DIY Electric Service from Power Company

[mpdsville1]

My Bro-in-law just bought a 100x500' parcel of land that has only a well and a 10x15' garage currently. He's going to build on the footprint of the home that was ripped down several years ago.

He mentioned to me that he _HAS_ to blow at leat $1000 for an electrician to run electric service to the garage (so theres juice onsite while he's building the home).

My general understanding is that he/we should be able to mount a service entry (box that the power company's meter goes in) and a breaker panel on a pole or on the garage, and call in the power company to connect service. A neighbor of mine (since moved) had "power on a pole" while he built his place.

I/We have no problem with the cost of an electricans services, but prefer to spend that $ on an electrician wiring the house, not on a simple 1-drop, 1-panel, 2-outlet, temporary install.

The wiring/job is simple, and let's assume our work will be within builing-code/spec/best-practices.

Why Shouldn't we be able to DIY it? What are the roadblocks?

Thanks

[Lou]

The law(s) / codes of the area he lives in???

Lou

[mpdsville1]

Any mandate in any state/county that says only a licensed electrician may touch wires? I gues thats the meat of the question.

[RBM]

As others have said, you need to check with the local jurisdiction. There may not be any road blocks. You could also work an arrangement with the electrician that's going to wire the house, to allow you to install the temp, which he will guide , oversee and file any papers

[aemeijers]

I built more than one 'temporary service' power pole and set it, as a kid, for construction sites. Operative words being 'construction sites'. In central Indiana at the time, the rules were that meters on poles would only be hooked up for sites with current and valid building permits, and for code-permitted trailers that were not solid enough for a meter base to be attached to. Not sure if it was a local law or power company policy. The guy who hooked up the drop decided if it was solid enough to take the strain or not. (ie, he would grab it at meter height and try to rock it back and forth.) He also wanted the weather head to be at least 10' off the ground, and the pole spotted where the drop would not cross the driveway where the tall trucks would hit it. In those simpler times, we had never heard of GFCI, but the breaker box and outlet panel had to be weather-rated, usually via one of those boxes with a top-hinged lid with cord notches and rubber grommets at the bottom. I would build the poles using a prefab kit for the wiring, that was assembled from weather head to outlet box- just attach it all to a flat board lagged to the pole itself, which usually consisted of 3

12-foot 2x8s nailed together in a T cross-section. The local electric wholesale supply house kept the kits in stock.

Aside from ensuring that power company and/or licensed electricians get work, not allowing DIY poles in your area is probably a public safety decision. Yeah, 9 ot of 10 competent DIYs could probably build and plant one with no problem, but that 10th one may fall over, arc, and start a grass fire that takes out the neighborhood. They may also want to make sure somebody just doesn't live in an RV on the site for years- 'owner built' houses are notorious for never getting finished and becoming eyesores and safety hazards.

aem sends....

[terry]

Here:Similar but 12 feet above ground. Supposed to be able to drive truck under it? Many years ago my neighbour a maintenance tech./electrician at the local airport installed a pole mounted meter and weather head and got it hooked up by the power co. To finish construction 100 amps AFIK. He afterwards ran something from that pole into his basement power panel and left it that way! I did something similar by having 60 amp AC service provided to a workshop shed at back of our property. We then both built our houses doing much of the work ourselves. Ours later became a proper o/head 200 amp hook up to our house. He left his UG section in place and many years later it leaked into the ground you could feel potential on our well grounded dryer washer in our basement over a 100 feet away! Agree it all depends on local rules and the power co. If you had moved a construction trailer already equipped with a meter socket and mashead from another location doubt it should cost a $1000! And the power co would possibly hook you up for free as a new customer!

[mm]

If you can't diy power on a pole, consider power on a garage.

I am not an electrician and have no idea what the issues are, but the garage seems less likely to fall over, and cheaper, than a new untested pole.

[mpdsville1]

Thanks to all responses, the thoughtful and well composed reasons why building codes exist, and the valuable information in all of the responses. (That was meant as sincere, not snide. )

As far as the project itself is concerned.. How's this sound? o Mount a P/T 4x4 on the outside of the existing garage. o ServiceEntrance box at chest level, with conduit running up the 4x4 to 10'. Conduit goes another 2' above 4x4 to 12' (1' above peak of garage, appx 6' lateral clearance from peak of roof to mast-head) o Install a weather head/boot and leave 3' hanging for the power company to connect to. o Grounded properly to rebar driven into the earth o Assuming 100a service, we wire the mast-conduit-meterbox with 4 gauge exterior-grade wire .. 10' run from masthead to meter box o 100a panel will be on the interior side of the garage ,appx 2' wire run from meter box to 100a panel. 4 gauge as well. o weatherproof where wire passes from outside to inside o 100a panel will have master breaker and no circuits or breakers at time of power-co turn-on.

As far a building codes go. if theres no interior wiring, and it doesnt concern a occupied dwelling, the local building inspector has no issue with running service to a garage on an otherwise vacant lot. (I asked)

So how's the above plan sound for site-power?

[RBM]

[hallerb]

easy near free solution:)

If there are any neighbors nearby hook onto their service, and pay their electric bill during construction. have your bereaker a bit smaller than their breaker, so you cant trip their breaker ever.

this is a very common solution during home construction has been done locally a neighbor got free electric while a bunch of new homes were being built, and has been on this old house.

[gfretwell]

... LISTED ground rod, not rebar and some times they want 2 at least

6' apart.

[gfretwell]

100a means 2 ga. not 4ga. This is not the service to a "dwelling unit" but in real life you can probably get by with 6ga and a 60a breaker on a T pole. Be sure all the 120v receptacles are GFCI protected.