A second breaker panel fed from your main one, so the garage, shop or addition gets its own circuits without a new service.
Next Phase Electric installs subpanels in homes across South King and Pierce County. A subpanel is a second, smaller breaker panel fed by one large breaker in your main panel. It is the usual answer when the main panel is out of spaces, when a garage or shop needs several circuits, or when an addition or backyard cottage is being wired. We calculate the load, size the feeder, install the panel, and pull the electrical permit. Most take a day.
One feeder out, every circuit close to where it is used.
A 60- or 100-amp panel on the garage wall: tool circuits, a compressor, a welder outlet, an EV charger, all with short runs.
New rooms, a finished basement, a backyard cottage. Detached buildings also get their own ground rods and shutoff.
No free spaces but plenty of capacity. A subpanel beside the main adds twelve to twenty-four spaces without replacing anything.
Two big loads at the same end of the house. One feeder to a subpanel is often cleaner than two long 50-amp runs.
Three things the inspector opens the cover to look for.
Two hots, a neutral and a separate ground. In the subpanel the neutral bar is isolated from the box and the grounds have their own bar. Bonded together, the metal case can carry current.
We add up what the subpanel will run and size the breaker and wire to it. Oversizing wastes copper; undersizing trips the feeder every time two tools start.
A garage or shop that is not attached needs its own ground rods and a shutoff at the building, and the feeder goes underground in conduit at the right depth.
One adds spaces. The other adds capacity.
| Subpanel | Panel upgrade | |
|---|---|---|
| Fixes | Not enough breaker spaces, or circuits needed far from the main panel. | Not enough total capacity: a 100-amp service running a modern house. |
| The power company | Not involved. | Disconnects and reconnects the service. |
| Time | Usually a day. | A day, with the power off for part of it. |
| Choose it when | The main panel is sound and has capacity to spare. | The main panel is 100 amps, obsolete, damaged or a known-problem brand. |
If the main panel has no capacity left, we tell you before you pay for a subpanel you cannot load.
Licensed, bonded and insured. Background-checked crew.
Send a photo of the main panel with the door open and a list of what the subpanel will run. A technician reaches out within 1 business hour.
Load calculation on the main, feeder size, the route. You get the exact price before any work, and you approve it first.
Feeder run, panel mounted, circuits landed and labeled, permit signed off.
Repairs: King and Pierce County south of I-90. Installations: greater Puget Sound.
If the main panel has spare capacity but no free spaces, or the new circuits are a long way from it, a subpanel. If the service itself is too small, such as 100 amps feeding a house with an EV and electric heat, a subpanel does not help and the panel needs upgrading. A load calculation tells us which.
60 amps runs lights, outlets and one large tool. 100 amps covers a serious shop, or a shop plus an EV charger. We size it from the list of what you want to run, with room to add.
It depends on the distance from the main panel, the size of the feeder and whether the building is detached. You get the exact price after we see it, before any work starts.
Yes. A subpanel in a separate building needs its own grounding electrodes and a shutoff at that building, as well as the ground wire in the feeder.
Yes, and an inspection. Washington L&I issues the electrical permit in most of our area; Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way and Renton issue their own, and Tacoma Power covers Tacoma. We pull the permit and meet the inspector.
Yes, and it is common when the main is simply out of spaces. It needs the same clear working space in front of it: thirty inches wide and three feet deep.
A day for a subpanel in an attached garage or beside the main. A detached building with a trench takes two.
Book online or call. Send a photo of the panel and a list of what you want to run.