TENANT BUILD-OUT
ELECTRICAL, EXPLAINED.

Electrical is usually the second-largest trade cost in a commercial tenant build-out, and the most common source of opening-day delays. If you're taking space in a Roanoke shopping center, office building, or industrial park, here is how the electrical side actually works, and where the budget and schedule risks hide.

Start with what the space already has

The single biggest cost variable is the existing service. A space with a 200-amp, 3-phase panel in good condition and capacity to spare is a different project from a space with a 100-amp single-phase panel that the last tenant maxed out. Before you sign the lease, get an electrician to walk the space. Thirty minutes with the panel open tells you whether your use fits the existing service or whether you're paying for a service upgrade the landlord may or may not share.

Use type drives everything

An office build-out is mostly lighting, receptacle circuits, and data pathways. A restaurant is a different animal: kitchen equipment schedules, dedicated circuits for every major appliance, hood and ansul interlocks, and walk-in coolers. Medical and dental offices add isolated grounds and equipment-specific circuits. A retail space sits in between. The same 2,000 square feet can run from $15,000 to $80,000 or more in electrical depending entirely on the use. Get the equipment list locked early, because every late equipment change ripples into the electrical plan.

How permits and plan review work here

Commercial electrical work in Roanoke City, Roanoke County, and Salem requires permitted drawings for anything beyond minor alterations. Plan review adds two to four weeks before work starts, depending on the jurisdiction and the season. This is the timeline item that most often surprises first-time commercial tenants: the lease is signed, the rent clock is running, and the drawings are sitting in review. Build that window into your schedule from day one, and have the electrical drawings ready when the architect submits.

The realistic timeline

For a typical 2,000 to 5,000 square foot build-out: plan review takes two to four weeks, rough-in runs one to three weeks depending on scope, then the rough-in inspection, then trades close up walls, then trim-out and final inspection take another one to two weeks. Electrical threads through the entire project, which is why electrician scheduling reliability matters more than a small difference in bid price. A sub who disappears for ten days during rough-in stalls every trade behind them.

Who pays: read the lease exhibit

Landlord work letters define what the landlord delivers ("400-amp service to the space, panel installed") versus what's on you. Tenant improvement allowances offset costs but rarely cover a service upgrade. If the electrician's walk-through finds the existing service inadequate for your use, that's negotiating leverage before signing, and a budget hole after. This is the cheapest due diligence available in commercial leasing.

Three mistakes we see repeatedly

Signing the lease without a service capacity check. Finalizing kitchen or equipment packages after rough-in has started, which turns into change orders at the worst price point. And hiring on bid price alone without checking the contractor's commercial references and current backlog, which turns into schedule slip that costs more than the bid difference saved.

Get the space checked before you commit

We do pre-lease electrical walk-throughs and full build-out work across the Roanoke Valley. Send the floor plan and your use type or call (540) 597-4964. If the space has a problem, you'll know before it's your problem.