On most commercial tenant improvements, the electrical scope is not the biggest line item — but it is almost always on the critical path. Three things put it there: long-lead equipment, inspection sequencing, and the fact that nearly every other trade depends on power and lighting being roughed in first.
Long-lead equipment sets the floor
Distribution panels, transformers and switchboards commonly run 8–20 weeks, and service-entrance gear can be longer. If the order is not placed off early drawings, the equipment date — not the crew — becomes your completion date. On a fast-track job we release the gear package before the drawings are fully complete and carry the risk deliberately.
Inspections come in a fixed order
- Underground / slab — before the pour, if any conduit is in the floor.
- Rough-in — boxes, conduit and home runs, before drywall closes the walls.
- Ceiling cover — before the grid and tile go up.
- Final — devices, fixtures, panel labeling and the load test, tied to the certificate of occupancy.
Miss a window and you wait for the next available slot — often several days in a busy jurisdiction. We schedule inspections as soon as the preceding work is provably complete, and we keep the inspector’s corrections list to zero wherever possible.
Everyone waits on rough-in
Framing can start without us, but drywall cannot close until rough-in passes, the ceiling grid cannot go up until fixtures are supported, and finishes cannot proceed without temporary power and lighting. A day lost in electrical rough-in usually costs more than a day — it ripples through every trade that follows.
What keeps it on track
- Confirm existing panel and service capacity in the first week — before design assumes it.
- Release long-lead gear off preliminary single-line drawings.
- Coordinate the ceiling early: lighting, fire alarm, HVAC and sprinkler all share the plenum.
- Book inspections against real milestones, not optimistic ones.
Handled this way, electrical stops being the trade that holds up the job and becomes the one that keeps it moving.