Electrical service and capacity assessment
A fixed-fee written answer to one question: what will this building’s electrical service actually carry, and what would it take to get more. Prepared and signed by a New Jersey licensed electrical contractor.
Most owners find out the hard way
The equipment gets ordered, the lease gets signed, or the closing date gets set, and then somebody opens the electrical room and discovers the service will not carry it. At that point the options are expensive and the schedule is already committed.
This is the work that answers it first. We walk the building, read the service equipment, inventory the distribution panels, and establish what the building is already drawing from twelve months of your own utility bills. Then we tell you in writing how much room is left, whether it supports what you have in mind, and what the fix looks like if it does not.
You get a written report with photographs, not a verbal opinion and not a sales call. It is yours to hand to a lender, a tenant, an architect, or another contractor.
- Plain language. Written to be read by an owner, a property manager, or an attorney. Every trade term that appears gets defined where it appears.
- Your own utility data. Existing load comes from twelve months of measured demand on your bills, using the method the National Electrical Code provides for existing buildings at NEC 220.87, rather than from a theoretical estimate.
- Signed by the contractor who did the walk. License number on the face of it.
Four situations where this pays for itself
Nobody wants an electrical assessment. People want an answer before a deadline. These are the four deadlines we see.
Buying a building
You are under contract with a closing date and you need to know whether the electrical service supports the use you have planned. A standard property condition assessment looks at electrical at a walk-through level. It will not answer this. This is the follow-on scope, and the report reads clearly enough to hand to your lender.
A tenant says the space cannot support their equipment
They want the landlord to pay for an upgrade. You do not know whether they are right. An independent written determination settles the question, and it is often worth more as a negotiating document than it costs.
Chasing a funding program
Nearly every utility and state program that pays for electrical infrastructure expects the applicant to know the existing service capacity before an application can be finished. If you have read that money is available and cannot tell whether your building qualifies, this is the step in front of that.
Planning an equipment install
A cooking line, imaging equipment, a lift, compressors, chargers. Better to know before the equipment is bought and before the lease is signed than after.
What is in it
A summary page that answers the question directly, then the detail behind it so the number can be checked rather than taken on faith.
- The service you actually have. Serving utility, voltage and configuration, and the service rating as marked on the equipment nameplate rather than as remembered or as written on an old panel schedule.
- What is already being used. Twelve months of billed demand in a table, with the peak month identified.
- How much room is left. The spare capacity, in amps and as a percentage, with the arithmetic shown and the assumptions stated.
- Panel by panel inventory. Every distribution panel with its rating, its manufacturer, and its genuinely available spare breaker positions. A service with room and panels with nowhere to land a circuit is a common and expensive surprise.
- Condition and safety observations. What was visible, why it matters, and what needs attention regardless of any new work.
- Equipment nobody makes parts for anymore. Gear that runs fine today but cannot be added to or repaired is a capital planning item even when capacity is available.
- Capacity scenarios. What the remaining capacity supports in terms of the actual equipment you are considering, not in the abstract.
- Funding programs the property appears to fit. Each one with a link to the program’s own page and the date it was checked, plus a plain statement of what could not be confirmed.
- Recommendations with budget ranges. Scope described in real terms, with rough order of magnitude ranges labeled as such.
- Photographs, captioned. The service equipment, every panel documented, and every condition item raised.
What this is not
Worth being blunt about, because the value of the report depends on it saying only what it can support.
Not an engineering design
There is no professional engineer seal on it. Where a project goes to construction and needs drawings and specifications, a licensed professional engineer or architect is engaged for that. This report is what tells you whether it is worth getting that far.
Not a code inspection
It is not a certification of code compliance and it does not cite violations. The authority having jurisdiction determines compliance. We report what was visible and explain why it matters.
No testing, and nothing concealed
No de-energizing, no testing, no infrared scanning, no arc flash or coordination study. Nothing above inaccessible ceilings, inside finished walls, or underground. Those are separate scopes and we will tell you when one is warranted.
Not an ASTM E2018 property condition assessment
That is a different standard with its own defined scope, performed by firms that hold themselves out as doing it. This is narrower and deeper: the electrical service, in detail.
What we need, and what happens
Bergen, Hudson, Essex, and Passaic counties, out of Englewood. One site visit, one written report, one call to go through it.
The fee is fixed and quoted before anything is scheduled, based on the size of the building and the number of services and panels involved. You will know the number before you commit.
If Zimick Electric is awarded the construction work the report recommends, within the window stated in your proposal, the assessment fee is credited against that contract. The analysis you paid for becomes a deposit on the work.
- You send twelve months of utility bills. Or authorize us to request the usage history from the utility. This is the one item the work cannot proceed without. If twelve months of data does not exist, there is a metered alternative and we will explain it.
- We confirm access. Every electrical room, closet, and locked service enclosure, with whoever holds the keys, on the date of the visit.
- Drawings if you have them. Their absence does not stop the work. It changes how long it takes.
- You tell us what you are considering. The capacity scenarios are only useful if they describe equipment you might actually install.
- One site visit, then the report. Delivered as a PDF, followed by a scheduled call to walk you through it.
Request an assessment
Tell us about the property and what you are trying to find out. We will come back with the fixed fee, what we need from you, and the first available date. If an assessment is not the right step for your situation, we will say so.