Whole house generator installers in Virginia
Power, cost, permits & sizing ↓Virginia
161 Virginia companies install and service home standby generators, including 32 generator specialists and factory-authorized dealers. Company and brand details come from each company's own website — for warranty work, confirm current dealer status with the manufacturer directly.
161 companies
Generator specialists (13)
24 Hour Power Generator specialist
Charlottesville Generators Generator specialist
Eastwood Electrical & Generator Generator specialist
Generator Supercenter of Northern Virginia Generator specialist
Generator Supercenter of Richmond VA Generator specialist
Hale's Electrical Service, Inc (HaleYES Generators) Generator specialist
Home Generator Services of Virginia Generator specialist
Never Dark Generators Generator specialist
Northern Virginia Generator Generator specialist
RECORE Generator specialist
The Power Connection Generator specialist
Winchester Electric Service Generator specialist
Wired Up Brothers LLC Generator specialist
Electrical contractors that install generators (65)
Above the Code Electrical Electrical contractor
AJ Long Electric Electrical contractor
ALFA Group, LLC Electrical contractor
AP Electric LLC Electrical contractor
Asbury Electric Electrical contractor
Autumn Electric Co., Inc. Electrical contractor
Beacon Home Services Electrical contractor
Benfield Electric Inc. Electrical contractor
Blue & Gray Electrical Services Electrical contractor
Bobcat Electric Electrical contractor
Bradley Mechanical Electrical contractor
Buri Electric, LLC Electrical contractor
C.D. Shanahan's HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical & Remodeling LLC Electrical contractor
Castles Electrical Electrical contractor
Cline Electrical Electrical contractor
Comfort Control of Virginia Electrical contractor
CoreTrade Electric Electrical contractor
Davis & Green Electrical Plumbing Heating & Air Electrical contractor
Eagle Eye Electrical Electrical contractor
Express Electrical Services Electrical contractor
F.H. Furr Electrical contractor
FAT Electric Inc. Electrical contractor
Fitch Services Electrical contractor
Fresh Start Electrical Electrical contractor
Gault Electric Electrical contractor
Get Lit Electrical & Plumbing Electrical contractor
Good Guys Electric Electrical contractor
Governor's Electric Electrical contractor
Green Street Electric Electrical contractor
Guy Smith Home Services Electrical contractor
Hatchett Electrical Services, Inc. Electrical contractor
JF Electrical Contractors Electrical contractor
John C. Flood Electrical contractor
John Nugent & Sons Electrical contractor
Kegley Electric Company, LLC Electrical contractor
Kellam Home Services (Kellam Mechanical) Electrical contractor
Kolb Electric Electrical contractor
M.W. Butler Electrical Electrical contractor
Marines Service Co. Electrical contractor
McGrady-Lambert Electric, Inc. Electrical contractor
McLean Electric Co Electrical contractor
McLeod Electric Electrical contractor
Miller's Services Electrical contractor
Moore's Electrical Service Electrical contractor
Mr. Electric of Virginia Beach Electrical contractor
Ostrom Electrical Plumbing Heating & Air Electrical contractor
Poppy's Family Electric Service Electrical contractor
Power & Systems Integration Electrical contractor
Prestige Electric Electrical contractor
PRO Electric plus HVAC Electrical contractor
Quality Electrical Service Electrical contractor
RJ Home Services Electrical contractor
Root Electric Services Electrical contractor
S&S Electrical Services Electrical contractor
Salone Solutions, LLC Electrical contractor
SEL.Electric LLC Electrical contractor
Seven Hills Electric Electrical contractor
Southern Solar Electrical contractor
Storm Electric Services LLC Electrical contractor
The Electrical Guys Electrical contractor
The Go-To Crew Electric Electrical contractor
Thor Jr. Electrical Electrical contractor
Varco Electric Electrical contractor
West End Generators Electrical contractor
Wisler Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electric Electrical contractor
HVAC & plumbing contractors that install generators (64)
4 Service Pros HVAC / plumbing contractor
A-Advantage Heating and Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Able Heating & Air HVAC / plumbing contractor
Advanced Environment Solutions HVAC / plumbing contractor
Air-Right Energy Design HVAC / plumbing contractor
Aire Serv of the Central Shenandoah Valley HVAC / plumbing contractor
Argent Heating, Cooling & Plumbing HVAC / plumbing contractor
Atlantic Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Beck Cohen HVAC / plumbing contractor
BIM Heating and Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
Blue Ridge Heating & Air HVAC / plumbing contractor
Bob Garrett Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Bud's Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning & Electric HVAC / plumbing contractor
Capital City Comfort Solutions HVAC / plumbing contractor
Climatemakers of VA HVAC / plumbing contractor
Comfort Solutions Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Comfortable Climate Heating and Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Complete Comfort LLC HVAC / plumbing contractor
Conde Tech Services, LLC HVAC / plumbing contractor
Davis Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric HVAC / plumbing contractor
Davis Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Dran's Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Dynamic Mechanical Solutions HVAC / plumbing contractor
Energy Air & Electrical Inc HVAC / plumbing contractor
Falcon Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing HVAC / plumbing contractor
Foster Plumbing & Heating HVAC / plumbing contractor
Hare's Heating Cooling and Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Hickey Plumbing, Air & Electrical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Howell's Heating & Air HVAC / plumbing contractor
HVAC&POWER LLC HVAC / plumbing contractor
Jeff Wright Htg. & A/C Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Just Better Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Kasper Mechanical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Keil Plumbing & Heating Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Kelleher HVAC HVAC / plumbing contractor
Leonard Splaine Co. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Lighthouse Mechanical Heating and Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
M.E. Flow HVAC / plumbing contractor
Maddox Air, Electrical & Plumbing HVAC / plumbing contractor
Main Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
McKinney Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Mechollage HVAC / plumbing contractor
Miller's Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Norfolk Air Heating and Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
Parrish Services Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
R.A. Dobson, Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Reddick & Sons Inc. HVAC / plumbing contractor
Robertson Electric HVAC / plumbing contractor
Rogers Heating & Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
Rubio Mechanical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Russell's American Mechanical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Simmons Heating & Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
Smiley's Heating & Cooling HVAC / plumbing contractor
Smith & Keene HVAC / plumbing contractor
Snell Heating & Air HVAC / plumbing contractor
Southern Trust Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
SWVA Mechanical HVAC / plumbing contractor
Synergy Technical Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Turner's Service Company HVAC / plumbing contractor
Vipperman Air Conditioning HVAC / plumbing contractor
Woodfin - Your Home Team HVAC / plumbing contractor
Worley's Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Wythe Home Services HVAC / plumbing contractor
Xtreme Heating & Air HVAC / plumbing contractor
Power in Virginia
Virginia takes its outages from two directions. On the coast it's tropical: Hurricane Isabel came up the Chesapeake in September 2003 and caused what Dominion called the largest outage in its history to that point — on the order of 1.8 million customers dark, much of Hampton Roads out for a week or more. Inland it's wind and ice: the June 2012 derecho crossed the state in a few hours with 70 mph gusts clocked at Dulles and Reagan National, dropping trees onto lines and leaving roughly a million Virginia homes without power at the front edge of a record heat wave that turned a nuisance outage into a days-long emergency. Winter does its own damage — the January 2022 storm that stranded drivers on I-95 near Fredericksburg also knocked out around 400,000 customers. A whole-home standby generator starts on its own within seconds and keeps the heat pump, well pump, refrigerator, and medical equipment running on natural gas or propane until the utility restores the line.
Generator permits & codes in Virginia
- Who issues permits
- Your local building department issues the permit and inspects the work, enforcing the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC), the single statewide code that supersedes local building codes and is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The electrical work is licensed work: contractors are licensed by the Board for Contractors at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), and individual electricians hold DPOR journeyman or master electrician tradesman licenses.
- Timeline
- Varies by jurisdiction. Most residential generator permits are issued over the counter or online without plan review, with a single electrical inspection (plus a mechanical/gas inspection where a gas line is run) once the work is complete.
- Code in force
- The 2020 National Electrical Code, adopted as part of the 2021 edition of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, which took effect January 18, 2024. Because the USBC is a statewide code, that same NEC edition applies in every county and city — a locality can't adopt its own.
- Major utilities
- Dominion Energy Virginia is the largest utility, serving most of Hampton Roads, Richmond, and much of Northern Virginia; Appalachian Power (an American Electric Power company) serves the Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Blacksburg areas and much of Southwest Virginia, with Old Dominion Power in the far southwest; thirteen electric cooperatives — among them Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) and Rappahannock Electric — cover the suburbs and rural areas. Dominion warns that a generator tied into house wiring can backfeed the lines and that the safe connection is a transfer switch installed by a licensed electrician, so crews aren't endangered when the power comes back.
- Worth knowing
- Virginia's building code is genuinely statewide: the USBC is a uniform code that localities must enforce and may not amend, so the electrical edition and the permit-and-inspection requirement are the same in a rural county as in a Northern Virginia suburb — only fees and turnaround differ. Note too that Virginia's contractor classes are set by job size: a Class C license covers work under $30,000, Class B up to $150,000, and Class A has no limit, so most residential generator installs sit within a Class C contractor's scope.
Common questions about whole house generators in Virginia
How much does a standby generator cost installed in Virginia?
For a typical Virginia home, budget roughly $9,000–$15,000 all-in for
a whole-house air-cooled standby unit (about 18–26 kW): the
generator, the automatic transfer switch, the pad, the fuel hookup, the
electrical work, and permits. An essentials-only unit (10–14 kW)
runs about $6,000–$9,000, and liquid-cooled units for large homes climb
past $20,000. Fuel is the swing factor: the Hampton Roads cities,
Richmond, and the Northern Virginia suburbs mostly have natural-gas
service, but much of the Shenandoah Valley, Southside, and rural
Southwest Virginia has no gas main, so those installs run on a propane
tank that adds to the up-front cost.
Do I need a permit to install a generator in Virginia?
Yes. A standby generator install requires an electrical permit — and
usually a mechanical or gas permit — pulled from your local building
department, which enforces the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code,
and followed by an inspection. The electrical work is licensed work:
Virginia regulates electricians through the Department of Professional
and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), and the contractor doing the job
carries a Class A, B, or C contractor license with the electrical
specialty. A reputable installer pulls the permits and schedules the
inspection as part of the job — treat anyone who offers to skip the
permit as a red flag.
What size generator do I need in Virginia?
That comes down to a load calculation any good installer runs during
the site visit, and three loads tend to drive it here. Summer air
conditioning is a heavy, near-continuous draw in the humid Tidewater
and Hampton Roads heat, and the compressor's start-up surge sets a floor
on capacity. Most Virginia homes heat with a heat pump backed by
electric-resistance strips that pull hard on a cold Piedmont or mountain
night. And rural homes on a private well — common across Southwest
Virginia and Southside — lose their water the moment the power quits.
Essentials only fits in 10–14 kW; a typical whole house lands at
18–26 kW; a soft-start on the AC can keep the unit, and the price,
smaller.
Generac, Kohler, Cummins, or Briggs & Stratton — does the brand matter?
All four make reliable home standby units; the installer and the
service relationship afterward matter more than the badge. Generac has
the largest dealer network in Virginia, so parts and warranty techs are
easy to find from the coast through the Piedmont to the mountains;
Kohler and Cummins have strong dealers in the larger metros. A
factory-authorized dealer can perform warranty service on its own
brand, which is worth weighing when two brands otherwise look alike. Use
the brand pages here to see who installs and services each one near
you.
How long does installation take?
The on-site work is usually one to two days once the unit is in hand:
set the pad, run the gas and electrical, mount the transfer switch, and
commission it. The calendar time is longer — a site visit and quote,
then permitting, then the inspection. After a major storm those steps
stretch, because every house on the block wants a generator and an
installer at the same moment. Ordering ahead of hurricane season,
rather than the week after a storm, is how you avoid competing for both
the unit and the crew.
What maintenance does a standby generator need?
An annual service — oil and filter, spark plugs on schedule, a battery
check, and a load test — on top of the weekly self-test the unit runs
on its own. Virginia's long, humid summers are hard on the battery and
enclosure, and a Hampton Roads or Eastern Shore install near salt water
wants a regular corrosion check. The point is to prove the unit works
before the season it's needed, not during it. Many installers listed
here offer maintenance plans, and several service brands they don't
sell. Neglected maintenance is the most common reason a generator fails
to start when the grid finally goes down.