Homeowners hear “panel upgrade” and picture a week of electricians tearing up the house. It almost never looks like that. The hands-on work is a one-day job in most South Florida homes. What stretches the calendar is everything around that day — the permit, the utility, and the inspection — and I’ll walk you through both clocks so you can plan around the real one, not the sales pitch.
Key takeaways
- The panel swap itself usually takes one working day, with your power off for roughly 6 to 8 hours of that day.
- Start to finish, most upgrades run about 2 to 4 weeks once you count the permit, scheduling Florida Power & Light to disconnect and reconnect the service, and the city inspection.
- The job stops being a one-day swap when the meter can, mast, or service entrance also need replacing, when the panel has to move to a new location, or when an inspection turns up code corrections.
- Plan the power-off day like a short outage: keep the fridge closed, expect the AC to be off, charge everything the night before, and make a plan for pets and anyone working from home.
- A contractor who quotes you a timeline without mentioning the permit, the utility, or the inspection is quoting you the easy part only.
The one day your power is actually off
On swap day, we start in the morning. The utility disconnects power at the service, the old panel comes out, the new panel goes in, every circuit gets landed and labeled, and then we call for the inspection that lets the utility reconnect you. In a straightforward like-for-like upgrade — same location, healthy meter and mast, no surprises in the wall — you’re typically back on power by late afternoon.
That 6-to-8-hour window with no power is the part to plan around. Your fridge and freezer will hold their temperature fine if you leave the doors shut. Your AC will be off, so in a South Florida summer I’d schedule the work early in the week and early in the day, and I wouldn’t plan to work from home on a laptop that needs to last all day. If someone in the house relies on powered medical equipment, tell us before we schedule — that changes how we sequence the day, and it’s a conversation to have up front, not at 9 AM with the meter already pulled.
You can see the kind of panel and service work we do every week on our electrical page, and judge the company itself starting at onelconstruction.com.
The calendar around that day: permit, utility, inspection
Here’s the timeline nobody puts in the quote. Before swap day, the permit has to be applied for and issued — panel work in Florida needs a permit even when the new panel goes in the exact same spot, and I covered that in detail in our post on what an electrical panel upgrade costs in South Florida, which walks through the permit step too. Then the job has to be coordinated with Florida Power & Light, because the disconnect and reconnect at the service are theirs, not ours — our day has to line up with their truck, and that scheduling is usually the longest single wait in the whole job.
After the swap, the city inspector has to pass the work. On a clean job that’s a quick visit and the file closes. Put it all together and a normal, well-run upgrade lands at roughly 2 to 4 weeks from “yes, let’s do it” to “inspected and closed” — with only one of those days being loud, dusty, or dark at your house. If a contractor promises you the whole thing, permit to final inspection, inside a few days, ask him who’s pulling the permit and who’s calling the utility. The answer tells you whether the other steps are happening at all.
When it stops being a one-day job
A few findings turn a swap into a bigger project, and an honest electrician names them before the power goes off, not after. A rusted or damaged meter can, a bent or undersized mast, or a service entrance cable that’s reached the end of its life all have to be corrected while we’re in there — putting a brand-new panel behind a failing service just moves the problem. Moving the panel to a different wall or room adds rerouting work and drywall or stucco patching, and can add days. And if the inspection finds older wiring or grounding that doesn’t meet current code, those corrections get made and re-inspected before the job closes.
None of that is a reason to put off an upgrade you actually need — a panel that’s tripping, full, or on an insurer’s problem list doesn’t get safer with time. It’s a reason to get the scope in writing up front, with the “if we find this, it costs that” items named before anyone touches a wire.
What it costs to wait — and to spread the cost out
Most panel upgrades we do can be financed — small jobs from $120/month, typical projects in the low $200s–$300s/month, with approved credit, at rates as low as 4.49% APR with approved credit through our financing partner. The timeline above doesn’t change with financing; it just means the schedule, not the savings account, decides when the work happens.*
Want a real date instead of a guess?
Call or text me at (561) 462-9293 (call/text), or reach us through our contact page. Tell me what panel you’ve got and what you’re trying to run — an EV charger, a tankless water heater, a kitchen remodel — and I’ll tell you straight whether you’re looking at a one-day swap and what the permit and utility calendar around it really looks like for your city. No charge for that conversation.
Onel Construction LLC — a licensed Florida general contracting firm (CGC1511492). Licensed and insured, serving Boca Raton and a 75-mile radius — West Palm Beach to Miami.
Prices are averages from recent jobs, set before the latest round of tariff-driven material price increases, and subject to change with inflation, tariffs, and market conditions. Your free estimate always uses current numbers.
FAQ
Will I be without power overnight during a panel upgrade?
On a standard one-day swap, no — the goal is always to have you reconnected the same day, and that’s how we schedule it. An overnight outage only enters the picture on larger service rebuilds or if an inspection fails late in the day, which is exactly why the scope and the utility coordination get settled before swap day.
Do I need to be home during the panel upgrade?
Someone needs to give us access in the morning, and it’s smart to be reachable by phone during the day, but you don’t need to stand over the work. Most homeowners leave for the power-off stretch and come back to a labeled new panel and the lights on.
Can a panel upgrade and an EV charger be done at the same time?
Yes, and it’s usually the smart way to do it — the load calculation, permit, and utility coordination happen once, and the charger circuit goes in while the panel is open. Tell us the charger is part of the plan before we size the new panel, not after it’s installed.
How far ahead should I book a panel upgrade?
Give it 2 to 4 weeks of lead time in most cases, so the permit and the utility disconnect/reconnect can be lined up properly. If your insurer has given you a deadline on an old panel, tell us the date on the first call — that changes how we sequence the paperwork.
Insurance savings vary by carrier, policy, and home — figures shown are ‘up to’ amounts, not guarantees. Grant eligibility, amounts, and funding availability are determined by the program and may change. Financing subject to lender approval; rates and payments vary by credit profile. All financing examples assume approved credit through our financing partner.
