Who's Who: Gene Robinson, Owner of Fairmount Electric

Name: Gene Robinson

Age: 74

Occupation: electrical contractor, owner of Fairmount Electric

Has El Cerrito been your main point of contact for a while? Or do you roam around? After the fire storm in Oakland and Berkeley, I did a lot of electrical under grounding. Then I got tired of driving that distance, so I said, “I’m going to limit my geographic area to El Cerrito, Richmond, Albany, Berkeley and Kensington." Since then I’ve dropped Richmond, because of bureaucratic problems there, so I work only in the other jurisdictions. I have a business license in each one of those.

How long have you been doing contracting? Contracting I’ve been doing twenty years. My first electrician school was in 1954 in the United States Navy.

You were in the Navy? I was.

And are you local to El Cerrito, too? I live in El Cerrito and have since ’76.

What brought you to El Cerrito? We have a neighbor in El Cerrito who had a group gathering every once in a while, and one time she said, “Let’s all say why we moved to El Cerrito.” There were about fifteen people there and probably ten of them said, “Because it’s cheaper than Berkeley.”

As an electrician I hear that there are a lot of dangerous things that you can face on the job, such as ladders – what are some of the hazards of your work? Probably no more than the average homeowner faces. Ladders, people falling off or getting hurt as a result of using ladders and maybe things they should have used a ladder for, but instead they used a chair or a stool. Getting up off the ground is dangerous, no matter how far off the ground. Electricians and other trades people have the advantage of realizing that and being trained to be safe – it’s no more dangerous than the average homeowner in that respect. As an electrician safety and knowledge are drilled into you from the very beginning – from the very beginning it is emphasized that it can kill you: it doesn’t smell, you can’t see it moving, it doesn’t make a noise until you touch it if you touch the wrong things. It makes it not as dangerous as the homeowner who doesn’t know theoretically the problems related to electricity. In fact, the worker’s compensation rate for electricians is about the lowest – I think it’s the lowest of any trade – not too many people actually get hurt.

You used to teach at Laney college. What did you teach? I taught residential electrical wiring. We had a lot of students that were carpentry majors; they’re required to take that course.

Would you recommend the trade to people who are looking for a good solid career? I find it interesting, especially the type of work I do – mainly residential. I replace old wiring, that’s my specialty; it’s called knob and tube wiring. There’s a lot of puzzle solving, how to replace the old wiring without causing damage to the existing structure.

 A lot of these old ‘50’s houses? In Berkeley in particular the oldest that I know of is 1898 and (also) quite a few in the “teens,” – 1912 on up right into the ‘50s and the ‘60s.

Is there anything else you would want to add? I think people should have their old knob and tube wiring replaced, because it is dangerous: it’s old and its open, it’s subject to rodent damage and it should not be covered with insulation. There was wiring from the late ‘40s into the late ‘50s that is ungrounded – that’s not as important and the safety factors can be overcome with certain devices like what’s called a GFCI in systems that don’t have a ground.

 (The old knob and tube wiring) is a violation of the code and it’s very dangerous – it holds heat in and the insulation on the old wiring doesn’t have as much of a tolerance for as high a heat as the newer insulation and it crumbles off. It’s very important. You’ll be safer and your home will be electrically more convenient, because usually with the replacement of the wiring you put in some new receptacles, so you’ll have more locations, and it’s also safe in the respect that you won’t be using electrical extension cords that can wear out or cause a fire. And things look better; you have a cosmetic advantage, too. It doesn’t cost more than a new suite of living room furniture.