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Most of the calls we get start with somebody picturing something better. A driveway lit up when you pull in. A garage you’d actually want to work in. A car that charges overnight and is ready by morning. A panel with room for whatever comes next.
That’s the work, and it’s most of what we do. So here’s the whole list, one project at a time. What each one involves, what it’s like to have us do it, and how to tell which ones are worth it for your house. Straight answers, a written price, and all the time you want to think it over.
What Does an Electrician Actually Do for a Home Like Mine?
The short version, for anyone who wants it before the details: standby generator installation, electrical panel upgrades, whole-home surge protection, landscape and security lighting, exterior outlets and the circuits to run them, patio and outdoor TV power, garage and attic lighting, recessed lighting, Level 2 EV chargers, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, safety inspections, and the wiring for a remodel or a new build. Some of that is a two-hour visit. Some of it is a two-day project. All of it starts the same way, with a licensed electrician looking at your actual house and giving you a written price before anything begins.
What Makes an Install a Good One
Worth starting here, because it’s the part of this trade that’s invisible from the outside, and it’s the whole reason people call us back and hand our number to their neighbors.
Code sets the floor, the point where work is legal and safe, and meeting it isn’t optional. Everything we build on top of that floor is craft, and craft is what you live with for the next twenty years.
What that looks like in practice
The wiring behind your walls takes the sensible path instead of the fastest one. Every connection gets made tight, which is what keeps a circuit quietly doing its job for twenty years without anybody thinking about it. Your panel comes back labeled in plain English, so the next time you need to shut something off you find it on the first try. And the outlet covers sit straight, because that’s the part you actually look at every day.
Permits pulled where permits are required, filed, and closed out on our end. And a house that looks like nobody was ever in it when we leave, which comes up in our reviews constantly.
Why it matters more on the big jobs
On a fixture swap, careful work and quick work look about the same. On a panel, a generator, or a whole-house rewire, careful work is the entire difference. Those are the jobs where the extra hour shows up years later as a panel that still runs quiet and breakers you never have to think about.
We’d rather take the extra hour. Our pricing is flat rather than hourly, which means taking that hour costs you nothing and costs us something. That’s on purpose.
Standby Generators: The Project People Think About Longest
This is the one homeowners sit with. A lot of people who call us about a generator have been thinking about it for a while, sometimes a couple of years, because it changes how the whole house feels. It’s one of the more involved projects we do, and it’s worth understanding before you decide.
We’re an authorized Generac dealer, which means we handle the generator sizing, electrical installation, setup, and ongoing service. The plumbing or gas line portion is completed separately by a licensed plumber, but we take care of everything else from start to finish. And when your generator needs service years down the road, you’re calling the same company that installed it and already knows your system.
What a standby generator actually does for your house
A standby generator lives outside on a concrete pad, roughly the footprint of a central AC unit, hooked to your gas line and to your electrical panel. When the power goes out, it notices within seconds, starts itself, and takes over the house. When the utility comes back, it hands everything over and shuts itself down. Nobody has to be home. Nobody has to do anything.
That last part is the whole appeal for most of the families we install for. Plenty of them started with a portable and love what a standby adds on top of it: no fuel to fetch, no cords to run, nothing to start. It does its job while you’re at work or asleep.
Sizing it to your actual house
This is the conversation we have at the kitchen table, and it’s the part that matters most. Sizing a generator is a real look at what your family wants running when the power’s out, rather than a square-footage formula.
Some homeowners want everything: the whole house, both AC units, the oven, all of it, and never think about it again. Others want the essentials covered, meaning heat, the refrigerator, the internet, a few key outlets, and one comfortable room. Both are good answers, and the second one costs less. We size the unit to the list you give us, which is how you end up paying for exactly the coverage you’ll use. We’ll walk your panel, ask what matters to you, and recommend accordingly.
Keeping it healthy after the install
A standby generator is a small engine that sits outside and runs itself for a few minutes once a week to stay ready. Like any engine, it needs servicing once a year. We offer an annual service plan for exactly that, so it starts just as reliably in year four as it did the week we set it on the pad.
This is also where being a Generac dealer matters more than it sounds. The crew servicing your unit is the crew that installed it and knows the house. Want to see what’s available for your home? Browse models at generac.wellottelectric.com, then call us at 972-214-8614 and we’ll talk through sizing.
How Much Room Your Panel Already Has
Usually the answer is yes, and one visit is how you know for certain. Almost every large project in this guide runs through your electrical panel, so it’s worth a minute on its own.
A generator needs somewhere to connect. An EV charger needs a heavy circuit of its own. A hot tub, a pool heater, a workshop, a kitchen remodel, a heated garage- all of them are asking the same panel for more. If you’re planning one of those, the panel conversation comes first, and it’s a short one.
How we tell whether there’s room
One visit. We look at everything your house already runs, the AC, the oven, the water heater, the dryer- and work out how much room is left in your panel. The answer is either yes, there’s room, or no, and here’s what it takes to make room. You get it in writing either way, before anything is ordered.
Plenty of the homes we look at have room to spare. When that’s the answer, we say so, and there’s no panel to sell. That happens more often than you’d think.
The projects that usually start with a panel:
- Adding a standby generator, which has to tie in at the panel
- Installing a Level 2 EV charger, especially in a house already running a pool, a spa, or a second AC unit
- A kitchen remodel, where new ranges, ovens, and everything else that needs its own circuit stack up fast
- Finishing out a garage, shop, or barndominium with lighting, outlets, and equipment circuits
- Homes still on an original 1980s or 1990s panel now running a modern family’s worth of everything
McKinney and Frisco are full of houses in that last category, built for a very different set of appliances than the ones in them now. That’s just more plugged in than the house was built for, and it’s usually fixable in a day.
A panel upgrade with us includes the new panel and breakers, everything brought up to current code, the city permit, the inspection, and all the coordination that goes with them. All of it in the written price before we start.
Protecting the Electronics You Are Adding to the House
Think about what’s gone into your house in the last three years. A bigger TV. A smart thermostat. Cameras. A doorbell. A gaming setup. A router that runs the whole household. Maybe a second TV outside. Every one of those is a small computer, and every one of them is plugged into the same electrical system.
A whole-home surge protector installs at your main panel and protects everything in the house at once. One device covers what a power strip can’t reach: your HVAC, your oven, the garage door opener, and the cameras hardwired outside. Those are usually the ones most worth covering.
Most surges are small and routine. Big appliances kicking on and off inside your own house, normal ups and downs on the power line, weather that never quite becomes a storm. A device at the panel smooths those out, which is how your electronics reach the full life you paid for.
Our install includes the device at your panel, a test to be sure it’s doing its job, and the warranty paperwork. It’s a short visit, and it pairs naturally with a panel upgrade or a generator since we’re already there.
Outdoor Lighting: The Upgrade Neighbors Notice First
Of everything on this list, outdoor lighting is the one homeowners send us photos of afterward. It changes how a house looks from the street, which makes it one of the few projects here the neighbors get to enjoy too.
Landscape and architectural lighting
This is the lighting that makes a house look like the version of itself in the listing photos. Uplights on the oaks and the front of the house, light raking across stone and brick to bring out the texture, soft washes on the planting beds. The fixtures are safe to be around and easy to move as the landscaping fills in.
The aiming is the craft. Two identical fixture packages can look completely different depending on where they sit and where they point, which is why we set them at dusk and adjust with you standing in the street looking at your own house. That’s the moment the job sells itself.
Path, step, and driveway lighting
The practical half. Path lights along a walk, small fixtures on step risers, and lighting at the end of a long driveway all do the same job: they let people arrive at your house after dark without thinking about it. If you’ve got guests coming, or a step down into the backyard, a few small fixtures make the whole approach feel finished and easy to walk.
Motion-sensor and security lighting
This is a job we do constantly. Motion-activated fixtures on the garage side, the back of the house, and the gate, aimed properly so they light the ground and not your neighbor’s bedroom window. The new ones are far better than the old floodlights, and you can set how sensitive they are and how long they stay on, so the light comes on for what matters and leaves the backyard calm the rest of the night.
Done well, security lighting reads as good design rather than as security.
Permanent exterior lighting
Worth knowing about, because a lot of North Texas homeowners are asking. Permanent architectural LED systems mount discreetly under the eaves and stay there year-round. They’re programmable, so the same system is warm white on an ordinary Tuesday and team colors for a game.
Whichever way you go on the fixtures themselves, the electrical side is the same conversation: power run out to the eaves, a circuit of its own, and outlets in the right places. That part we handle either way, and it’s worth sorting out before you decide anything else.
Outdoor Outlets and Holiday Lighting Circuits (The Part Worth Doing First)
One visit, and every year after that the lights just plug in. That’s the whole appeal of this one, and it’s among the most satisfying jobs on this list.
Here’s how it works. Most homes were built with one or two exterior outlets, typically on the patio and maybe by the front door, and both are often sharing a circuit with something else. A whole roofline of lights, an inflatable, and a projector are asking that one circuit for more than it was built to give. Give them a circuit of their own and the whole display runs at once, all season, every season.
It’s a straightforward job, and getting it done before the decorations come out of the box means the first night of lights is the fun part.
What a proper exterior lighting setup looks like:
- A circuit of their own, so the decorations have all that power to themselves
- Proper weatherproof outlets placed where the lights actually go, including up under the eaves where you can reach them from a ladder rather than from the roof
- A switch inside the house or a timer at the outlet, so the whole display goes on and off from the kitchen
- Outlets on the porch ceiling for hanging decor, wreaths, and anything you’d rather not run a cord to
That last one surprises people. A single outlet in the porch ceiling makes a hanging star or a lit wreath a two-minute job instead of an afternoon of cord management.
And rather than counting strands and doing math on a ladder about what one outlet can take, the simpler fix is giving the decorations a circuit of their own.
The part that makes a lighting installer’s job easy
Worth saying plainly, since it saves people money. Professional holiday lighting installers hang and remove lights beautifully. Adding circuits, installing outlets, and working inside your panel is licensed electrical work, which is our half of it. Getting the outlets and the circuit in first means the crew you hire shows up and hangs lights, which is exactly what you’re paying them for.
Patio Power, Outdoor TVs, and Backyard Living
A covered patio adds usable room for less than almost any interior addition, and most of what stands between a slab with a grill on it and a room people actually use is electrical.
The outdoor TV
An outdoor television needs a weatherproof outlet right where the TV goes, ideally not on the same circuit as the string lights, the sound system, and a mini fridge. We put the outlet behind the mount so nothing dangles, hide the TV cables in the wall at the same time, and make sure the patio has enough power that the TV, the lights, and the fridge all run at once while everybody watches the game.
Patio outlets, string lights, and the rest of it
Weatherproof outlets where you actually use them, which is usually not where the builder put the one. Enough power for a fridge, a smoker, or a heater without anything tripping. Proper anchors and power for string lights, so the run is tight and permanent instead of drooping off a nail. A ceiling fan on a covered patio to keep the air moving. And every fan we hang, inside or out, gets mounted to something built to carry the weight, which is what keeps it running smooth and quiet for years.
Power right where you actually use it
Extension cords are built to be temporary, and a permanent outlet is one of the easiest upgrades in this whole guide. One weatherproof outlet, put right where you actually need power, retires a whole pile of them for good.
Garage, Workshop, and Attic Lighting
Two of the most-used spaces in a North Texas house are also the two easiest to transform. Both are quick wins.
Garage and workshop
Most garages in Collin County came with one or two bulbs in the middle of the ceiling, which was plenty for parking a car. A proper LED layout changes what the space is good for. Add a few outlets at bench height, enough power to run a compressor or a saw without the lights dimming, and maybe a ceiling fan, and a garage becomes a shop.
If you like keeping the garage organized, good light is the upgrade that makes it stay that way.
The attic, and the light nobody has
Here’s a small one that people love disproportionately. Most attics in North Texas came with one pull-chain bulb or nothing at all, which makes this one of the fastest upgrades we do.
A switched light at the top of the pull-down stairs, plus a light or two over the part where you actually store things, takes us very little time and makes that trip a completely different experience. Add an outlet up there while we’re at it and you’ve got somewhere to plug in a fan or a work light. It’s the kind of job that costs little and gets mentioned to us for years.
Recessed Lighting and the Room That Becomes Everyone’s Favorite
Most houses have one room that could feel a whole lot better than it does, and light is usually the reason. One fixture in the middle of the ceiling is doing a job that four or five should be sharing, and spreading it out changes the entire room.
Recessed lighting fixes that quietly. The layout is the part that matters, planned around the actual room and the way you use it instead of dropped onto a grid. Lights placed to reach the walls instead of pooling in the middle of the floor. Dimmers, so the same space works for homework at six and a movie at nine.
Warm light or bright white? The one choice that decides how a room feels
There’s one choice on the box that decides how a room feels, and it’s worth picking on purpose. Warm light looks like a living room. Cooler, whiter light looks like an office or a hardware store, which is exactly right for a garage or a workshop and exactly what you’d want to skip in a bedroom.
We’ll show you the difference before anything gets cut, so one open floor plan reads as a single warm, consistent space from the very first night. And we cut clean and patch tidily, so the ceiling looks like it was always that way.
EV Chargers and a Garage Ready for Everything That Charges
Two related things, because they come up in the same conversation more often than not.
Home charging that keeps up with how you actually drive
If there’s an electric vehicle in the driveway, a Level 2 charger is the upgrade you feel every single morning. It runs on a heavy circuit of its own and turns an overnight into a few hours, which is the difference between planning your week around the car and never thinking about it.
We install Level 2 charging for most major brands, including Tesla, Ford, Rivian, and Chevrolet. A proper install means its own circuit, the right connection for your car, a check that your panel can carry it, the unit mounted where you actually want it rather than where the wire happened to land, and a charging test before we leave.
Setting the garage up for everything that charges out there
Garages do a lot more charging than they used to. Between the car, the e-bikes, the scooters, the tool batteries, and the lawn equipment, most garages are ready for a few more outlets than the builder put in.
The practical version: give the big items outlets of their own, keep everything on a proper wall outlet, and use the charger that came with the equipment. If your garage outlets are original to a 1990s build, adding a few more is a short visit and it makes the whole space easier to use.
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
If anything in your house burns fuel, a furnace or a water heater especially, carbon monoxide detection is what lets you stop thinking about it, and it earns its keep most in the months when the house stays closed up with the HVAC running. Which, in North Texas, is most of the year.
Smoke alarms come with a date printed on the back, and about ten years is the usual replacement point. It’s a quick thing to check, and if yours came with the house, we’ll bring fresh ones and swap them while we’re there.
We test and replace smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and we can wire them together so one alarm sets off all of them and you hear it from the far end of the house. It’s the kind of thing we can knock out in a few minutes on a visit we’re already making.
The Whole-Home Electrical Safety Inspection
If half the projects in this guide sound like maybes and you’d rather have someone tell you which ones your house actually needs, this is how you find out.
A licensed electrician goes through your panel and breakers, tests the outlets with the little test and reset buttons in the kitchen, baths, garage, laundry, and outside, looks at whatever wiring is reachable, checks your smoke and carbon monoxide coverage, and tells you whether you’ve got room for whatever you’re planning. You get a written report with what’s fine, what’s worth watching, and what’s worth doing, in that order.
It’s a genuinely useful visit, particularly for anyone who bought in the last couple of years and would like a clear picture of what they’ve got and what it’s ready for. It’s also included every year for All Access Pass members, which we’ll get to.
Remodeling or Building?
The electrical side of a remodel is worth planning early, because while the walls are open you can put every circuit, outlet, and fixture exactly where you want it.
Kitchens
Kitchens ask more of a home’s electrical system than any other room, which is why planning the wiring alongside the cabinet drawings is what makes the finished kitchen work. Induction ranges and double ovens each want a circuit of their own. Islands need outlets, and where they go affects where the seating goes. Under-cabinet lighting gets planned while the drawings are still on the table, and the recessed layout gets drawn against the actual cabinet plan so every light lands where you want it.
Baths, additions, and outbuildings
Baths bring the outlets with the test and reset buttons, exhaust fans, heated floors, and lighting that has to work for both getting ready in the morning and a bath at night. Additions and converted spaces need their own circuits planned from the start. Shops, barns, she-sheds, and barndominiums are their own category, and we do a lot of them.
New construction
We wire custom homes and barndominiums from the first wire to the last fixture, handle the inspections, and work directly with builders and owner-builders across Collin, Grayson, and Fannin County. The most valuable thing we do on a build happens in the first conversation, before anything is framed: making sure the house is set up for how the family is actually going to live in it, including the EV charger and the generator they’ll want in three years even if they aren’t buying either one today.
How Wellott Electric Prices a Job
We don’t publish prices for this work, and we’d rather explain why than pretend. A fair number for a generator, a panel, or a lighting package depends on your house: what you’ve already got, how far the wire has to run, what the gas situation is, how many fixtures, what the ground is like. A number that holds up is a number somebody arrived at standing in your house, looking at your panel and your run.
What we can tell you exactly is how our pricing works. We bill the job, not the clock, so a job that takes eight hours costs what a six-hour one does, and if it runs long, that’s on us. On major work like a panel upgrade or a generator, the city permit and the final inspection are inside that number rather than added to it later. And you see and approve the written price before anyone lifts a tool.
What to Expect When You Book With Us
If you haven’t worked with us before, here’s the whole thing, start to finish.
You book three ways: online in a couple of minutes, by email at scheduling@wellottelectric.com, or by calling 972-214-8614, where a real person picks up. Standard work is usually available the same week. Emergencies are same-day, and we answer around the clock.
You get a four-hour arrival window rather than a vague morning or afternoon, and a call or text about thirty minutes before we knock, so you can get on with your morning right up until we’re close. A licensed electrician looks at the job on-site and gives you a clear written estimate before anything begins. You decide, with no pressure at all. Plenty of service calls we finish the same day. Larger projects get scheduled promptly around the scope.
And we clean up after ourselves, which reviewers mention often.
The All Access Pass
For homeowners who’d rather have an electrician they already know, we offer a membership called the All Access Pass.
Once a year, we come out and do a whole-home electrical inspection, so you always know exactly where your system stands and what it’s ready for. Discounted diagnostic fees on every visit, and any time you need us in a hurry, after hours, or during a busy stretch, you go to the front of the schedule.
Members tell us the value lands the first time they call on a weekend and get an answer that day. Ask us about it on any visit.
Where We Work: McKinney, Collin County, and Beyond
We’re based in McKinney at 403 Power House St Ste 308, and we cover homeowners across three counties from there. When you search for an electrician near me in McKinney or anywhere nearby, being close by is most of what you’re actually after, and we are.
We proudly serve McKinney, Allen, Frisco, Prosper, Celina, Melissa, Anna, Fairview, Princeton, Van Alstyne, Sherman, Plano, Richardson, Aubrey, Denton, Gunter, Leonard, Greenville, and many more communities across Collin, Grayson, and Fannin County. Local means faster scheduling and a familiar face at the door. Standard appointments are usually available the same week, and for a true emergency, we answer the phone 24 hours a day.
Ready When You Are
If anything here landed- the generator you’ve been picturing on the side of the house, the front of the house that would look completely different with real lighting on it, the garage you’d actually use if you could see in it, or just the sense that you’d like to know where your electrical system stands- the next step is a short one.