Electrical Work for Remodels, ADUs and Additions in Los Angeles and Across Southern California

Electrical work inside a remodel means the panel upgrades, new circuits, rewiring and lighting a project needs to pass inspection and run the appliances you are buying: a 200-amp service for an ADU or EV charger, dedicated kitchen circuits, GFCI and AFCI protection, and Title 24 high-efficacy lighting. Green Design and Build is a licensed, bonded and insured general contractor (CSLB #1110975, Class B General Building) based in Van Nuys, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County; the electrical work is performed by licensed electricians and scheduled and supervised by us as your general contractor.

Panel upgrades: why 100 amps is not enough anymore, and who has to approve the new one

Most San Fernando Valley and Orange County homes built between 1950 and 1975 came with a 60- or 100-amp service and gas appliances. Add an ADU with an electric range, a heat pump and a Level 2 EV charger, and a load calculation under Article 220 of the California Electrical Code will not fit in 100 amps. The electrician runs that calculation before we tell you whether you need the upgrade; the answer is not always yes, and a load-management device on an EV charger sometimes buys enough headroom to avoid it.

What a 100-to-200 amp upgrade, a service relocation or a sub-panel typically costs, and how LADWP and SCE coordination affects the schedule, is in our electrical panel upgrade cost guide.

When the answer is yes, the new service brings requirements the old one never had. The current California Electrical Code (the 2025 edition, based on the 2023 National Electrical Code, in effect since January 1, 2026) requires a surge-protective device at every dwelling service (Section 230.67) and, when service equipment is replaced, an outdoor emergency disconnect within sight of the house, marked in red and white for firefighters (Section 230.85). The inspector also checks grounding, bonding and working clearance, and releases the job to the utility only after those pass.

Which utility you have depends on your address. The City of Los Angeles, including Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Woodland Hills and North Hollywood, is served by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which requires the LADBS electrical permit before its inspector will visit and generally charges no installation fee when its existing service can handle the new demand; charges apply when it has to upgrade conduit, a transformer or the line. Southern California Edison serves most of the rest of our territory, except for cities with their own municipal utilities: Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena in Los Angeles County, Anaheim in Orange County and the City of Riverside. In every case the building inspector signs off first and releases the job to the utility, which then schedules the reconnect and meter.

Kitchens and bathrooms: dedicated circuits, GFCI and AFCI

A kitchen remodel is where an old panel runs out of spaces. The code requires at least two 20-amp small-appliance circuits for the countertop receptacles, and a modern kitchen also needs individual circuits for the dishwasher, disposal, microwave and refrigerator, a 240-volt circuit for an electric or induction range and often one for a wall oven. That is six to eight new breakers before lighting, which is why a kitchen on a full 100-amp panel often triggers the upgrade above.

GFCI (ground-fault) protection is required for kitchen receptacles, every bathroom receptacle, garages, laundry areas, outdoor receptacles, receptacles within six feet of any sink or bathtub, and 240-volt receptacles such as a dryer or range. AFCI (arc-fault) protection is required on the 120-volt, 15- and 20-amp circuits serving kitchens, bedrooms, living and dining rooms, hallways, closets and laundry areas, and it is also triggered when an existing circuit is extended by more than six feet or gains an outlet, so moving a receptacle in an old bedroom can require an AFCI breaker. Tamper-resistant receptacles are required throughout the house, including garages and ADUs.

Bathrooms need a dedicated 20-amp receptacle circuit, an exhaust fan, and, for an electric radiant floor, a GFCI-protected circuit sized for the mat. Plan the towel warmer and bidet seat outlet now; neither exists in a 1960s bathroom.

Recessed lighting and Title 24: what JA8 means for your fixtures

California’s Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6, Section 150.0(k)) requires every permanently installed light in a home to be high-efficacy. For LED fixtures and lamps that means certification to Joint Appendix 8 and a JA8-2022 marking; recessed downlights must use JA8-certified light sources, cannot take screw-in bulbs, must be labeled airtight (under 2.0 cubic feet per minute of leakage) and sealed to the ceiling, and must be IC-rated where they touch attic insulation. Fixtures inside enclosed or recessed housings need the JA8-2022-E marking, which shows they passed elevated-temperature life testing.

Controls are part of the requirement: lighting in living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and bedrooms must be on a wall dimmer, and bathrooms, garages, laundry rooms, utility rooms and walk-in closets each need at least one fixture on a vacancy or occupancy sensor that shuts off within 20 minutes. An addition must meet all of it; in a remodel, only the new or altered lighting has to comply, and the installer signs a CF2R-LTG certificate at final. Pick fixtures from the JA8 list before you fall in love with a pendant. Our post on what homeowners wish they knew before a kitchen remodel covers layered lighting, and its real project is a 1960s home whose original panel could not carry the new appliances, discovered after demolition at a cost of about three weeks.

Older wiring: knob-and-tube, aluminum, ungrounded circuits and old panels

Pre-1950 houses in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Glendale and Long Beach often still have knob-and-tube wiring in the attic and walls, sometimes spliced to newer cable. It has no ground, its insulation is brittle, and it cannot be buried under the attic insulation an energy retrofit calls for. We replace it in the rooms a remodel opens and price a full rewire if the rest of the house has it, because many insurers will not write a new policy on active knob-and-tube.

Homes built from about 1965 through the early 1970s, including many tracts in the Valley, Orange County and Riverside, may have aluminum branch-circuit wiring. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that pre-1972 homes with aluminum wiring are 55 times more likely to have a connection reach fire-hazard conditions than copper-wired homes, and it recognizes only a full copper rewire, COPALUM crimp pigtails or AlumiConn connectors as repairs; ordinary twist-on wire nuts on aluminum overheated in its testing.

We also rewire ungrounded two-wire circuits in the rooms we remodel, and we replace rather than extend Zinsco and Federal Pacific panels and any panel with double-tapped breakers, rust or scorching at the bus. If yours is one of those, the upgrade is a safety item first and a capacity item second.

Permits and inspections: how the electrical part of your project gets signed off

Every piece of electrical work on our projects is permitted and inspected. In the City of Los Angeles, most residential electrical work in an existing home under 400 amps qualifies for an LADBS express permit with no plan check, and so does an EV charger installation in a home with up to 400 amps of service; a new ADU or large addition goes through plan check with the rest of the drawings. Outside the city, LA County Building and Safety covers unincorporated areas, and Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, Torrance and every Orange County city issue their own electrical permits, usually as a trade permit under the building permit we pull for the remodel.

The inspection sequence is the same everywhere: a rough inspection before insulation or drywall, a panel inspection and utility release if the service is changing, and a final after devices, fixtures and covers are on. What fails rough inspections in our experience is sequencing, not the electrician’s work: drywall hung before the inspector saw the wiring, or a drain run through a box location. Managing that order is the general contractor’s job.

Where we do this work

The electrical part of a remodel changes with the utility and the age of the house. In the City of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, LADBS permits the work and LADWP owns the service, so a panel upgrade is as much a scheduling problem as a wiring one; the housing stock is 1950s–70s ranch houses on 100-amp panels, plus older knob-and-tube homes in HPOZ neighborhoods where panel placement has to respect historic review. In Orange County, SCE (or Anaheim’s municipal utility) serves the house, every city runs its own building division, and master-planned communities add HOA review of any exterior panel, disconnect or EV charger location. Ventura County homes in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo and Oxnard are SCE territory with city or county inspection, and its 1970s tracts are where we most often find aluminum branch circuits. Western Riverside County mixes newer 200-amp tract homes in Eastvale, Murrieta and Corona with older Riverside neighborhoods on the city’s own utility, and summer heat there makes heat pump and EV loads a bigger part of the panel design. Western San Bernardino County, including Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, ranges from 1920s Euclid Avenue homes with small panels to newer 200-amp tracts in Ontario Ranch and Etiwanda. See all the cities we serve on our service areas page.

Outdoor work that needs a circuit: Outdoor kitchens, decks and pergolas · Landscaping and irrigation · Fencing and gates

How long does electrical work take?

The electrician’s time on site is short. The utility’s time is not, and it is what most often stalls an ADU or kitchen.

Task	Typical duration
Panel upgrade, electrician’s work	1 day, plus a return for the inspection and utility reconnect
LADWP or SCE coordination for a service upgrade	About 3 weeks on the ADU project above; LADWP says to allow 6 to 8 weeks for a service planning engineer to determine installation costs
Kitchen rough-in (new circuits, boxes, lighting)	2–4 days after framing, before drywall
Kitchen and bathroom finish (devices, fixtures, trims)	1–2 days after paint
ADU electrical	Spread across the build: underground feeder at foundation stage, rough-in after framing, finish before final
Whole-house rewire with walls open	1–2 weeks of electrical work inside a longer renovation

We order the panel and file the utility request at the start of the project, not when the electrician is ready for it, so the wait overlaps other work instead of stopping it.

How much does electrical work cost in a Southern California remodel?

Electrical is rarely the largest line in a remodel, but it is the one most likely to appear after demolition. The ranges below are typical Los Angeles budgeting ranges for a licensed electrician’s labor, materials and permit, not a quote.

Scope	Typical Los Angeles budgeting range	What moves the price
100-amp to 200-amp panel upgrade, overhead service	$4,000–$8,000	Utility service drop condition, meter relocation, grounding electrode work, whether the panel is moving
Same upgrade where the utility must replace the service drop or underground lateral	$8,000–$15,000+	LADWP or SCE engineering, trenching, transformer capacity
Subpanel and feeder for an ADU or addition	$2,000–$5,000	Distance from the main panel, trench vs attic run, feeder size
Dedicated 20-amp or 240-volt circuit, each	$300–$900	Run length, slab vs raised floor, finished walls
Level 2 EV charger circuit (charger not included)	$1,000–$2,500	Panel capacity, distance to garage or driveway, load management device
Recessed LED downlight, installed during a remodel, each	$150–$350	Fixture grade, insulation contact, ceiling access, dimmer
Kitchen remodel electrical package (circuits, lighting, GFCI/AFCI, under-cabinet)	$3,000–$8,000	Island wiring, appliance count, panel space
Bathroom remodel electrical package	$1,000–$3,000	Heated floor, fan, vanity lighting, new circuit
Whole-house rewire, 1,500–2,000 sq ft, walls open during a renovation	$15,000–$35,000	Attic and crawlspace access, plaster vs drywall, device count
Aluminum branch-circuit remediation (COPALUM or AlumiConn pigtails at every device)	$2,000–$6,000	Device count, panel condition

The $6,000–$8,000 figure in the opening paragraph is what a 100-amp to 200-amp upgrade added to the 600-square-foot detached ADU whose budget went from $180,000 to $265,000; the panel was already full and the owner wanted an electric range and a heat pump in the ADU.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a 200-amp panel upgrade for an ADU in Southern California?

An ADU in Southern California usually needs a 200-amp panel upgrade when the main house is on a 100-amp service and the ADU will have an electric range, a heat pump or an EV charger, but the deciding document is the Article 220 load calculation, not a rule of thumb. A small all-gas ADU can sometimes fit on an existing 100-amp service with a subpanel. On the 600-square-foot ADU described on our blog, the upgrade added $6,000 to $8,000 and about three weeks of utility lead time.

Does Green Design and Build do the electrical work itself?

The electrical work on a Green Design and Build project is performed by licensed electricians and scheduled and supervised by us as your general contractor under our Class B General Building license (CSLB #1110975). We scope the electrical with the rest of the remodel, coordinate the permits, sequence the electrician with the other trades and meet the inspector. We do not offer standalone electrical service calls.

How long does LADWP take to approve a panel upgrade?

An LADWP panel upgrade in the City of Los Angeles took about three weeks of utility lead time on the ADU project described on our blog, and LADWP says to allow six to eight weeks for a service planning engineer to determine installation costs when it has to review plans. LADWP will not send an inspector until the LADBS electrical permit exists, and it generally does not charge an installation fee when the existing service can carry the new load. We file the request at the start of the project so the wait overlaps other work.

What are the GFCI and AFCI requirements for a kitchen or bathroom remodel in California?

Under the current California Electrical Code, a remodeled kitchen or bathroom needs GFCI protection on kitchen receptacles, all bathroom receptacles, laundry, garage and outdoor receptacles and any receptacle within six feet of a sink or tub, and AFCI protection on the 15- and 20-amp circuits serving kitchens, bedrooms, living areas, hallways, closets and laundry areas. Extending an existing circuit by more than six feet or adding an outlet to it triggers the AFCI requirement even in an old house. Kitchens also need at least two 20-amp small-appliance circuits plus dedicated appliance circuits, and bathrooms need a dedicated 20-amp receptacle circuit.

What is Title 24 JA8 lighting and does it apply to my remodel?

Title 24 JA8 lighting is the California Energy Code requirement that permanently installed residential lighting be high-efficacy, which for LED fixtures and lamps means certification to Joint Appendix 8 and a JA8-2022 marking, with recessed downlights also required to be airtight, sealed and free of screw-in sockets. It applies to every fixture in an addition or ADU and to the new or altered lighting in a remodel, along with dimmers in living areas, kitchens and bedrooms and a vacancy sensor in bathrooms, garages, laundry and utility rooms. Lighting in rooms you are not remodeling can stay as it is.

Should knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring be replaced during a remodel?

Knob-and-tube wiring in a Southern California home should be replaced in any room a remodel opens up and, in most cases, throughout the house, because it is ungrounded, its insulation is failing, and many insurers will not write a policy on it. Aluminum branch-circuit wiring from the 1965 to early-1970s era should be rewired in copper or repaired at every connection with COPALUM crimps or AlumiConn connectors, the two methods the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recognizes. Both are far cheaper to do while walls are open than as a separate project later.