Planning the electrical side of a home remodel: sequencing, permits, and panel capacity

A remodel is the cheapest time to get your wiring right, and the most expensive time to change your mind. Once insulation and drywall go up, moving an outlet or adding a circuit means cutting, patching, and repainting. Our remodel electrical guide covers what we wire room by room. This guide goes one step earlier: how to plan the electrical side so the job runs in the right order, passes inspection, and doesn’t surprise you with a panel problem halfway through.

Start with the big loads, not the outlets

Outlets and lights are easy to adjust on paper. The big appliances are what decide whether your panel and service can handle the remodel, so list those first. Write down anything new or bigger that will run on electricity, even if it’s a few years off:

• Cooking. An induction or electric range, a second wall oven, a built-in microwave or warming drawer.
• Kitchen helpers. Dishwasher, disposal, a second refrigerator or beverage fridge, an instant hot water tap.
• Bathrooms. An electric heated floor, a towel warmer, a bigger exhaust fan, a steam shower generator.
• Heating and cooling. A heat pump or ductless unit for an addition or a finished basement, or baseboard or wall heaters.
• Water heating. A heat pump water heater or a tankless electric water heater, which can be one of the largest loads in a house.
• The future. An EV charger in the garage, a hot tub, a shop, or a backup power inlet. Planning for them now can be as simple as leaving panel space or running a conduit while the walls are open.

Bring this list to the estimate visit. It’s the single most useful thing you can give us, because it tells us what your panel will have to carry.

Can your panel and service carry the remodel?

There are two separate questions here, and people often mix them up:

• Panel space. Is there physical room in the panel for the new breakers? A full panel can sometimes be solved with a subpanel.
• Service capacity. Can the electrical service coming into your house (the size of your main breaker and the utility’s wires) supply everything at once? This is the bigger question, and a subpanel does not add capacity.

We answer the capacity question with a load calculation, the method the electrical code lays out for adding up a home’s lighting, appliances, heating, and cooling. We do it before anything is designed around a new load, so you don’t find out at rough-in that the kitchen you planned needs a service upgrade.

If the numbers come up short, you usually have a few paths:

• Use a load management device. It lets a big load, like a range or EV charger, share capacity with other loads so the panel you have can take one more. Our guide to panel load management explains how it works and when it fits.
• Upgrade the panel or service. Sometimes that’s the right call, especially with an older or undersized panel. A service upgrade also involves your electric utility, which has its own scheduling, so it needs to be started early. See our guide to panel change-outs for what to expect.
• Adjust the plan. Sometimes a different appliance choice or a gas-to-electric switch timed for later keeps the remodel inside what your service can handle today.

Whatever the answer, it’s far better to know it before the cabinets are ordered.

The order remodel work usually happens

Electrical work happens in two visits with a lot of other work in between. Knowing the order helps you schedule the other trades and avoid paying for the same wall twice.

1. Plan and estimate. We walk the space, review your layout and appliance list, check the panel, and run the load calculation.
2. Permit. We pull the electrical permit before work starts.
3. Demolition. Walls and ceilings come open. Old wiring that will be removed or abandoned gets safely disconnected first, which is something to coordinate with us before demo day.
4. Framing. New walls, moved doorways, and soffits go in. Ask your framer for blocking where heavy light fixtures, ceiling fans, or a wall-mounted TV will hang.
5. Plumbing and duct rough-in. Pipes and ducts are the least flexible, so they generally go in before wiring.
6. Electrical rough-in. We set boxes and run the cable, conduit, and circuits while everything is open.
7. Rough-in inspection. The inspector checks the wiring before anything covers it. Insulation and drywall must wait until this passes.
8. Insulation and drywall. Before the walls close, take photos of every open wall with a tape measure in the frame. You’ll be glad you have them later.
9. Finish. After paint and cabinets, we return to install devices, fixtures, and breakers and to connect the appliances.
10. Final inspection. The inspector signs off on the finished work, and the permit is closed.

The two places schedules slip are waiting for the rough-in inspection and making decisions late. If the light fixtures, the range, and the cabinet layout are chosen before rough-in, the electrical side tends to go smoothly.

Permits and inspections: what to expect

Almost all remodel electrical work needs a permit. In Washington, electrical permits are issued by the Department of Labor & Industries or, in some cities, by the city itself. In Oregon, they come from the city or county building department or the state Building Codes Division, depending on where you live. We pull the permit and schedule the inspections for the electrical work we do.

• A remodel can trigger other updates. Permitted work often brings parts of the room up to current code, such as GFCI and AFCI protection on circuits we touch and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. We’ll point out what applies so it’s in the plan and the price from the start.
• Your general contractor’s permit is separate. A building permit for the remodel doesn’t cover the electrical work. Each trade typically has its own permit and inspections.
• Closed permits matter later. Permitted, inspected work makes life easier when you sell, refinance, or file an insurance claim.

Room-by-room planning questions

Our remodel electrical guide lists what we wire in each room. These are the questions worth answering before rough-in:

• Kitchens. Where exactly do the range, fridge, dishwasher, and microwave go? Will the island have a cooktop, a sink, or seating? Code rules for island and countertop outlets are specific and changed in recent code editions, so bring the cabinet plan and we’ll lay them out to fit. Pick under-cabinet lights early, because some need a wire in a precise spot.
• Bathrooms. Heated floor or not? Where do the vanity lights and mirror go? Do you want a fan on a timer or humidity sensor? Heated floor mats are installed under the tile, so that decision has to be made before the tile setter shows up.
• Basements. What will the room be used for: office, guest room, theater, gym? Where will the TV, desk, and any space heaters or a dehumidifier go? Leave access to the panel, the water heater, and any sump pump, and keep a clear working space in front of the panel.
• Additions. How far is the addition from the panel, and how will it be heated and cooled? An addition is the remodel most likely to need a subpanel, a service upgrade, or load management, so it’s the one where the load calculation matters most.
• Older homes. If you have knob-and-tube, two-prong ungrounded outlets, or aluminum branch wiring, decide whether to replace it while the walls are open. Doing it later means opening finished walls.

Before the walls close: a checklist

• Furniture plan. Outlets land where the bed, desk, sofa, and TV will actually be.
• Switches. A switch at every doorway, three-way switches for rooms with two entries, and dimmers where you want them.
• Heavy fixtures. Fan-rated boxes and blocking for ceiling fans, chandeliers, and large pendants.
• Low-voltage wiring. Network cable, TV and speaker wire, doorbell and camera wiring, or an empty conduit for whatever comes next.
• Outdoor connections. Outlets and lights on any exterior wall the remodel opens up.
• Room to grow. A spare circuit, panel space, or a conduit run for a future EV charger, hot tub, or heat pump.
• Photos. Every open wall photographed before insulation, with a tape measure showing where things are.

Working with your contractor, or on your own

If you have a general contractor, we coordinate with them on rough-in dates and inspections so the electrical work fits the schedule. If you’re running the remodel yourself, we’ll tell you exactly when we need the walls open, when the inspection is booked, and when it’s safe to close up.

Either way, the estimate is the planning step. On-site estimates for remodel work are free. When you’re ready to go ahead, you sign the estimate and we put your job on the schedule, with a 50% deposit due at that point.

Related guides: EV charger hookups, hot tub hookups, and rebates for electrical upgrades in Washington and Oregon, worth checking before you buy a heat pump or heat pump water heater for the remodel.

Serving Southwest Washington and Oregon

Cascadia Power is a licensed, bonded, and insured electrical contractor based in Ridgefield, WA. We handle the electrical side of kitchen, bath, basement, and addition remodels for homeowners across Southwest Washington and Oregon, including the Portland metro area. Learn more in our remodel electrical guide.

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