What’s your preference when it comes to installing emergency power equipment? Do you want to make one phone call and have every detail managed by a single vendor or do you like to take the reins and find multiple vendors for each component? It’s a personal preference, really, dependent on your budget and resources, not least of which is time. Trust is also a crucial factor, as a customer is more likely to opt for a turnkey emergency power installation service from a trusted partner.
To assist customers who prefer turnkey service, we sat down with the Sales Team at Duthie Power Services and discussed exactly what to expect from a turnkey installation of emergency power equipment.
What is Turnkey Service?
We’ve all heard the phrase “turnkey service,” but what exactly does that look like when it comes to a backup generator installation? According to Duthie Power Services Sales Engineer, Mike Goodman, “turnkey service covers everything from engineering to permit approvals and startup.”
Here are some of the key elements of a turnkey installation for your power equipment, broken out by each stage of the process:
Site Evaluation
- Calculation of the load requirements to help decide which size generator is needed
- Survey of the proposed location
Mechanical and Structural Survey
- Develop and submit engineering drawings for approval by the city, addressing critical factors, including:
- How far away will the generator be from the property line and windows?
- What sort of pad is required to support the generator’s weight?
Electrical Engineering
- Determine the best path for the electrical hookup from the utility to the transfer switch and vice versa
- Outline your “wish list” of which circuits you want to run under the emergency load, then ensure those wires can be moved into the emergency panel.*
*The emergency panel is like the breaker panel, but it is put in place specifically to manage the generator wiring. It is called an emergency panel because those are the only circuits that will be live when the generator runs.
Installation and Startup
- Once all components have been installed and a qualified technician has performed the generator startup, a full inspection is completed to ensure the safe operation of your backup generator in an emergency
Navigating Delays
Kevin Gates, Duthie Power Sales Engineer, added another important benefit of turnkey service – navigating delays. “Turnkey service includes the site visit, the engineering component, permit approval, and the installation. Delays can happen at every point in this process, so customers appreciate that they can rely on a single vendor to help manage those delays.”
Where do delays most often occur? Typically, at the city in the planning department, as permit approvals can take weeks of back-and-forth review. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts or failsafe pathways to navigate city planning. Not only does every city planner follow their own jurisdiction’s guidelines, but you may also end up working with multiple city planners.
Quality Assurance
One of the most reassuring benefits of a turnkey emergency power installation service is that you only have to follow up with one vendor who is responsible for verifying quality assurance on the entire job. As Kyle Michael, Duthie Power’s Head of the San Diego Sales Division, says, “If time is a concern and you have a trusted partner like Duthie Power Services, turnkey is the way to go. It takes a commitment to quality service to be able to offer customers turnkey service, but we pride ourselves on being able to deliver on that commitment at Duthie Power.”
