i understand where you're coming from, but then i guess i miss the point of having an electrician. If you're going to go to all the trouble to research everything anyways (my time is worth something to me), why not just do the work yourself as well. Unless you need it inspected. Even then you could do 90% and have a certified electrician do enough to get the inspector to sign off on it.
True, I have an old friend I used to work for who is a Master Electrican (certified). All of it was commercial work. I was only an apprentice then and took classes at night. Did that for almost 3 years but quit shortly before taking a Journeyman's test to get a Journeyman's license. All of this was in the late 1990's. If you don't use it, you lose it.
I'm sure I could still do a large portion of the install myself but I would still need his guidance at times I'm sure. I'm hoping the Contractor he and I worked for [He just retired about 4 months ago they said] will be able to contact him to give him my telephone number. I'm going to call them again Monday to see if they had any luck. They said they are not allowed to give personal phone numbers of employees or former employees. So, I have to rely on them passing my number to him. If that doesn't work out, I have to go with a contractor that's insured, bonded, licensed, etc... I'm NOT paying anything up front.
If I can find someone who is certified to guide me with what I should purchase and do's and don'ts when installing it, of course I would prefer that route. However, it's still important to have a work permit issued for the job. Also, the power company will not hook it up to the new upgrade if it has not been inspected [Has a green tag on it]. But yes, I would prefer to purchase all of the equipment myself and install most of it myself. I just need to know [From a master electrician] everything I would need to purchase for the job.