Whole Home Generators in Baton Rouge & Denham Springs

What We Install

• Standby transfer switches: automatic switching so the house moves to generator power without anyone standing in the dark flipping breakers.
• Interlock kits: a mechanical safeguard on your existing panel that makes backfeeding physically impossible.
• Generator inlets: a proper exterior connection point for a portable unit, instead of an extension cord through a window.
• Load sizing: honest advice on what your generator can actually carry — the well pump, the fridge, the AC, or all three.
• Testing: every install gets exercised before we call it done.

See also: electrical-panel-upgrades, 24-hour emergency service.

What Customers Say

What Actually Decides the Size

There is no size that fits every house, and that is why the guides you find online cannot answer it for you. Yancie sizes a generator from four things, in this order.

• A load calculation — for electricity and gas both. What the house actually draws, and what it does not. Heat, hot water, cooking and the dryer are the biggest loads in a home, and whatever runs on gas does not have to be carried by the generator. The square footage of the house does not decide this: two houses the same size land in completely different places depending on whether the heat, the water heater, the range and the dryer run on gas or on electricity.
• Where the service is. The panel, the meter and the point of connection are not in the same place on every house. That decides where a transfer switch or an interlock can physically go, and it is measured on the visit, not guessed from a photo.
• Where the generator will sit. Distance from the service, and where you actually want the unit, changes the job.
• The specifications of the unit itself. Different generators carry different loads, so the calculation only tells you what the house needs — it does not tell you what a particular machine can do. Motors are the reason: your AC compressor and your well pump ask for several times their running load the instant they start. Two units of the same advertised size can differ on that, which is why nothing gets ordered until the calculation and the unit spec sheet are read side by side.

Which Customer Are You?

Most people who call want the same thing: a unit that comes on by itself while nothing in the house changes. Nobody stands in the dark flipping breakers, nobody runs an extension cord, and the fridge, the AC and the well pump all come back without them thinking about it. That is a standby generator on an automatic transfer switch, and its size comes straight out of the load calculation.

The other callers arrive already finished with that part. They know exactly what they need running, and they have the list ready before anyone asks. That is a smaller unit on an interlock or a manual transfer switch, carrying only the circuits they chose, and there is nothing to work out with them because they brought the answer.

Both are correct jobs. They are just different jobs, and knowing which one you are is the first thing that decides what this costs.

What The Advertised Price Leaves Out

A big number on a generator company's page is usually the price of the machine. It is not the price of the job. The gap between the two is where people get surprised, and it is worth asking about before anyone comes out.

Ask what that number covers. These are the pieces that tend to show up after the fact.

• The fuel. A standby unit running on propane or natural gas needs a supply sized for it, and the tank is not part of the generator's price.
• The connection to your house. A transfer switch or an interlock, the inlet, and any panel work needed to make the install code-compliant.
• The permit and the inspection.
• Yearly service. Most manufacturers require scheduled maintenance to keep the warranty valid. It is billed every year, whether or not anything is wrong.
• The site. A pad, clearance from the house, and a run of gas line.

The question that settles it is this. What does that price include, and what gets added later? If the answer takes a while, that number is not comparable to anything else you have been quoted.

An estimate from us covers the work. If something is not in it, we tell you so before we start.

Common Questions

Can I plug a generator into a dryer outlet?

No. A double-male cord backfeeds the utility line, which endangers the people working to restore power, and it bypasses the protection the electrical code requires. A portable generator connects through an inlet with an interlock or a transfer switch.

Do you install interlocks and inlets?

Yes. Interlock kits, generator inlets, and standby transfer switches are all part of this work alongside whole-home generator installations.

How do I know which size I need?

There is no size that fits every house, which is why the guides you find online cannot answer it for you. It comes out of a load calculation for electricity and gas both, the location of your service, where the unit will sit, and the specifications of the particular generator. What Actually Decides the Size, above, walks through all four.

Can you tell me what size I need over the phone?

Not one worth having. What the house draws, where the service sits and how far the generator will sit from it all get measured on site, and the size moves with every one of those. A number given before anyone has seen the house is a guess, and guessing is how a job ends up done twice. Measuring first takes an hour, and it is the part we do not skip.

Before choosing between a portable setup and a standby unit, know that the difference between an interlock and a transfer switch decides most of the cost, and it is the first thing we work out with you on the visit.