty. Craig Faria Electrician has handled common-area lighting and electrical upgrades in Taunton, MA, and nearby areas since 1996, working with owners and associations who want their properties to feel safe and well cared for. Shared spaces also happen to be where liability lives, which makes them worth more attention than they usually get.
A Taunton, MA, company since day one, Craig Faria Electrician covers Bristol and Plymouth counties. Our crew handles common-area lighting and electrical upgrades for apartment complexes, condominium associations, and multi-unit residential properties, covering corridor and stairwell lighting, LED retrofits, parking lot and walkway poles, laundry and community room circuits, emergency and exit lighting, house panel work, and exterior fixtures built for coastal weather. Craig has led this company since 1996, and our membership in the Massachusetts Electrical Contractors Association keeps the crew current.
Common-area lighting fails quietly. One fixture goes out and nobody mentions it, then another, and six months later a whole stairwell is running on a single working lamp. Residents adjust and stop noticing, right up until somebody misses a step.
The cause is a maintenance blind spot rather than neglect. Nobody owns the hallway the way a tenant owns their apartment, so problems in shared space go unreported far longer. On top of that, fixtures in these areas tend to be the oldest in the building, running fluorescent lamps or incandescent bulbs in enclosures installed decades ago. Ballasts fail, lenses yellow and cut output, and exterior fixtures along the South Coast corrode from salt air faster than anybody plans for.
Fixing it means treating the shared spaces as a system instead of replacing bulbs one at a time. Our crew walks the property, measures light levels in corridors, stairwells, entries, and parking areas, checks the condition of every fixture and the house circuits feeding them, and reviews emergency and exit lighting against code. The plan coming out of that usually involves LED conversion throughout, better fixture placement where coverage runs thin, occupancy sensors in low-traffic areas, and repairs to any circuits or panels that need them. Work gets phased so residents always have functioning light.
The change is immediate, and residents notice it right away. Hallways read brighter and cleaner, parking areas feel safer after dark, and maintenance calls about burned-out bulbs mostly stop because LED fixtures run for years. Energy costs on the house meter drop at the same time, which is usually the part that makes a board comfortable with the project.
Shared spaces are easy to put off, though the return on fixing them shows up in more places than most owners expect.
Slip and fall claims in poorly lit shared space are a real exposure for any property owner. Even lighting across steps, landings, and thresholds removes the shadows where accidents happen. Insurers tend to look favorably on documented lighting improvements.
Corridor and exterior lighting runs around the clock, which makes it the most expensive lighting in the building per fixture. Converting those to LED cuts consumption sharply on a load that never switches off. Properties with long hallways or large lots see the biggest change.
Battery backup units and exit signs carry requirements and testing intervals that get overlooked in a lot of buildings. Our crew checks the whole system, replaces failed units, and confirms coverage along the egress path. Inspections go smoother when this has been handled ahead of time.
Salt air along the coast destroys ordinary exterior fixtures within a few seasons. Specifying gasketed, corrosion-resistant equipment for entries, walkways, and parking areas means replacing them far less often. The upfront difference is small next to the replacement cycle it prevents.
Relamping shared areas is a recurring chore that quietly eats maintenance hours. Quality LED fixtures run for years without attention, freeing your staff for work that actually needs them. Our labor carries a one-year workmanship warranty alongside the fixture manufacturers' coverage.
Improving shared spaces tends to raise questions about the rest of the property.
Upgrading the common areas often starts a conversation about the units themselves. Multifamily unit renovations and rewiring covers full and partial rewires, kitchen and bath circuits, panel replacement, and everything else a turnover requires.
New lighting performs best when somebody checks the rest of the building periodically. Property management electrical maintenance keeps your properties on a regular schedule and catches problems before residents report them.
The wider range of multifamily electrical services we provide includes service upgrades, generator installation, and troubleshooting across entire buildings. Associations and owners throughout the region use us for the whole list.
Projects in shared space involve more people than a typical job, and that changes what matters in a contractor.
Associations make decisions in meetings, which means the information has to be clear to people without an electrical background. Our scopes explain what's proposed, what it costs, and what it saves, in plain language. Phasing options come along when a full project exceeds what the reserve allows this year.
Common areas stay busy at hours that vary by building, and residents shouldn't have to navigate a job site to reach their door. Our crew keeps pathways clear, works in sections, and never leaves an area dark overnight. Notices go up in advance when a circuit has to come down.
Retrofits and lighting design have been a focus of this business for years rather than an occasional add-on. Knowing which fixtures hold up in a stairwell, which drivers fail early, and what light level a corridor genuinely needs comes from having done a lot of them. That experience saves boards from expensive mistakes.
Management companies overseeing properties in several towns benefit from one contractor who can reach all of them. Our territory runs across Bristol and Plymouth counties, from Taunton and Bridgewater down through Fall River and New Bedford. Same crew, same standards, wherever the building sits.
Lighting and house circuit work happens under permit and gets inspected by the local authority. Our membership in the Massachusetts Electrical Contractors Association keeps the crew informed as emergency lighting and egress requirements evolve.
Frequently, yes, though eligibility depends on your utility and the equipment installed. Taunton, Raynham, Berkley, and several nearby towns fall under Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant, which runs programs separate from Eversource territory. We'll point you toward the right program, and the utility handles approval.
Standard practice calls for a brief functional test monthly and a full ninety-minute test annually on battery backup units, with records typically expected at inspection. Many buildings fall behind on this without realizing it. Our crew can test the system, replace failed units, and document the results.
Yes, and that's how we plan every common-area project. Work moves through the building in sections, with temporary lighting used wherever a fixture has to come down for a stretch. No stairwell or corridor goes dark overnight.
Gasketed, corrosion-resistant fixtures rated for wet locations are worth the difference anywhere near the water, which covers a lot of Fall River, New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Dartmouth. Standard exterior fixtures can start failing within a few seasons in salt air. Specifying properly the first time costs far less than replacing on a short cycle.
We do, including fixture replacement, pole repair, underground circuit troubleshooting, and photocell or timer controls. Parking areas are usually the biggest lighting complaint residents raise. Converting them to LED improves coverage and cuts the bill at the same time.
FAQs reviewed by Craig Faria, licensed electrician and owner of Craig Faria Electrician, serving condominium associations and apartment properties from Taunton, MA.
Let us walk your property and take readings in the corridors, stairwells, and lot after dark. You'll get a clear picture of where coverage falls short and what an upgrade would involve.
Business Name: Craig Faria Electrician
Address: Taunton, MA, 02780
Phone: 508-509-0076
Business Hours:
Mon - Fri: 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Sat-Sun: Closed
Emergency Service Available
One-year workmanship warranty.