Electrical from the meter to the last light.

What the electrical covers

On a new building the electrical starts underground, with conduit from the utility transformer to the building and out to the parking lot lights and signs. Then the service: the meter bank, a meter for each suite in a multi-tenant building, and the panels. Inside come the branch circuits, the lighting, the outlets and the dedicated circuits for coolers, kitchen equipment and air conditioning units.

On a remodel it often starts with the panel. A new layout or new equipment can need more capacity than the old service has, and that is better known before the estimate than found during demolition.

Licensed work, one schedule

In Texas, electrical work is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and the electrical permit is pulled under a licensed electrical contractor. As the general contractor, we schedule the electrical with everything else: conduit in the trench before it is backfilled, stubs in the slab before the pour, rough-in before the walls close, and the inspections in between.

Power for the equipment

Every business has a few machines that set the size of the electrical service. In a convenience store it is the walk-in coolers and the ice machine. In a restaurant it is the fryers, the dish machine, the hood fans and the makeup air unit. In a gas station it is the dispensers and the canopy lights on top of the store. Their nameplates go into the load calculation before the service is sized, so a new building is not short on power the day the equipment arrives.

Kitchen and cooler circuits are also where inspectors look closely: the right breaker for each motor, ground-fault protection where the code asks for it near water, and disconnects within reach of the units on the roof.

Lighting a commercial site

Lighting is where electrical meets how a business looks. LED strips over a retail floor, pendants over a bar, bright canopy lights over fuel pumps and parking lot poles all have their own circuits and controls. Exterior lighting also has to meet the city’s rules on how much light can spill past the property line.