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Service · Generators

Whole-home generator installation.

Generac dealer plus certified warranty technician. The same shop sells, sizes, installs, and services the unit. We size to your real load, not the square footage. The transfer switch is commissioned the day the utility turns your meter back on.

Schedule a walk-through (508) 818-3165
  • Electrician licensed 2024
  • Generac dealer + warranty tech
  • Panasonic Gold mini split installer
  • Mass Save partner · Insured & bonded
Generac whole-home generator installed alongside electrical service panel on a Taunton, MA residence by Hopkins Electric Generac install · Recent work
  • Massachusetts Electrician
  • Generac Dealer + Warranty Tech
  • Panasonic Gold Mini Split Installer
  • Mass Save Partner
Generac dealer + warranty technician

Same shop. Sells, sizes, installs, services.

Most generator companies are install-only. The unit comes from one supplier, the warranty work goes to a different shop, and you find yourself stuck between them when something fails. Hopkins is a Generac authorized dealer and a Generac certified warranty technician. One shop, one accountable license, one phone call.

Sized to your real load. Square-footage rules of thumb under-size houses with heat pumps, EV chargers, or large kitchen loads. We measure your panel’s existing service and your add-load list, and we spec the unit that actually carries it.

Permits + utility coordination. Permits pulled in the Electrician’s name. We coordinate the gas turn-on with the utility so the commissioning happens the same day the meter goes hot.

Automatic transfer switch. Commissioned, exercised, and load-tested before we leave the site. If the power drops the day after install, the unit picks up, we don’t take service calls a week later because nobody tested it.

Pad and conduit. Concrete pad set to manufacturer spec, gas line stubbed clean, conduit runs straight and labeled. The install looks intentional, not improvised.

Warranty + service. As a warranty technician we handle Generac’s warranty service in-house. Annual service contracts available, the unit gets oil, filters, and a load test once a year.

Power outages on the South Shore are not theoretical and they are not seasonal. Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, Attleboro, Randolph, and the rest of Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk counties all sit in a corridor that takes nor’easters, hurricane remnants, microbursts, and the kind of summer thunderstorm that puts whole substations offline for thirty-six hours at a stretch. A whole-home Generac standby generator install is the single piece of equipment on the property that decides whether the freezer runs, whether the sump pump cycles before the basement floods, whether the well pump pressurizes, whether the heat keeps the pipes from freezing, and whether the oxygen concentrator or refrigerated medication has power for the duration. Hopkins Electric is a Generac authorized dealer and a certified Generac warranty technician — that designation matters because it means the install is registered with Generac’s database under Tyler’s master license, every part swap or service call inside the warranty window comes back to him directly, and any escalation through Generac’s national service network identifies your unit as a Hopkins install. Most generator installers in southeastern Massachusetts are sales reps for a heating contractor or a propane company. We are the electrician who installs, commissions, and services the unit on a five-year cadence — same person, every visit.

Generac standby generator and transfer switch installed in Taunton, MA
Generac installGenerac standby generator and transfer switch installed in Taunton, MA

How we size a Generac for a Massachusetts home

Generators get sized to load, not to the square footage on the assessor’s card. Tyler walks the service panel with you, builds an inventory of every appliance and load that has to keep running during an outage, and pulls the actual amp draw of each — well pump (typically 240V, 30-50 amps starting), sump pump, central air condenser, electric range, electric dryer, refrigerator and stand-up freezer, EV charger if you have one, heat pump or boiler-burner motor, and any medical equipment. We compute starting amperage versus running amperage because motor-driven loads (well pump, AC, refrigerator compressor) pull three to seven times running current at start. The unit specs come back with documented headroom: typically a 22kW or 24kW air-cooled Generac Guardian for a single-family with central AC, electric range, and standard utility loads; a smaller 14kW or 18kW for gas-heat homes without AC or for managed-load setups; a 26kW liquid-cooled Generac Protector for larger residences with electric heat or whole-home heat pumps. Oversizing by fifty percent is wasteful and adds cost on every annual service. Undersizing trips the unit on a cold start. We get this right the first time, and the load calc lives in the project file as documentation if your insurance carrier or a future buyer asks.

Permits, gas hookup, and inspections in Bristol/Plymouth/Norfolk counties

A whole-home standby generator install always pulls a Massachusetts electrical permit — it’s a panel modification plus a new transfer switch plus a feeder run — and either a gas plumbing permit (if natural gas or LP propane is the fuel) or a fuel-tank set permit (for propane tanks above a code threshold). Tyler files the electrical permit in his master’s name with the Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, Attleboro, Randolph, or Stoughton wiring inspector — whichever town the install is in — and coordinates the gas tie-in with a licensed gas plumber so the electrical and gas inspections happen back-to-back without dragging the project a week per agency. Massachusetts building code (780 CMR) and NFPA 37 both require the unit to sit on a level non-combustible pad (poured concrete, precast composite, or a code-approved generator pad), eighteen inches off the structure for air-cooled units, with manufacturer-specified exhaust clearance from windows, doors, soffit vents, and any operable opening. Every install ships with a documented site plan that shows the pad location, the gas line route, the feeder from the unit to the transfer switch, and the panel work. The wiring inspector signs the certificate of compliance to Tyler. You get the certificate in the file.

Transfer switch sizing and managed-load options

A whole-home automatic transfer switch (ATS) sits adjacent to the main panel and decides what happens at the moment the utility goes dark. The standard Generac install uses a 200-amp service-rated ATS — that switch becomes the new service entrance on the home, the existing panel becomes a sub of the ATS, and every circuit in the house picks up generator power automatically when utility voltage drops. For older homes with 100-amp services, or for smaller-generator installs where running every circuit at once would overload the unit, we sometimes specify a 200-amp non-service-rated ATS plus a managed-load module — a Generac PMM or a discrete contactor setup — that sheds the AC condenser, the electric range, or the EV charger when other priority loads are running. Managed-load is the difference between paying for a 24kW unit you don’t actually need or running a 14kW unit comfortably across a four-day ice-storm outage. Tyler walks the trade-off with you on the site visit. You make the call.

Generac start-up, exercise schedule, and 5-year service

Every Generac install includes the factory start-up — Tyler brings the unit online, programs the controller, sets the weekly exercise window (default Tuesday or Wednesday morning is standard so you hear the unit run while you’re awake the first time), enrolls the unit in Generac’s Mobile Link if Wi-Fi is reachable, and walks you through the test-run, silent-mode hours, and the first-year maintenance schedule. After year one, we offer a documented annual service — Generac-spec oil change, oil filter, air filter, spark plug, battery test, valve lash adjustment per the engine hours — and you can either have us run it or DIY the schedule off the log we leave inside the unit. Air-cooled Generacs need annual service or every 200 engine hours, whichever comes first; liquid-cooled units run on a 250-hour service interval. Skipping service voids the warranty. We track service intervals in the project file and reach out the month service is due.

Cost, financing, and Massachusetts-specific incentives

A whole-home Generac install in southeastern Massachusetts typically runs fixed-price all-in for an air-cooled 22-24kW unit on natural gas with a standard 200-amp service-rated ATS, mid-distance feeder run, and a level concrete or composite pad — turnkey including permits, inspections, gas tie-in coordination, factory start-up, and Generac registration. Liquid-cooled units (26kW and up) with longer feeder runs, propane tank sets, or complex load management run higher. Generators do not qualify for Massachusetts Mass Save rebates (those programs target heat pumps and weatherization, not standby generation), but the install often improves the home’s appraised value at refinance — particularly in flood-prone or outage-prone neighborhoods near Mount Hope Bay, the Taunton River, or any of the South Shore coastal corridor. Some homeowner insurance carriers also offer a credit for permanently installed standby generators on properties that carry sump-pump or basement-flood riders — worth a phone call to your agent before the install.

Hopkins Electric installs Generac standby generators across Taunton (HQ at 280 Berkley Street), Brockton, Fall River, Attleboro, Randolph, Stoughton, and the rest of Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk counties — typically 35 miles in any direction from the shop. We can usually book a site walk-through within five business days, deliver a fixed-price written proposal within two business days of the walk, schedule the install three to five weeks out depending on town permitting timelines and gas-plumber availability, and have you running on standby power inside six weeks signed-quote to commissioned unit. Emergency installs (medical equipment, immunocompromised resident, refrigerated medication) get priority scheduling and we can usually shorten that runway.

Generator install workflow

Four to six weeks signed quote to running unit.

01

Site walk + sizing

We measure your panel, list your add-loads, and spec the right Generac unit. Free walk-through, fixed-price.

02

Permits + utility coordination

Permits filed, gas turn-on scheduled with the utility, equipment ordered. Typically week 2-3.

03

Install + commissioning

Concrete pad, conduit, transfer switch wired in. Commissioned and load-tested the day the meter goes hot.

Frequently asked

Common questions before booking.

For anything not answered here, the fastest reply is texting Tyler at (508) 818-3165 or sending project details through the contact form. Visit our gallery for recent work.

What size generator do I need?

Generator sizing in Massachusetts is driven by your actual load, not square footage on the assessor’s card. Most Hopkins-installed Generac systems in Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, Attleboro, and the rest of southeastern MA fall in the 18kW-24kW air-cooled range — that covers a single-family home with central AC, electric range, well pump, sump pump, refrigerator-and-freezer, and an EV charger or two without managed-load shedding. Smaller homes on natural gas with no AC sometimes run cleanly on a 14kW; larger homes with whole-home heat pumps, multiple heat zones, or commercial-grade kitchen equipment move into 26kW liquid-cooled Generac Protector territory. The free site walk-through includes a documented load calc — we measure your service panel, inventory the loads that have to keep running, and spec the unit with documented headroom for one or two future loads.

How loud is a Generac unit?

Whole-home Generac units run around 60-65 dB at typical operating distance, about the level of a normal conversation. The pad placement and the side it faces matter; we work with you on placement.

Do you do warranty work after install?

Yes. Tyler is a Generac certified warranty technician, so warranty service stays in-house. We also offer annual service contracts (oil, filter, load test once a year).

Are you licensed?

Yes. Tyler Hopkins is a Massachusetts Electrician (license earned 2024). Hopkins Electric LLC is fully insured and bonded. We pull permits in the Electrician’s name on every job that requires one.

Do you pull permits?

Yes, on every job that requires one. We file with your town inspectional services office, attend rough-in and final inspections, and close out the permit when the work passes. Permits are included in the fixed-price scope.

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Generator Installation is one of seven specialty services Tyler runs. Browse the full menu of services or jump to your town to see what we cover locally.

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Tell Tyler about your generator installation project

Every generator installation quote is a walk-through with the electrician — not a templated form-fill from an specialist. Tyler arrives with a meter, walks the panel, talks through the scope, and emails a fixed-price proposal the same day or next morning.

  • Electrician. Tyler runs every quote himself.
  • Fixed-price scope. Written proposal, no “time + materials surprise” billing.
  • Permits in master’s name. Filed with the city, inspected, signed.
  • Same-day reply. Most quotes go out within hours of the visit.
Prefer to talk now? Call or text Tyler at (508) 818-3165. Email office@hopkinselectric-ma.com.

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Free walk-through, fixed-price scope, master on every install. Generac dealer + warranty technician under one roof.

Schedule a walk-through (508) 818-3165
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