Job takeoff
Service panel upgrade takeoff
Calculated service load by the NEC methods, a simplified floor to read it against, and the main breaker for the service being considered.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 2Measurements in
- 3Trades out
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the service panel upgrade quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Electrical Panel Load Calculator (NEC Service Sizing)NEC Article 220 with demand factors — set the appliances, the method and the code edition on its own page.How this figure was reached
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Electrical Panel Load Calculator (NEC Service Sizing) | 154.43 A | |
Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing CalculatorThe general load alone — lighting, receptacles, laundry and one appliance total. A floor to read the full calculation against, not a second method.How this figure was reached
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing Calculator | 39.84 A | |
Breaker Size CalculatorThe main breaker: the smallest standard rating that covers the service being considered. The 125% rule for continuous loads belongs in the load the service is sized from, not on top of its rating.How this figure was reached
Resting on
| 200 A | |
Electrical Panel Load Calculator (NEC Service Sizing)NEC Article 220 with demand factors — set the appliances, the method and the code edition on its own page.How this figure was reached | 154.41 A | |
Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing CalculatorThe general load alone — lighting, receptacles, laundry and one appliance total. A floor to read the full calculation against, not a second method.How this figure was reached | 39.83 A | |
Breaker Size CalculatorThe main breaker: the smallest standard rating that covers the service being considered. The 125% rule for continuous loads belongs in the load the service is sized from, not on top of its rating.How this figure was reached | 200 A |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
Every row here is a size or a check, not a piece of work.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Electrical Panel Load (NEC Service Sizing): a size or a check, not a piece of work
- Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing: a size or a check, not a piece of work
- Breaker Size: a size or a check, not a piece of work
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
Every row here is a size or a check, not a piece of work.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Electrical Panel Load (NEC Service Sizing): a size or a check, not a piece of work
- Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing: a size or a check, not a piece of work
- Breaker Size: a size or a check, not a piece of work
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
A panel upgrade starts with a number that is not the sum of everything in the house. Article 220 applies demand factors, because a dwelling never runs its range, its dryer, its heating and its cooling at full output at the same instant — so the calculated load is materially below the connected load, and using the connected one buys a service two sizes larger than the code asks for.
The first row is the full calculation: lighting, the small-appliance and laundry circuits, the range, the dryer, heating and cooling and an EV charger, each through its own rule. Both NEC methods are worked on its page — the standard method's table for each class of load, and the optional method for dwellings, which takes the first 10 kVA at full and the rest at forty per cent — and the headline follows the one you choose. They rarely agree, the optional one is usually smaller, and the code lets you use either, so the difference between them is a real decision rather than an error. The second row is a simplified estimate of the general load alone: lighting, receptacles, laundry and one total for fixed appliances. It is a floor, not a second opinion — it reads far below the full calculation whenever the house cooks, dries, heats or charges a car on electricity, and a service is never sized from it.
This is a screening calculation. A service upgrade is a permit, a utility coordination, a meter and a licensed electrician, and the number that goes on the application is the one that electrician calculates and signs. Nothing here is a load letter.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Inventory what is actually connected, including anything added since the last panel.
- Run both methods and use the one the code allows for the dwelling in front of you.
- Confirm the utility can supply the new service — the panel is rarely the constraint.
- Check the service entrance conductors, the meter base and the grounding electrode system; all three usually change with the panel.
- Plan the outage: a changeover is a day without power, and some of it is the utility's day rather than yours.
- Have it inspected before the drywall goes back.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The permit, the utility application and the inspection — the parts that set the programme.
- Grounding and bonding, the service entrance and the meter, all of which are usually replaced with the panel.
- Breaker schedule and circuit-by-circuit design.
- Anything Canadian. CEC Section 8 differs materially from NEC 220, and these rows are the NEC methods.
- The service conductors. A dwelling service is sized under NEC 310.12 from the service rating, in copper or aluminium, and most services need conductors larger than the end of this site's gauge table — so no row here sizes them, and derating and voltage drop over the run change the answer again.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the service panel upgrade quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
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Run this takeoff
Frequently asked questions
- What does the service panel upgrade takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Dwelling floor area 180 m² · Service size being considered 200, it orders: Electrical Panel Load (NEC Service Sizing), 154 A; Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing, 39.8 A; Breaker Size, 200 A. Opened at Dwelling floor area 1,940 sq ft · Service size being considered 200: Electrical Panel Load (NEC Service Sizing), 154 A; Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing, 39.8 A; Breaker Size, 200 A. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the service panel upgrade takeoff run?
- 3 calculators, one to a line: Electrical Panel Load Calculator (NEC Service Sizing), Home Electrical Service Panel Amperage Sizing Calculator, Breaker Size Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the service panel upgrade takeoff leave out?
- 5 things, each named on this page: The permit, the utility application and the inspection; Grounding and bonding, the service entrance and the meter, all of which are usually replaced with the panel; Breaker schedule and circuit-by-circuit design; Anything Canadian; The service conductors.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The service panel upgrade quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.