Service and distribution sized for the real load—service upgrades, switchgear and switchboard replacement, transformers, and phased cutovers in occupied buildings across Texas.
Pillars Electric replaces, upgrades, and expands commercial service and distribution systems across Texas. The work covers everything from the utility connection to the last panelboard—service entrances, switchgear and switchboards, transformers, metering, panelboards and feeders—in buildings that have to keep running while it happens.
Most of these projects are not green-field. They’re a distribution system that has outgrown the load, an aging lineup that’s no longer supported by the manufacturer, or a new tenant whose equipment demands more power than the existing service can deliver. We size the upgrade to the engineered load, sequence it around the building’s operations, and turn it over code-compliant, inspection-ready, on schedule.
Because we’re the electrical arm of a commercial construction group—not a service shop that bids gear jobs on the side—we plan the cutover the way a builder does: long-lead procurement first, temporary power figured out before demo, inspections built into the schedule, and a closeout package that documents what was installed and what was removed.
Service-entrance replacement and upsizing—new conductors, service masts, CT cabinets, and grounding—coordinated with the utility from the first call.
Like-for-like and upsized replacements of low-voltage switchgear and switchboards, including main breakers, distribution sections, and bus.
New and replacement panelboards, sub-feeders, riser work, and tap boxes—sized and labeled to match the load schedule and the as-built.
Dry-type and pad-mount transformers—set, terminated, grounded, and energized as part of the planned cutover, not after it.
Utility metering, sub-metering for tenants and individual loads, and CT cabinets installed to the utility's spec and the owner's reporting needs.
Demand and short-circuit / coordination studies that size the new gear to actual measured load and confirm protective devices are set right.
Submittals pushed early, lineups released the day the design is approved, and gear staged so the cutover happens on the window the owner agreed to.
Phased shutdowns, temporary feeds, megger and torque testing, primary injection where required, and turnover documented in the closeout package.
It starts with a load assessment. Before we recommend gear we measure—existing demand, growth, the equipment the owner is adding, and what the building actually needs once the upgrade is done. A new 2,500-amp service that’s sized off a nameplate guess is the wrong service. We work from the real numbers and the engineered load study.
Then utility coordination. Service upgrades live and die by the utility schedule. We open the application, push the service-planning meeting, coordinate primary work, and confirm metering requirements early—so the utility’s window lines up with the gear delivery and the planned shutdown, not the other way around.
Long-lead procurement is the schedule. Switchgear and switchboard lead times have not returned to pre-2020 norms. We release submittals fast, place orders the day they’re approved, track factory dates weekly, and stage the gear under cover before the cutover window opens. If the lineup slips, we know it before the owner does.
The planned shutdown is rehearsed. Cutover plans are written in advance: which feeders move when, what gets temporary power, who’s on site, where the standby generator sits, what the rollback path looks like if something doesn’t come back up. We walk the plan with operations before the shutdown, not during it.
Testing and commissioning closes it out. Megger, torque, phasing, ground-fault, primary injection where the gear calls for it, and a full energization sequence. Trip settings get loaded against the coordination study, the as-builts are red-lined, and the panel schedules match what’s actually in the panel. Then the inspection.
Service amperage and voltage drive gear cost more than anything else—800A vs. 2,500A vs. 4,000A is a different conversation at every step.
Manufacturer and configuration set the schedule. Standard lineups move; custom or high-amperage gear may be 40+ weeks out.
A weekend full-shutdown is one cost. A phased, occupied-building cutover with temporary feeds and overtime windows is another.
Existing electrical room size, rigging access, slab capacity, and code-required clearances often dictate what the new gear can be.
An aging lineup, a planned cutover, or an upgrade you can’t schedule around—send the drawings and we’ll respond fast.