A panel sized for the house

Panels come up for one of a few reasons. The door is open and there is no slot left for the circuit you need. A home inspector or insurer flagged the brand or its condition. Or you are adding an EV charger, a heat pump, or a kitchen's worth of new appliances, and the arithmetic no longer works on the service you have.

Whatever brought you here, the decision deserves better than a reflexive upgrade pitch. Sometimes the answer is a 100A to 200A service upgrade. Sometimes it is a sub-panel. Sometimes the existing panel is fine and the real problem is one overloaded circuit. We do the load calculation and tell you which.

What a panel replacement involves

1. A look at the existing service: meter, mast, grounding, and the panel itself, plus a load calculation against what you plan to run.
2. A written scope with one number, covering the equipment, re-landing your existing circuits, grounding brought to current code, and the permit.
3. Coordination with the utility for the disconnect and reconnect on service upgrades.
4. The swap itself, every circuit re-terminated and labelled so the directory on the door matches the house.
5. The electrical inspection, which we schedule and meet.

Power will be off for part of the day

There is no way around a shutdown while the panel changes over, so we plan it with you: fridge and freezer stay closed, medical equipment and work-from-home needs get discussed up front. You will know the plan before the day, not during it.

If we open the wall and find something

Older houses hide surprises behind the panel: corroded feeders, undersized grounding, wiring past its service life. If the job uncovers work beyond the written scope, we call you before touching it, with what we found and what it costs. That call is a rule here, not a courtesy.

One recent panel customer's words

A homeowner whose panel we replaced described the job in a review as handled start to finish by someone who knows the craft, with each step explained as it happened. That is the standard: you should understand your new panel, not just own it. Read more on the reviews page.

Buying a panel upgrade with your eyes open

Panel work is worth bidding out, and the questions below get useful answers from any licensed electrician, ours included. How a bidder handles them tells you more than the logo on the truck.

Ask every bidder

• Will the service size change, and does the utility need to be involved in the disconnect and reconnect?
• Is this price built on a load calculation you can show me, or on the label inside the old panel?
• Does your number include bringing the grounding up to current code, or is that an extra?
• Will every circuit be labelled before you leave, and who meets the inspector?

What should slow you down

In a bid: one number with no written scope, silence about the permit, and no curiosity about what you plan to add to the house over the next decade. At the panel itself, stay outside the equipment. A door that feels warm, breakers that trip often, rust trails below the cabinet, or a directory that no longer matches the rooms are all things to report to whoever bids, never things to investigate yourself.

Owning the panel after the swap

Keep the space in front of it clear enough to reach in a hurry, walk the new directory with your electrician so you know which breaker feeds the fridge, the furnace, and the bedrooms, and update the labels when appliances change. Before the next big load, an EV or a heat pump, ask for the arithmetic again rather than assuming the headroom is still there. The guide on preparing for an electrician's estimate shows what to photograph before the first call, and comparing estimates beyond price shows how to weigh what comes back.

Wondering whether your panel is actually the problem? Start with the outdated panel guide or the 100A vs 200A decision guide. Then tell us about the house and what you want to add, or call (206) 718-3047. A photo of the panel with the door open answers half our questions.