Electrical panel upgrades & service changes

The range is wide because the job varies: whether it's a panel swap or a full service change, whether the meter base and mast also need replacing, how the grounding has to be brought up, and what the utility and the inspector require. Anyone quoting a firm number sight-unseen is guessing. We'll look at it and give you a real price before any work begins. Call 417-588-3497.

For most houses, yes, it's the sensible target. A 100 amp service can be adequate for a small home with gas heat and no big loads. But add central air, an electric range or dryer, a shop, a hot tub or a car charger and 100 amps runs out quickly. If you're upgrading anyway, the cost difference between 100 and 200 is small compared to doing it twice.

Most are a single day, with the power off for several hours in the middle of it. A full service change — new mast, new meter base, new panel, new grounding — can run longer, and the utility's schedule for disconnecting and reconnecting is part of the timing. We'll tell you the plan before the day.

Not inherently — a properly fused box does protect the circuits. The practical problems are that fuses get replaced with the wrong size, there's no room to add circuits, there's usually no grounding to modern standards, and many insurers now ask about them. Most people who replace one wish they'd done it sooner.

In most jurisdictions we serve, yes, and the utility has to be involved to pull and reset the meter. We pull the permit and coordinate that as part of the job.