So you are considering doing a panel or service upgrade to your home and no doubt you don’t know anything about a service or panel upgrade, no surprise there’s not that much information out there on how this works. We thought it was a long complicated process and very convoluted and it would help to write a helpful little guide to get you started on the process.
Difference between a panel upgrade on a service upgrade? Click here to check out our article.
Call an electrical company and book a quote appointment
A great place to start with your service and panel upgrade is to contact a certified electrical company. They can help you come up with a plan and help walk you through the process.
When you are looking for the best electrical company for the job look for ones who specialize in residential electrical. You want to know they have done tons of your specific kind of work and have become efficient at it. Here is a guide on how to hire the best electrical company if you want some help with choosing.
Make a few calls. Phone calls are a really efficient way to get a feel for the quality and level of service the electrical company you are talking to will provide. Phone calls are a great way to get lots of information quickly and slim down your candidates for the actual quote walkthrough.
Check out our article here on How to hire an electrician. 6 Best Things To Look For.
Book a quote appointment with the electrical company
Book a quote walkthrough appointment with the Electrical Company(s) and perform a full walkthrough with them. This is where you’re going to go over the job in detail and the electrician will start to make some suggestions on what needs to be done to upgrade your electrical service and panel.
Once you meet with the electrician, confirm the electrical company has its licensing and certificates and wait for your quote to come back. The quote turnaround time for electrical companies range from same day to multiple weeks.
Pro Tip: It’s better to get two really great quotes from experienced and reputable electrical companies than to get three or more quotes looking for a deal. Every quote you get will be different, the electrician’s plan will be different from the next and the timeline for receiving the quote back from each company will add to your overall timeline. For homeowners that don’t have much experience with electrical this can be very confusing and overwhelming.
Call your utility company for a quote
BC Hydro: 1 (800) 224-9376
Fortis BC: 1 (866) 436-7847
The utility company may also have costs associated with your electrical upgrade. The best way to get a quote from them is to call and make an upgrade request. In most cases they will send someone out to investigate their infrastructure and send you a quote for their portion of the work. Sometimes this process can be done over the phone.
Wait to receive quotes from everyone
Unfortunately there is no hard number for the timeline on receiving your quotes.
A great electrical company should be able to get you a quote within 7 days and the average turnaround time we see here in Kelowna BC for a utility company quote is 2 weeks or less.
Once you receive all the quotes you’ll be able to tally up the total cost for doing the service upgrade.
As they say, you always get what you pay for, especially with services. So when you’re considering the quotes you’ve gotten from electrical companies, maybe don’t choose the one that’s cheapest, choose the company you feel most confident with.
If you are curious about the costs of upgrading, check out our article here.
Decide if you want financing for your service upgrade
Upgrading your electrical panel and service can be a really expensive renovation. Check out our article here on what upgrading your electrical panel and service can cost.
Check in with the electrical company or planning on hiring, they may have some awesome financing options available to help.
Award the work to the electrical company that you choose
You’ve seen all the quotes and determined what the entire upgrade is going to cost, you have looked into financing options, and you’re ready to start the work. Now is the time to contact the electrical company that you felt the best about let them know that you will be going ahead with the upgrade.
If you didn’t on the initial call you will have to call the utility company back to let them know you want to go ahead with the upgrade. You want to do the service upgrade on your home and let them know what electrical contractor you have chosen to do the work so they can contact each other.
The electrical company will contact you with a booking date for the upgrade
If you’ve chosen a great Electrical Company they will now take care of the rest of the process. The electrical company will book an installation day with the utility company, they will then call you back to let you know when the installation will be taking place.
Prepare for the service upgrade
Upgrading the electrical service and panel in your home is a very involved process and to do it properly the electrician will need the power turned off to your entire home. The upgrade can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours and keep in mind that your home will not have any power for that period of time. Here’s a couple things you want to take into consideration :
- No internet so working from home will not be possible
- Any sump pumps will not have power
- Fridges and freezers will not have power (although they generally keep your food Frozen and cool for that duration of time)
- Heat and AC will not be working
- No lights
Most of the time the service upgrade is done during the work day and all of this work will be completed before you even get home. But hopefully this list helps you to prepare for some of the unexpected things that come up when we do this work. And remember if you have tenants it’s a good idea to let them know of all of these things as well so it doesn’t disturb their day.
The work gets preformed
So you’ve got the quotes accepted, the electrical company chosen, the booking date set and you know what to expect on the day the insulation gets done. Electricians will arrive on the morning of the installation date to start preparing for the upgrade. Once the utility company arrives to disconnect the power the electrician’s will start the full upgrade.
A home electrical service upgrade generally takes between 6 and 12 hours with the average at about 9.5 hours.
In some cases the electrician will come back the next day to finish up small details and complete your new panel schedule. but in all instances the power will be back on in your home the same day. We all work very hard to make sure that none of our customers will be without power.
Job wrap/up and quality check
Once the job is fully complete the electrician should take you for a walk through to show you all of his work. go through this work with him and make sure to check that you are happy with all of the work.
Looking for more information?
If you would like more information on getting a professional to help you check out more about us and what we offer here on our website.
