Renovations
The Electrical Checklist Every Vancouver Home Renovation Needs
The best renovation you do is the one you only pay for once. Get the electrical scope right on day one and you save yourself from opening finished walls later.
Start with a load calculation, not a wish list
Every good renovation electrical plan starts with a written load calculation on your existing service. That number tells us whether your panel can handle the new kitchen, the heat pump, the hot tub, and the EV charger you want in three years, or whether we should upgrade to 200 amp service while the walls are open. Doing it later, once drywall is up, costs three times as much.
This applies across the region - Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Langley, and Delta all enforce the same CEC load rules and permit pathways.
Code items you cannot skip
Modern renovations trigger required upgrades - tamper-resistant receptacles, AFCI-protected bedroom and living space circuits, GFCI on all kitchen counter, bathroom, exterior, garage, and unfinished basement receptacles, dedicated circuits for the fridge, microwave, dishwasher, and disposal, and hardwired interconnected smoke and CO alarms.
These are not optional add-ons - they are what the inspector signs off on. Skipping them saves you a few hundred dollars and costs you the final inspection.
Future-proofing the rough-in
While the walls are open, we run conduits and pull strings for the things you have not decided on yet - a future EV charger circuit in the garage, cabling for cameras, low-voltage runs for Ethernet and smart lighting, and empty conduits from the panel to the attic for solar or a battery down the road.
The rough-in is cheap. Retrofitting through finished walls is not.
Basement suites and legal secondary units
Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster all have specific electrical requirements for legal secondary suites - separate metering where required, dedicated smoke and CO interconnection between units, fire-rated penetrations, and load calculations that account for the second kitchen and dryer.
We handle the electrical permit, the coordination with the plans examiner, and the final Technical Safety BC inspection so your occupancy paperwork lands clean.
Talk to a Certified BC Master Electrician
Every quote is a fixed price, every job is pulled under permit, and every visit is on time. Serving Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Langley, and Delta.
