Industry
Part of Home electrification: panels, permits and upgrades
Inside a local installer's process for a home electrification job
How local installers actually run an electrification job: what happens between the first site visit and final inspection, which trades own which tasks.
What to take away
- Most residential electrification jobs run through four parties: an HVAC contractor, a licensed electrician, a plumber or gas fitter, and a coordinator who owns the schedule.
- Each licensed trade pulls its own permit from the local building department and gets its own inspection.
- The site visit, not the phone quote, produces the load calculation and the written scope.
- A realistic window is six to sixteen weeks from first visit to final inspection.
Who owns coordination, and who does each task
Start here. Ask the company that sold you the job which roles it holds in house and which it subcontracts. If nobody owns the schedule, you do.
Who owns coordination
| Party | Owns | Permit and inspection |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC contractor | Load size, ductwork, line sets, charge | Mechanical permit and final |
| Licensed electrician | Panel or service upgrade, circuits, disconnects | Electrical permit, rough-in and final |
| Plumber or gas fitter | Gas capping, water heater, condensate | Plumbing or gas permit, separate inspection |
| General contractor | Sequence, patching, structural work | Building permit when walls move |
| Utility | Meter pull, service reconnect | Its own work order |
Who does what on the job
HVAC contractor
- Load calculation
- Yes
- Equipment install
- Yes
- New circuit
- No
- Panel work
- No
- Condensate
- No
- Service change
- No
Electrician
- Load calculation
- No
- Equipment install
- No
- New circuit
- Yes
- Panel work
- Yes
- Condensate
- No
- Service change
- No
Plumber
- Load calculation
- No
- Equipment install
- No
- New circuit
- No
- Panel work
- No
- Condensate
- Yes
- Service change
- No
Utility
- Load calculation
- No
- Equipment install
- No
- New circuit
- No
- Panel work
- No
- Condensate
- No
- Service change
- Yes
Electrical work is licensed everywhere in the United States, whatever a low bid implies. Article 220 of the NFPA 70 National Electrical Code is the calculation an electrician runs to judge whether a 100-amp panel can carry the new load.
Gas work sits under the NFPA 54 National Fuel Gas Code, which covers pipe sizing, venting and the leak test a fitter signs off on before the line returns to service.
If the plan swaps a gas tank for a heat pump water heater, the ENERGY STAR heat pump water heater page lists efficiency ratings and installation conditions, including condensate drainage and the air space the unit needs.
Equipment choice drives the electrical scope, so settle the system before you settle the price. nine checks before you sign covers the quote lines that decide whether the panel work is a circuit or a service upgrade.
The sequence from site visit to final inspection
Site visit to final inspection
- Site visit, one to two hours. Measure rooms, photograph the panel, note clearances and drainage routes.
- Written scope and price, three to ten days later. Inclusions and exclusions on separate lines.
- Permit applications, roughly one to four weeks. Each trade files its own unless the jurisdiction issues one combination permit.
- Utility scheduling, two to eight weeks if the meter comes off for a service upgrade. This is usually the longest wait.
- Rough-in and rough inspection. New circuits, line-set and duct routes, gas piping if it stays.
- Equipment installation, one to three days for a heat pump, longer if ducts are rebuilt.
- Commissioning and final inspection per trade, then a punch list and handover of records.
Dependencies matter more than the total. Permits cannot be filed before the scope is signed, and the utility cannot be scheduled before the electrical permit is issued.
Our phase-by-phase guide to planning a project from start to finish lays out the same order with cash flow and rebate timing attached.
If two trades are booked for the same day and neither knows it, the project loses a week. Ask who makes that call.
Example: the paperwork from one site visit
A visit that ends with a verbal number has produced nothing you can compare. A measured visit leaves paperwork behind.
Two items on that list do the heavy lifting. The load calculation sets equipment size, and the panel photograph decides whether the electrical scope is one circuit or a service upgrade.
- Room-by-room heat loss and heat gain, with the outdoor design temperature stated.
- A service load calculation measured against the panel rating.
- Panel photographs, a breaker map and the count of open spaces.
- A written scope with exclusions listed as clearly as inclusions.
- The permit authority named for each trade, with who files.
What a real site visit produces
- Measures the house
- Inspects panel and distribution
- Checks clearances and drainage
- Produces a load calculation
- Writes included scope
- Writes excluded scope
Vague scope lines turn into change orders after the crew arrives, which is where our notes on budget mistakes in practice usually begin.
Where the schedule actually goes
Delays cluster in three places: utility scheduling for a service change, inspection availability, and equipment lead times. Ask for the sequence in writing, with dependencies named.
Also ask what happens to the house if a step slips. A December heat pump replacement with a two-week gap midway is a different project from the one that was sold.
Lead times move through the year. Spring ordering for a summer install is not the same as October ordering for December.
Commissioning records and the final walkthrough
Commissioning is not a formality. The HVAC contractor records airflow and refrigerant charge. The electrician documents the panel schedule. The gas fitter records the leak test.
Ask for these as written output. Airflow in cubic feet per minute, charge in the manufacturer's units, and control settings dated.
Photograph the finished panel with the cover off before it is closed up again. It is the cheapest record you will make.
Keep the permit numbers, inspection cards and the signed scope. They answer the first questions a buyer or a home inspector raises, and they explain much of what owners notice after the work settles in.
