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Commercial Electrician Ann Arbor, MI
Wiring for leased suites, shops, offices and multi-unit buildings, with shutdowns planned around your hours. Free written estimate.
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Licensed and insured | Family owned | Free quotes | Office Mon to Fri, 7 am to 5 pm
Most businesses that call for a Commercial Electrician Ann Arbor, MI need a leased space wired for a new tenant, a meter bank for several units, or a fix for a circuit that keeps stopping work. Our crew drives over from Belleville, about 18 to 22 miles east, to handle all three in the city and in Pittsfield Township. This page on Commercial Electrician Ann Arbor, MI explains how we plan that work around a business that has to stay open.
3D Electric is a family-owned, licensed and insured electrical contractor with about two decades in the trade. Every estimate is free and written down before any work starts. For homes and the rest of our trade work in town, visit the Ann Arbor electrician page. For the company and the city itself, see 3D Electric in Ann Arbor.
Lectro's tip
Before the estimate visit, snap a photo of the breaker list inside your panel door so we can see what each circuit feeds.
Tenant build-outs in leased Ann Arbor space
A lot of Ann Arbor businesses rent their space, and a new lease often comes with an electrical to-do list. The last tenant's layout rarely matches yours. Counters move, equipment changes and the lighting that suited a clothing store will not suit a dental office.
Work a new tenant usually needs
Dedicated circuits for an espresso machine, a walk-in cooler, a compressor or a kiln.
Receptacles moved or added at desks, counters and checkout stations.
A subpanel so the suite has its own breakers close at hand.
New fixtures and switching that fit how the room is used.
A circuit and timer for an exterior or window sign.
Questions to settle with your landlord first
Read the lease for who hires the electrician, who pays for building-side work and which hours crews may work. If the space changes use, say from retail to food service, tell us early. A kitchen can add far more load than the old service was built to carry.
Meter banks for buildings with several units
Near the University of Michigan, many older houses and small buildings now hold several apartments. Downtown, storefronts often have apartments or offices upstairs. Each unit needs its own meter and its own disconnect, and over the years those banks rust, labels fade and units get renumbered.
Size the feed. The main conductors and gutter must carry the whole building, not just the units in use today.
Match every socket. Each meter and disconnect is tied to the right unit and labeled so a tenant, DTE and the next electrician all read it the same way.
Book DTE. DTE Energy serves most Ann Arbor addresses. It sets its own rules for meter layout and handles the disconnect and reconnect, which we schedule ahead with you.
Leave room. If an attic or basement unit may come later, we talk about space for it now.
When a single unit or the whole building needs more capacity, see meter and service upgrades in Ann Arbor. Full or failing breaker panels inside the units are covered on the Ann Arbor panel replacement page.
Older buildings and historic districts
Ann Arbor keeps a lot of old buildings in daily use. The Old West Side, a 19th-century neighborhood, has been on the National Register since 1972 and is protected by city ordinances. Older commercial space can hide wiring that was extended many times by many hands.
We open the panel, trace what feeds what and tell you plainly what is safe to reuse and what is not. If your building sits in a historic district, ask the city whether new outside equipment, such as a meter bank, disconnect or wall light, needs extra review before we mount it.
Ann Arbor permits through Build, Rent, Inspect
Most commercial electrical work needs a permit and an inspection. Which office handles it depends on where the building sits.
City of Ann Arbor: the Building Department in Build, Rent, Inspect, at 301 E. Huron St. Permits are filed in the city's STREAM system.
Pittsfield Township: the township runs its own office. Call and confirm its current process.
Scio Township and other nearby addresses: the same applies. Confirm the office for your address.
Larger jobs may need plans reviewed before work starts. Fees and review times belong to the office, so confirm the current requirements for your address early. The permit and inspection steps are part of the plan we quote.
Planned shutdowns and Tree Town outages
Most new circuits and lighting go in while you stay open. A panel swap, a meter change or a service upgrade needs the power off, so we set it for the quietest part of your weekday and tell you how long the building will be dark. Coming in on I-94 from Belleville, we arrive with the parts the job needs, so a planned shutdown does not stretch out.
Office hours are Monday to Friday, 7 am to 5 pm, and 24-hour emergency service is available if a fault closes your doors.
When the grid goes down
Ann Arbor is called Tree Town for good reason, and limbs take lines down. On July 26, 2023, a storm left more than 176,000 DTE customers without power, with fallen trees reported around Ann Arbor. A cooler full of stock, a lab fridge or a server closet does not ride that out well.
We install and service Generac, Honeywell and Kohler standby generators with automatic transfer switches, and we have already installed a generator in Ann Arbor. Our generator installation in Ann Arbor page covers local installs, and standby power for businesses explains how a commercial unit is sized.
What to send for an Ann Arbor estimate
Send these with your request and we can often scope the job before the visit:
The address and what the space is used for.
Photos of the meter and of the main panel with its door open and label showing.
The service size, and whether the building has single-phase or three-phase power, if you know.
Landlord or architect drawings, if any exist.
Your open hours and the times the power could go off.
Use the Ann Arbor quote request form, the main contact page or call (734) 697-8477. For how we handle business work across the region, read about our commercial electrical services.
Related pages
Panels, service, lighting, repair and more
How we plan business jobs anywhere we work
Backup power for shops and offices
Tripping breakers and dead circuits
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Pittsfield Township is on our service list along with the city. For Scio Township and other nearby addresses, call with the address and we will confirm.
Inside the city, the Building Department in Build, Rent, Inspect issues it, and permits are filed in STREAM. Townships such as Pittsfield and Scio run their own offices. Confirm current requirements for your address before work starts.
Usually, yes. Circuits, receptacles and lighting for one suite rarely need the whole building off. If the main service or meter bank must go dark, we agree on the time with you and the landlord ahead of time.
Yes. DTE Energy serves most Ann Arbor addresses and sets its own meter layout rules. DTE handles the disconnect and reconnect, and we schedule that visit ahead with you.
Yes. We install and service Generac, Honeywell and Kohler standby generators with automatic transfer switches. The size depends on which loads must keep running, so we scope it at a site visit.