INSTALLING A HOME STANDBY GENERATOR - "What does it cost?"

Thank you ! I have been trying to find this information everywhere

We had three companies give us a quote for the Generac 24 KW. 1st quote: $16,500, 2nd quote: $13,200, & 3rd quote: $11,500 but left the permit pricing open. Generator price difference between $1,500 to $2,700. All were marked up at least 25% the Generac online. Thanks for the break down of the pricing.

Generac, on their website, grossly underestimates the cost. They say a typical install should be about $2,000. My install, according to my installers, was not typical, it was as simple as could be, yet they were the low bidder and the install cost was about twice that.

Typical 2400sf, contemporary out in the country, Upstate NY. Occupied by 2.5 adults ( a daughter in college).
All electric except the cooktop which is gas. Heated and cooled by geothermal.
I'd like to use LP. What size tank do you spec for a situation like this, and would you include burying it?
Great video, thanks for posting.

Dan, thank you for that great information.

Good information, thank you. I'm down in Texas so you can't help me with the installation. The 2 to 2.25 ratio is consistent with the over the phone quotes I have. I made an appointment at the end of March for an estimate and they will be here at the end of June, life is good for some.

WHAT ABOUT THE PROPANE TANK COSTS SINCE NO NATURAL GAS HERE

How does cost change if you don't want to run the whole house and want to pick and choose what you want running . here we have wells and we have heat pumps and only electric available here . The well the heat pump are most important to me as are the water filter and some appliances

You guys are chargeing 2.5 times the cost of the generator ! Thats amazing you can keep a straight face,hahaha.

I bought an 30kw MEP805B on a trailer with 150 hours for 8k. 200 amp double throw switch, 100 amp crouse hinds plugs, 100ft of 2/4 soow, 2k. Brand new 500 gallon diesel tank with 20gpm pump, 2k. 12k for the complete setup. The prices people are quoting for inferior equipment in the comments section are absolutely absurd!

Thank you for the advice. We got a $13,000 and $16,000 bid to install a Generac 22k stand-by here in northern California. We decided to hire each trade separately and here are our costs:
• Permit: $325
• Concrete pad for generator $100 (I poured it)
• Generator: $5,400 (all taxes and delivery)
• Electrician: $1,000 (parts and labor)
• Propane: hook up from our propane supplier $1,000 (I dug the ditches)
• Generator installer: $1,000 (too much for what he actually did, but we were ok with it)
Total costs: $8,825

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Dan, I used your formula on my install and it came out to 3.16, much higher than your rule of thumb of 2 - 2-1/4. Before I began my project I was expecting, or at least hoping it would be a ratio of something like 1.3 - 1.5 which is wishful thinking. Your advice should be a warning to others who embark on a weekend handyman standby setup where they buy the generator, then buy or build a box to put it in, and start cutting and putting it all together. Once I started, I just turned the money spigot on until it was done. Here is what I did to get the price that high. I live in C. America and there are no Honda dealers so I imported a 5kw generator set and ate the freight charges to get it here. There are plenty of inexpensive Chinese models available locally but I wanted quality and reliability. That plus a transfer switch came to $3,200. Total overall cost with generator and transfer switch- $10,130. Needless to say I was shocked.
I fabricated a cement block box with a metal roof and air shocks to assist with opening the lid which is over 200#. Concrete is heavy and helps attenuate noise. I paid a contractor local labor rates ($15/day/ employee) to build the box, foundation and metal front doors. He built and installed metal hoods on either end of the box for the exhaust fan and air intake to deflect the air at right angles hence lower sound levels. Other accessories and costs were
- a powered vent fan
- propane conversion kit. Honda gensets are gas only.
- custom exhaust with an auto muffler
- sound treatment for the compartment (imported from the US so another freight charge) total sound mat'l plus shipping $1,350
- electric cabling of course. All electrical, and much of the install work was done by me and friends.
Looking back on the project it seemed like a ton of work and really stretched my creativity. Now it has just been completed it seems like it was a fun project. Honda gensets are relatively quiet to begin with, and but I managed to lower noise levels to about 44 (library) in an adjacent bedroom.
This build was headache after headache and when I sat down and did the final cost tabulations I realized I should have taken your advice but it was too late. I still feel the brain damage caused by this project. If I had to do this all over again I would have shelled out for a generator with a weatherproof housing; perhaps a Kohler, Generac, Onan or other brand name. For the price you get built in technology like auto start and generator auto exercise programs, auto transfer of power etc. etc. Generator mfrs. have been in the business a long time and are very good at what they do. When you put it in the context that this is a setup that you will use very infrequently (emergency only) why not just buy the whole package and get the trades people you need to do the hookups. Where I live there are no permit requirements or inspection requirements so if I had to deal with those issues it would have been a whole lot more.
Let my experience be a warning to all of you who are in the market for a standby generator. If in foresight you question the cost of an enclosed generator package, feeling that these companies are out to rip you off, think again. It is natural to believe that you can beat that price by building your own installation. Dan you and I proved that this simply isn't the case. Hindsight is always better than foresight. Please don't pass this info on to my wife.

I'm still waiting for a approximate price!!

What is the price

Cummins or Kohler for whole home? I’m debating.
Can I use the gas outlet already there off the siding from the back of the house?

i want a diesel generator, we have so many generators around here that our last storm the gas company couldnt keep up and shut everyone off, they could supply enough natural gas, so i want something thats not natural gas, how much more are diesel generators? 24kw size

>>2X the cost of generator?! really?!? Generac installation is 50% of the cost of the generator!!!

Thanks for the info.
What are the current lead times like for a Generac liquid cooled 22Kw.
In May i was told 20-35 weeks.
Thanks!

I got a quote for a 20w Kohler for 30k..lmao..r

Very informative video, thanks for posting it. I just got a quote today to install a 22KW Generac backup generator at my home in Raleigh, NC. From what I'm seeing, the generator costs about $6,200, so with your formula I should be looking at a ballpark cost with installation of anywhere between $12,500 - $14,000. The guy who came out this morning is at $18,310, which is almost 3x the price of the generator, not the 2x / 2.25x you estimated. Think I'll get a few more quotes.

I live in a mobile home, can I get one hooked up for that?

Thank you for the info. ..excellent !!
I was thinking it was around $5,000, so guess I best start saving!! Really I am so disappointed.
Again thank you for your time!

I got a quote for like 16k got a 20kw kohler 😅with a maintenance and monitoring contract that would be about 1200.00 a year….😂😂😂😂 no thanks I’ll just get the 50 amp hook up done for $400 and get a portable generator for $1500.00……. Even the maintenance is expensive lol

Where I live the electrical contractors have colluded to make it one cost, $12,500. Assholes.

Sweet that is $750/hour almost double that my plumber charges.