Generator installation in Tigard, OR

Winter wind and ice drop the grid across the west metro often enough that most Tigard homeowners have had the generator conversation at least once. What settles it is usually not the storm, it is the house. Tigard's homes run from older places near downtown and Main Street through the big 1970s-through-1990s subdivisions to newer builds up on Bull Mountain, and each era points to a different version of generator installation. We wire all three paths and will tell you plainly which one your home and budget actually call for.

Inlet, transfer switch, or standby: picking your rung

A portable generator with a panel inlet and interlock is the entry point: safe, code-legal, and enough to run the essentials you pick. A manual transfer switch adds a dedicated essentials panel. An automatic standby unit takes over by itself the moment the power drops. On the electrical side, the portable setups run $800 to $2,500 installed and permitted, with the portable unit itself, your purchase, typically $500 to $2,500. Standby systems run $6,000 to $15,000 or more installed. The generator cost guide lays out every factor behind those ranges.

Pairing a generator with a panel job

Here is the Tigard-specific advice we give most. A lot of the city's 1970s and 1980s homes are still on their original panels, and their owners are often already weighing an upgrade for an EV charger or a heat pump. Transfer equipment installs onto that same service, so if a panel upgrade is in your future anyway, wiring the generator connection during that job is meaningfully cheaper than opening the service twice, and an original 100-amp panel often needs the upgrade before a standby system regardless. The Tigard panel upgrade page covers the panel half. Newer Bull Mountain homes usually have the capacity already, so there the generator work stands cleanly on its own.

Tigard permits, handled as part of the job

Transfer switches and standby generators require an Oregon electrical permit and inspection, and in Tigard the permit runs through the city's building program. We file it, do the work to code, and see the job through inspection, so the install is documented for insurance and resale.

Standby sizing, gas, and getting a real number

Standby units need a fuel connection, natural gas or propane, alongside the electrical work. Our scope is the automatic transfer switch, the wiring and panel work, and the permit; we coordinate the gas connection with the right trade. We install all major brands and size the system to the circuits you actually care about instead of rounding up.

Smiley Electric is licensed, bonded, and insured, Oregon CCB #227116, owned by Master Electrician Joshua Smiley, with more than 20 years in the trade and a 24/7 emergency line. Ballpark quotes are free by phone or from a photo of your panel, and the on-site assessment for a generator project is free when you are ready to scope the job properly.