Commercial Electrical Guides for GCs, Owners and Property Managers

Guides for GCs, owners and property managers

Find the guide for the decision in front of you

Who these guides are for

These guides are written for the people who make decisions on commercial projects in South Florida: general contractors assembling a bid, developers and owners planning a building, property managers keeping one running, and business owners about to sign a lease. They explain how the electrical side of a project works here, in the order you will meet it, and they link to the source whenever they cite a code, rule or utility process.

None of them replace the engineer of record or the building department that has your address. They are meant to help you ask better questions earlier, when the answers are still cheap. When you are ready to talk about a specific project, our commercial electrical services page is the place to start.

South Florida adds its own layer to every one of these topics. In Miami-Dade, for example, each municipality has its own building official, and the county's permit process covers only unincorporated areas (Miami-Dade, how to apply for permits). Most buildings are served by FPL, but Homestead has its own city-owned utility (City of Homestead, HPS Energy). Hurricane season shapes when roof and exterior work gets scheduled, salt air shortens the life of exterior equipment, and older condo and commercial buildings go through recertification. The guides below point out where those local details change the answer.

Planning a build-out

Most electrical surprises on a tenant improvement come from decisions made before an electrician is involved: the lease, the landlord's work letter and the equipment list.

• Electrical questions to ask before signing a commercial lease. What to find out about service size, metering, panel condition and landlord obligations while you can still negotiate.
• Vanilla shell vs turnkey electrical. What a landlord typically delivers under each, and where the line falls between landlord work and tenant work.
• The tenant improvement allowance and the electrical scope. How the electrical scope draws on a TI allowance, and which items tend to be missed when the allowance is set.
• Restaurant build-out electrical checklist. A working list for kitchens: the equipment schedule, walk-ins, the hood interlock and service capacity.
• Commercial remodel and tenant improvement. The full sequence of a remodel or build-out, from walkthrough and design-assist to inspections and close-out.

Industry-specific guidance is on our pages for restaurants, office build-outs, retail stores, medical and dental offices and warehouses and industrial space.

Service and power

Whether a building can carry what you plan to put in it is the question that most often changes a schedule, because the answer can involve the utility.

• What is switchgear?. A plain explanation of switchgear, switchboards and panelboards, and why the distinction matters to owners and GCs.
• Three-phase power: do you have it, and do you need it?. How to tell what a space has in a minute, which equipment actually needs three-phase, and what to do if the space lacks it.
• When a business outgrows its electrical service. The signs capacity has run out, what a load calculation answers, and why the utility usually sets the timeline.
• The utility timeline for new commercial service. The steps between applying for a new or upgraded service and having power, and where projects lose time.
• Commercial service and switchgear. Service entrances, switchgear, three-phase work and utility coordination for new and existing buildings.

Construction and permits

For GCs and developers, the questions are about scope, sequence and paperwork: who does what, when inspections happen, and what the building department in each city expects. Getting these right at bid time avoids change orders later.

• What GCs should require from an electrical subcontractor. A practical list of what to ask for before award and during the job, from licensing to close-out documents.
• Commercial electrical permits and inspections. How commercial electrical permitting works across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
• New construction electrical. Ground-up commercial work: service and distribution, rough-in, lighting, equipment and life-safety power, and close-out.
• Working with general contractors. How KRW works as the electrical subcontractor on commercial projects.

Buildings and compliance

For owners, associations and property managers, the electrical questions continue long after construction ends: recertification deadlines, safety obligations for anyone working on energized equipment, and keeping aging equipment from failing at the worst moment.

• 40-year recertification: the electrical part. What the electrical portion of a building recertification involves in Miami-Dade and Broward, and how to prepare for it.
• NFPA 70E and arc flash for building owners. What electrical safety in the workplace means for the people who own and run the building, in plain terms.
• Preventive maintenance. Scheduled inspection, tightening and cleaning, with findings reported in order of urgency, so failures become planned work.
• Life-safety electrical systems. Emergency and exit lighting and the power that alarm systems depend on.
• Getting electrical work done without closing the business. What can be done live, what needs a shutdown, and how outages are kept short in occupied buildings.

EV charging

EV charging at workplaces, retail centers and multifamily buildings is usually limited by service capacity and parking layout more than by the chargers themselves.

• What drives the cost of commercial EV chargers. The factors that move a commercial charging budget: distance from the panel, capacity, trenching and the number of ports.
• Commercial EV charging. Workplace, retail and multifamily or condo charging, including load management and planning for more chargers later.

Planning a project? Send the drawings and equipment list through our contact page or call (305) 359-7312.