Every job quoted in amps, gauge and permit before we start.
Panel upgrades, Level 2 EV charger installation, recessed lighting, troubleshooting and commercial electrical work across Mesa. Each service below has its spec table, what drives the price, and a photo of it being done.
Panel upgrades & service changes
A panel upgrade in Mesa usually means one of two things. Either the house is on a 100-amp service that can't carry what's being asked of it now, or the panel itself is a brand that inspectors and insurers have stopped wanting to see. Both get the same answer: a new 200-amp panel, new breakers, every circuit re-landed and labeled.
The work itself is about one working day for a typical swap. The calendar is longer because SRP or the City of Mesa electric utility, depending on your address, has to pull the meter, and the City has to inspect before the meter goes back in. We book both. You don't call anyone.
We also add subpanels for shops, casitas and pool equipment, fed from the main with a properly sized feeder. Aluminum feeders are fine when they're the right size and terminated with the right lugs and antioxidant. Old aluminum that has been torqued wrong for thirty years is a different story, and we'll tell you which one you have.
What we won't do is hang a new panel without a permit. It's not worth your homeowner's policy.
| Service size | 100A → 200A, or like-for-like replacement |
|---|---|
| Main breaker | 200A, matched to panel listing |
| Service conductors | Sized to the service per NEC table, copper or aluminum |
| Configuration | Meter-main combo, or meter plus separate interior panel |
| Grounding | Grounding electrode system checked and brought up to current requirements |
| Permit | City of Mesa electrical permit, pulled by us |
| Utility | SRP or City of Mesa utility disconnect and reconnect, booked by us |
| Typical duration | One working day on site, plus inspection and reconnect |
Fixed written quote after a free site visit. It depends on amperage, meter-main combo or separate panel, and stucco patching.
The 200 amp panel upgrade cost question has no honest single number. A meter-main swap on an exterior stucco wall is a bigger job than an interior panel change, and the patch is either on our list or yours. The quote says which.
EV charger installation
Level 2 charger installation in Mesa starts with a load calculation, on paper, before a single part is ordered. We don't do a load calc in our heads. You'll see the numbers: existing service size, the AC tonnage, the range, the dryer, the pool pump, and what's left.
Then the circuit is sized to the charger, not the other way round. Chargers are continuous loads, so the breaker is 125% of the charging current. A 48-amp charger goes on a 60-amp breaker. That's the code, not our opinion. A 40-amp charger or a NEMA 14-50 receptacle goes on 50 amps.
Hardwired or plug-in? Hardwired is our usual recommendation for a wall unit that's staying put. A 14-50 receptacle suits people who want to take the charger with them or use the mobile cord that came with the car. On a receptacle we use a heavy-duty, industrial-grade outlet and a GFCI breaker where code requires it, because cheap 14-50s overheat under a nightly eight-hour draw.
Plenty of EV jobs fit on the existing 200A service once the calc is done. When it fits, we say so and the quote is smaller. When it doesn't, a turned-down charger or a load-management device often costs less than a panel change.
| Charger setting | Breaker | Typical wire | Connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32A | 40A | 8 AWG copper | Hardwired |
| 40A | 50A | 6 AWG copper | Hardwired or NEMA 14-50 |
| 48A | 60A | 6 AWG copper | Hardwired only |
Fixed written quote. Driven by run length from panel to parking spot, breaker size and available panel capacity.
Wire gauge can go up on long runs to keep voltage drop in check. If the charger sits on the far wall of a three-car garage, that shows on the quote as a line, not a surprise.
Lighting installation
Recessed lighting installation in Mesa is mostly retrofit work now. Slim wafer LEDs with a remote driver box go into existing drywall through a 4- or 6-inch hole, which means no can, and in a single-storey house with attic access the wiring is fished from above in an afternoon.
Two-storey ceilings and houses with no attic above the room take longer. We fish between joists, sometimes open a small access cut, and the quote says where.
Ceiling fans go on fan-rated boxes. A light-fixture box held by two drywall screws is how a 40-pound fan ends up on a dining table. If the old box isn't rated, we replace it with a brace box screwed to the framing.
Outside, it's mostly under-eave lights and low-voltage landscape lighting, with the transformer on its own GFCI-protected outlet. Fixtures get rated for wet locations, and we seal penetrations through stucco so the next monsoon doesn't find its way in.
Under-cabinet lighting is either plug-in tape off a switched outlet or hardwired from a box behind the backsplash. Hardwired looks better and costs more. That's the honest tradeoff.
| Recessed retrofit | 4" or 6" wafer LED, IC-rated, remote junction box |
|---|---|
| New-construction cans | IC-rated, airtight housings on hanger bars |
| Ceiling fans | Fan-rated brace box to framing, separate fan/light switching on request |
| Switching | LED-compatible dimmers matched to the fixture driver |
| Exterior | Wet-location fixtures, sealed stucco penetrations |
| Landscape | Low-voltage transformer on a GFCI-protected outlet |
| Typical duration | Six retrofit lights with attic access: roughly half a day |
Per-fixture written quote noting attic access, ceiling type and switching.
Flat drywall under an accessible attic is the low end. Vaulted or two-storey ceilings and new switch locations push it up. You see the count, the fixture and the switching for each room.
Troubleshooting & repair
Electrical troubleshooting in Mesa is diagnosis work with a meter in hand. Somebody calls because a breaker keeps tripping, half the kitchen went dead, an outlet feels warm, or the lights flicker when the AC kicks on. We trace it and show you what we found. Then we price the fix.
The failure we find most often is the backstab connection: the push-in hole on the back of a cheap receptacle. It loosens over years of thermal cycling, heats, and eventually stops passing current to everything downstream. That's why one dead outlet takes four others with it. We re-terminate on the screws or replace the device.
Second most common: a GFCI in the garage or a bathroom that tripped, protecting outlets in rooms nobody would guess. Third: a breaker that trips every time the AC and the dryer run together. The breaker is doing its job. The circuit is the problem, and the fix is moving a load, not fitting a bigger breaker on the same wire.
We will not upsize a breaker to stop a trip. A 20-amp breaker on 14-gauge wire is how attics catch fire.
| Symptom | Usual cause | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Several outlets dead | Failed backstab or tripped upstream GFCI | Re-terminate or reset and test chain |
| Breaker trips under load | Too much on one circuit | Split or move the load |
| Breaker trips instantly | Short or ground fault | Locate and repair the fault |
| Warm outlet or switch | Loose connection, worn device | Replace device, check conductor |
| Lights flicker with AC start | Voltage drop, loose neutral | Tighten or trace to service |
Diagnostic visit first, then a written repair price before any repair work starts.
Finding the fault is the work, so the diagnostic visit is charged. The repair is quoted separately and you decide whether we do it. Flickering lights with a warm smell are not a wait-and-see: shut that circuit off and call.
Built to the drawings.
EMT on strut, square runs, every box labeled with its circuit. A tenant improvement should look the same above the grid as it does on the sheet.
Commercial electrical work
Our commercial work is the light end of the trade: tenant improvements in strip centers and office parks, suites being split or combined, small retail fit-outs, break rooms, and LED lighting retrofits in spaces that still run old fluorescent troffers.
We work from your architect's or engineer's drawings when there are drawings. When there aren't, for a small change in an existing suite, we walk it with you, write the scope, and pull the permit on that basis. Either way the panel schedule at the end matches what is actually in the walls, which is rarer than it should be.
Material is EMT conduit with set-screw fittings indoors, supported on strut or straps at the spacing code calls for, with THHN pulled through. Rooftop units and exterior runs get rigid or liquid-tight where the exposure calls for it.
We're sized for suites and small buildings. Ground-up commercial with a multi-trade schedule and a dozen electricians on site is not our job, and we'd rather tell you that at the walk-through than three weeks in.
| Raceway | EMT, set-screw fittings, strut-supported |
|---|---|
| Conductors | THHN copper, color-coded by phase |
| Panels | New or extended, with typed schedule |
| Lighting | LED troffer and retrofit kits, occupancy controls where required |
| Scope source | Stamped drawings or a written walk-through scope |
| Permit | City of Mesa, fees listed as their own line |
| Scheduling | After-hours work in occupied suites by arrangement |
Quoted from plans or a walk-through, with permit fees listed as their own line.
Send the electrical sheets with your inquiry and we can usually price from them before a site visit. Owner-supplied fixtures are fine; we note them on the quote so nobody argues about who ordered what.
Before you book a visit.
The objections we hear most, answered straight. More on how we work on the about page, and the estimate terms are in the terms.
Can't I get a cheaper number over the phone?
You can get a range over the phone. You can't get a fixed price, from us or anyone honest, without seeing the panel label, the run and the wall. The site visit is free so that the number you sign is the number you pay.
How long until the work starts?
It depends on the calendar and the permit. Small repairs and lighting can often be scheduled soon after the quote is accepted. Service changes wait on the utility's disconnect slot, which we book as soon as the permit is issued.
Can I buy my own charger or fixtures?
Yes. Tell us the model before the quote so we can size the circuit and check the install instructions. We'll install a listed product; we won't install an unlisted charger bought off a marketplace with no certification mark on it.
Do you work outside Mesa?
Mesa and the East Valley. Give us the cross streets when you request the estimate and we'll tell you straight away.