Spark Services Commercial Electrical

Commercial Electrical in California

Tenant work, three phase service, lighting and code corrections.

Commercial work is billed by the job and by the hour, and the schedule matters as much as the price because most of it happens after closing time.

The short version

Commercial buildings usually run three phase power.
Tenant improvement work lives and dies on the inspection schedule.
Exit and emergency lighting is inspected and has to be tested.
Get the landlord scope in writing before anyone quotes.

How commercial differs

Three phase service, larger equipment, conduit instead of cable in most walls, and a different rule set for exits, emergency lighting and shut offs. The work is also often on a clock, because a restaurant or a shop cannot lose a day.

Coordination is the real skill. An electrician on a tenant improvement is working around framing, mechanical, fire and the city, and the sequence is what keeps a project from stalling.

Tenant improvements

A new tenant in an existing space nearly always needs power moved, lighting redone and data run. The plan set has to match what is actually in the walls, which on an older building it often does not.

Have the landlord scope written down. Who owns the panel, who pays for service upgrades and who fixes existing violations found along the way are the three questions that cause disputes later.

Keeping a business legal

Exit signs and emergency lighting have to work and be tested. Panels need clear space in front of them that nobody stacks boxes in. Extension cords used as permanent wiring are a citation waiting to happen.

A yearly walk through with an electrician costs little and catches the things a fire inspector will write up.