Murdock
I watched CB and they said they randomly selected the contractors from the yellow pages. That is how a "normal' customer would choose an electrician.
What alternatives are there to ECA for customers. I use Dave Cook electrical as they are close to me. The last job was to run a plug point from the DB to our Laser engraver for clean power.. The guy they sent was a Zimbabwean and the job looks fine.

The real question is how do you use this to your advantage?