Brookline Electric

San Francisco, United States

4.4

24 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

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Telephone:
+1 415-239-5393
Website:
www.brooklineelectric.com
Address:
121 Santa Rosa Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94112
b/t Cayuga Ave & Alemany Blvd
Mission Terrace, Outer Mission
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.2 miJ-Church San Jose & Santa Rosa Ave
0.3 miSan Jose & Santa Ynez Ave
0.4 miSan Jose & Glen Park Muni
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
By Appointment Only
No

Today

Today –
Local time (San Francisco) 21:15 Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

If you need some electrical work done today then you found the right place. I’m sitting here writing this article while I wait for you to call me. I usually handle my jobs the same day. However you can have an appointment for work any day you want.

In order to avoid the city traffic, I prefer to do my rounds midday between 11 AM and 4 – 5 PM

If you work 8 to 5 all week and you need me to work for you on the weekend or a holiday, that’s fine by me, because that way I can afford to take time off during the week.

I do about 12 jobs a week, which is two or three a day, so if you have some little important job, I’m ready to help.

I have been in this business for more than 39 years, so i know what I am doing. If you like I will show you what I am doing as I do it, so you can learn. I will describe how the electrical codes affect the design and safety of your electrical projects.

I Love Old Houses here in San Francisco.

John A. Peters

History

Established in 1972.

The original Brookline Electric Inc. was established circa 1955 by Mr. John Brookman. In 1970, I applied for work at the IBEW local 6 union hall and was assigned to Brookline Electric Inc. When John found out I like working with old knob & tube wiring, he said «SUPER!» and I was on.

John’s brother was the foreman. They made a good team. Nothing good or otherwise got past them. We had a big project rewiring a large building after a fire. I remember being distracted by the Watergate hearings on the TV in the office, so it was a long time ago.

John got cancer circa 1990 and put The business in to a trust. His son Rick Brookman took over the business and later sold it to David Belisle’s father. David was one of the best electricians for Brookline Electric. John, his father and his mother ran the business for a few years.

In September 1994 I bought Brookline Electric Co. in order to double my business. It did not double but I got more business. I have been the owner ever since.

Meet the Business Owner

John P.

Business Owner

I got my start with electricity in The 4H Club, at Madison Elementary School in Fresno. My wood shop teacher asked me if I would like to be the charter student in an electricity class. I enthusiastically said Yes! He contacted PG&E and they provided work books by «Ready Kilowatt». I learned about proper splicing and how to be safe around electricity.

Later I attended Fresno City College where I learned electronics and got an «A in drafting.

In 1958 my parents had new house built on Kearney Blvd in Fresno. Then the general contractor hired me to wire up his next few projects. It was cold in Fresno in the winter. I moved to Hawaii where I worked on the Reef Tower Hotel. I stayed in Hawaii for seven years.

I like re-​wiring Victorian and Edwardian buildings in San Francisco. My latest specialty is power restoration any time including after hours and weekends. If PG&E says you need an electrician — I am your man.

John A. Peters 415−239−5393

Brookline Electric also recommends

Universal Electric Supply

Hardware Stores

,

Painters

John P. says,

«The shelves are «open stock». They actually vacuume the shelves. Everything is neat & the help is knowledgable. The GPS address is 68 Converse.»

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24 reviews of Brookline Electric

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Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
We had some funny behavior with our new arc fault breakers. John came out and helped debug the problem and also installed a new switch for a bathroom fan. He was polite, funny, and thoughtful. We always turn to Brookline when we have an urgent electrical issue.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John really helped us out with our electricity problem with the quickness and knew just what to do with our situation!
Place rating: 2
San Francisco, CA
We have three-​way Lutron dimmer switches in the bathroom, one at the door, one at the sink, both of which turn on the bathroom light. The sink switch stopped working although the door switch continued to turn the light on and off fine. I bought a replacement switch at Cole Hardware but after removing the broken switch decided to call an electrician because I wasn’t certain with a three-​way switch how the wires should go. As soon as Mr. Peters of Brookline looked at my replacement switch (a Lutron also) he indicated that it was incompatible, that he would need to install a switch he had. Later he needed to check the door switch, which had worked fine the day before; he said it too needed to be replaced. He’s the professional I thought, and his abrasive manner doesn’t encourage questions, so I agreed.
When he handed me the bill for this basic wire hook up job, it was $ 351; that shocked me! Peters’ minimum labor charge is $ 218 (my «difficult» job was $ 254.) The work took an hour. And Peters charged $ 96 for the two new switches he installed, almost twice the retail price at Cole Hardware. I fault myself for not asking his prices before, but nothing on his web site suggests such high charges. Today I got quotes from several electricians on
, range $ 70 to $ 100. So the answer is not to give simple jobs to «Master Electricians» as Peters styles himself. However, Cole Hardware recommends him, and the work itself is fine, thus two stars.
More troubling is the issue of the switches. I later questioned Cole Hardware about the «incompatible» new switch I had bought from them, and they assured me that it was completely compatible, in fact perhaps better than the one supplied by Peters because it will work with the CFL and LED lights we will all be forced to use soon.
So did Peters make an error or was he just padding his already sizeable bill? We are at the mercy of professionals, not only to do the work, but to tell us what new parts are, or are not, needed. When the professional also sells the parts, there is an obvious conflict of interest, so you need to trust him. Based on this experience, I regret to say that I do not.
To top it all off, in the parts section of the bill, along with the $ 96 for the two switches, there was a $ 1 charge, for the small piece of electrical tape Peters used to mark one of the lines. That tells you something.
Peters texted me almost immediately after the above review appeared. «Thank you for the truthful review of Unilocal» and followed with palaver about redoing his pricing structure (same charges total, breaking it up between his «billing rate» and a $ 100 additional «traffic fee», apparently the cost to show up at your door). He then sought to justify his fee in my case: «although I am charging that ($ 254 hour) if it’s a troubleshoot that requires lots of knowledge and historical experience especially when there’s a dimmer number that only works with the exact remote dimmer model number.» I checked with Lutron. .. they’re all compatible. So much for «knowledge and historical experience.»
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John saved the day for me when I had a minor electrical crisis. I had a big housewarming party (with heavy electric needs!) planned. When I ran a test the night before to make sure everything would work well, I tripped the relevant breaker five times in a row. Which was weird because I totaled up the amperage on everything and didn’t come anywhere near the 15A of the breaker. I sent a meeting request to the text number John advertised at what must have been 2 in the morning, fearing that I would wake him. PSA: John will turn off his text alerts if needed so you won’t wake him.
By the time I woke up, John had texted back with a proposed morning appointment time — in fact I rushed out of bed to make sure I could be ready by the time he could arrive. He arrived on schedule and was incredibly friendly and polite. I described the problem, which, as luck would of course have it, I could not reliably reproduce once he arrived. He looked at the box and figured it was probably that my arc fault breaker was faulty, as it were. For the uninitiated: arc fault breakers are special and will trip even if you don’t exceed their maximum current, if they detect loss somewhere in the line. When they go bad, they trip even if there is no fault. He happened to have a new one of the same type, which he installed. He also told me that the one that was in there was very old… which is a bummer because I paid another electrician to install it as part of a larger upgrade I had done just a few months prior.
John charged a price I consider completely fair for an emergency service, and almost competitive for a scheduled service. He will be my first call if and when I have my next electrical crisis.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Great Person to deal with. John showed up on a dime and certainly knows what he’s doing.
He’s the kind of guy who will put ultimate effort into doing his job and won’t stop until the job is done.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Brookline Electric came recommended to me from Cole Hardware. John Peters was very responsive in terms of getting back to me, and took care of my bathroom dimmer problem quickly. While he was fixing the dimmer, he noticed that my home was not up to code in terms of carbon monoxide and smoke detection. John replaced my hallway smoke alarm with a new combination carbon monoxide/​smoke alarm, and then positioned the old one in the bedroom for extra protection there, upgrading it with a 10-​year lithium-​ion battery for free. It was nice to have that done, and I appreciated the extra service!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John Peters at Brookline Electric, is exactly what one requires from a professional: accurate, timely analysis of the problem – followed by implementation of appropriate and affordable solutions. Brookline just won a spot on my all-​time great small businesses. Thanks, John .
RJ
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I am having trouble getting my Nest thermostat install to work. Called Mr. John A. Peters after 7 pm on Friday night (of Thanksgiving weekend) and he called me back promptly. Then got on an iPhone texting spree with me, asking me to send him pictures of the furnace and the Nest install. Said I would owe him nothing if it worked, and a very fair price otherwise. We’re probably going to have him come out and do the work himself, but so far I have been very pleased with his free (about 30 minutes) of consulting, and he keeps insisting I will pay nothing until the Nest works. What great service!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John saved my butt today. I needed a very noisy exhaust fan fixed in our busy office bathroom. First of all he was able to come out on short notice — next day (when other electricians were telling me it would be two weeks before they could even look at my problem.) When the fan I had bought didn’t fit, John improvised and got my existing fan to work while we scheduled someone who could do the sheetrock and plaster work. John was a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend him.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I had the perfect experience with John from Brookline Electric. Found him on Angie’s List on Thursday morning right after our closet light fixture broke and I needed someone that day to fix it. John said he could be there between 1 and 3 that afternoon. He sent me a text at 2 o’clock letting me know he was on his way and then again when he arrived at my building. Super professional and friendly, John had the problem fixed in a few minutes. The Brookline website has a photo of John and his car so you know exactly who is showing up, which is nice. His card is on our fridge and he is our go to electrician from now on. Mahalo John & Brookline.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I called John after Midnight last week for an urgent electrical repair on my commercial building, John answered very quickly (via text) and was on site at 8 am next morning as we agreed.
Finding the problem was difficult but with perseverance and knowledge from years of experience John found the problem in our main supply box.
I would recommend Brookline Electric
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I was having issues with my Nest Thermostat installation and Brookline was the 2nd company I called to help. The first one (also one listed with Nest) and they didn’t even try. John talked me through it and wanted to make sure my situation was resolved and so far so good.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
UPDATE to 12÷8÷2014 Post: John did recently refund the full amount charged. He seemed genuinely bothered that he did not successfully identify the problem, which bought him a couple of stars.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
In today’s mail, we received a full refund along with a written apology letter from John. Even though this was a few months ago, i do feel that his apology was sincere. I think it’s a good thing if a business is able to admit if they were at fault and learn from the situation.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I was having some problems with a dimmer in my bathroom that had stopped working and needed to be replaced. I try myself but it appeared to need more than just a plate replacement as there was something funky with the wiring and I had no experience with that.
I tried several electricians in the area and left messages. Immediately after leaving a message on the Brookline Aries Electric Line, I received a text from John and within 5 minutes we had an appointment scheduled for 1pm (less than 2 hours from my call).
John kept me up to date on his ETA and actually arrived early. He was immediately able to identify the issue and walked me through the costing for various options. He also noticed when he walked into my condo that my smoke detector was damaged and should be replaced. He did everything in just under and hour, and I was correct in that there was some wiring issue.
My new bathroom dimmer and socket combo is perfect, and my new smoker detector/​CO detector is great and actually works. Hopefully I won’t need it to work, but I’m thankful to John for spotting the defector and offering me an easy and quick solution.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Responsive, friendly and fast — everything you want in an electrician!
Place rating: 1
San Francisco, CA
John was about the least professional contractor I’ve had the displeasure of working with. We had a problem with our Nest that required installation of a new cable between the thermostat and the furnace. John required several attempts to complete the job, each time failing to do checks. We eventually threw him out with the job incomplete after he did massive and expensive damage to our walls and ceilings. His masterpiece was dabbing paint on with a paper towel, leaving orange blots on the ceiling.
John proved himself to be inept, doddering, imposing, and generally a nightmare.
— reply —
In reply to john, I’ll agree that he was in over his head, unable to complete the job, and unwilling to admit it when he – apparently — recognized it. It’s a fabrication that he gave us anything for free (we paid him more than was quoted) and that he offered to pay for painting.
John, if you’re earnest in your offer feel free to drop a check in the mail.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Today I had John install a Nest Thermostat. John is, I should add, some of the most nice, friendly, outgoing and sweet people I’ve had the pleasure to have in my home, and I do not know who Eileen L is other than someone who received some sort of other John, an alternate-​reality John that I do not believe exists. Also, if an electrician says he doesn’t do something, why would you push him to do it? Anyway, your story sounds weird and totally different to mine. For example, he said «I made a mess, lemme clear that up» when I looked — it was a tiny pile of dust from where he’d pulled wire through.
John arrived a minute past 11am, so that’s prompt. He texted me to let me know he was on his way, made a funny joke about the placement of the house, and didn’t mind that I was on a business call. All he asked was to be directed to where he was meant to go. He found that the old thermostat was wired weirdly, and unlike other electricians found a way to make it work properly. He added new wiring and specifically worked out how to get it working. I’ve seen three Nest installs before this that were on non-​standard thermostats and John sorted it. He started working at 11:10, and finished around 12. He said that it been simple, he had done it in less time.
He charged $ 235. I don’t know what is reasonable, but I was expecting $ 350. His work was clean, efficient, and he waited very patiently as I tested both that the termostat worked, was set to Heat, that it connected to Wifi, my Nest account, AND that it turned on and off correctly. The heat in my place is slow. He also tested my smoke alarm just in case.
John was arguably one of the most pleasant and caring technicians I’ve had in my life. It’s one thing to say «oh he was nice,» but he genuinely had a beautiful disposition that I believed contractors didn’t have anymore.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Our Thermostat needed some extra wiring so we searched for someone who can help.
So I call up John from Brookline Electric, tell him what I need to do, first thing he asks is «Do you like doing things on your own?» and I’m like «you bet», then he asks «Do you have Facetime?».
Five minutes later in in the attic with John on Facetime going through the wiring on the furnace, 10 minutes later I’m done and everything is working great.
I got to learn about furnaces, paid less because he didn’t have to come over and the thing was working 15 minutes after I started looking for a solution.
Great guy, highly recommend for any DIYer across the US who needs real-​time help with electrical stuff and he does house visits as well.
The guy uses Facetime, prefers text and used Square to charge me — I love modern.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John was prompt, thorough, found and fixed a short in our 21-​unit building’s multiple meter panel, and charged a very reasonable amount.
The short resulted in power loss to portions of our building, on Christmas Day. I contacted John that day, and in spite of being a Holiday, he responded immediately to fix our problem.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I called John in a panic and he said he could come out this afternoon and help me out. He was extremely friendly and knowledgeable and I recommend him highly.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John was excellent. I contacted him after a TaskRabbit botched a simple electrical job, which knocked out power to my entire kitchen. John answered my call and told me he could come over within a few hours. He kept me updated on his status via text message (which I greatly appreciated) and arrived right on time.
John was very knowledgeable and professional. He quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed the wiring in the kitchen. He also checked our smoke detectors and provided some advice for fixing our NEST thermostat.
Next time I’ll skip TaskRabbit and shoot John a text directly.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
John was at my business within an hour when I was in a pinch. All my electrical appliances were falling apart, it was a busy Saturday morning and a holiday weekend!
I’m glad he came out so quickly, he made me keep my sanity!
Place rating: 1
San Francisco, CA
I called this guy today to inquire about a minimum charge. I was having no success installing a digital bathroom vent fan timer. He said if he was able to successfully walk me through the installation over the phone it would be a sixty dollar charge. I said I would think about it.
I emailed him back stating that I was going to try using a spring wound timer but that if that didn’t work I would gladly pay him sixty dollars to begin troubleshooting over the phone. At no point did he and I do actually do any troubleshooting.
As a courtesy, later that day I sent him an email to tell him that I had installed the new timer (the digital one must have been defective) and did not need to hire him.
He calls me back and says «well I guess I didn’t help you». I said well I appreciate you answering the phone today, trying to say something nice. He then tells me he expects to get paid. Really? When I asked him for what (as he and I never did any troubleshooting) he says «that’s funny» and hangs up.
What’s funny about expecting payment for a service never rendered?
What a jerk!