What Is Included in Sarasota New Construction Electrical Work? | CoHarbor Electric

Every few weeks we get a version of the same phone call. Someone’s about to break ground on a new build in Sarasota, or they’ve just gotten their first electrical bid back from a builder, and they’re staring at a number wondering what exactly it covers. Fair question. “Electrical” on a new construction budget can mean almost anything depending on who’s writing the proposal — and the gap between a bare-bones scope and a complete one is where a lot of homeowners get surprised halfway through the build.

So we wanted to lay this out plainly. What actually falls under new construction electrical work in Sarasota, what usually gets treated as an allowance or add-on, and where the confusion tends to happen. We’ve wired new builds from Laurel Park bungalow lots to larger custom homes out toward Palmer Ranch, and the scope questions are pretty consistent no matter the size of the house.

The Rough-In Phase — Where Most of the Work Actually Happens

Rough-in is the part of the job nobody sees once drywall goes up, but it’s where the bulk of the electrical scope lives. This is the wiring that runs through the studs and ceiling joists before insulation and walls close everything in — every outlet, switch, light box, and circuit path gets roughed in at this stage.

A standard rough-in scope includes:

• Whole-home wiring for outlets, switches, and lighting circuits
• Wiring for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (interconnected, per Florida code)
• Dedicated circuits for major appliances — range, dryer, HVAC, water heater
• Bathroom and kitchen GFCI-protected circuits
• Exterior outlet and lighting circuits
• Wiring for the garage, including a dedicated circuit if a workshop or EV charger is planned

That last one trips people up more than anything else. If you know you’ll want an EV charger down the road — and out here, more and more homeowners do — that’s a conversation to have during rough-in, not after the garage is finished. Running conduit and a dedicated circuit while the walls are open costs a fraction of what it costs to retrofit later. We’ve had homeowners in Southside Village and Arlington Park call us two years after move-in wanting an EV charger added, and the job that would’ve taken an afternoon during construction turns into opening drywall.

Service and Panel Installation

The electrical service is the connection point between the utility — FPL, in Sarasota’s case — and the home’s electrical system. New construction electrical work includes sizing and installing the main panel, running the service entrance conductors, and coordinating the meter installation with FPL directly.

Panel sizing matters more than most people realize going in. A 200-amp panel used to be standard for most single-family homes, but with homes adding EV charging, pool equipment, whole-home generators, and increasingly electrified kitchens, a lot of new builds are better served with 225 or 400-amp service depending on the total load calculation. That calculation isn’t a guess — it’s based on square footage, appliance load, and anticipated future additions, following NEC Article 220 for load calculations. Undersizing the panel at the outset is one of those decisions that’s cheap to fix on paper and expensive to fix in a finished house. If you want a closer look at how we approach panel sizing decisions, we’ve written more on signs your electrical panel needs an upgrade elsewhere on our site.

Low-Voltage Prep — Included, But Often Misunderstood

Here’s where scope confusion happens a lot. Low-voltage wiring — network cabling, security camera runs, speaker wiring, smart thermostat wiring — is typically a separate line item from the main electrical contract, even though it gets installed at the same time and by electricians who understand how to coordinate the conduit paths.

We always recommend homeowners decide on their low-voltage needs before rough-in, even if the actual devices (cameras, access points, speakers) get installed later. Pulling extra conduit and running blank boxes during rough-in costs very little. Coming back for it after walls are finished means fishing wire through finished spaces, which is slower, messier, and just isn’t a great use of anyone’s money.

What’s Usually NOT Included — And Why That Catches People Off Guard

This is the part that generates the most confused phone calls, so it’s worth spelling out plainly.

Fixtures Are Often an Allowance, Not Included

Most electrical contracts include the labor to install light fixtures, ceiling fans, and similar equipment — but not the fixtures themselves. Builders typically carry a fixture allowance, and homeowners select and purchase fixtures separately, sometimes through a lighting showroom, sometimes online. If your allowance is modest and you fall in love with a $600 pendant for the kitchen island, that difference comes out of pocket. Nothing wrong with that — just know it going in.

Generators and Backup Power Are Frequently Separate

Given how many of our clients in Sarasota want whole-home or partial backup power after living through a few named storms, this comes up constantly. Standby generator wiring — the transfer switch, generator pad, and connection to the panel — is usually quoted as a separate scope, even when it’s installed during the same construction window. It’s worth deciding early because the generator’s location and the transfer switch placement affect other parts of the electrical plan. We’ve covered storm-related electrical planning in more depth in our guide to hurricane season panel planning, if that’s on your mind for the new build.

Landscape and Specialty Lighting

Basic exterior lighting — porch lights, soffit lighting, a few flood lights — is typically part of base scope. Landscape lighting systems, uplighting on mature oaks, path lighting through a garden, that kind of design-driven exterior lighting is almost always a separate scope item, sometimes handled by a landscape lighting specialist working alongside the electrician.

Permitting and Inspections in Sarasota County

New construction electrical work in Sarasota requires permits, and depending on the property’s location, that permit runs through Sarasota County or the applicable municipality. The inspection sequence typically covers rough-in inspection, a service inspection once the panel and meter are in, and a final inspection before the certificate of occupancy is issued.

A properly prepared electrical permit package — accurate load calculations, correct panel specifications, drawings that match what’s actually being installed — moves through plan review a lot more smoothly than one that gets kicked back for corrections. We handle the permit submission as part of our new construction scope because we’d rather catch an issue on paper than during a field inspection when the schedule’s already tight.

A Field Example Worth Mentioning

We worked a new build near the Rosemary District a while back where the homeowner had assumed the electrical bid included a full smart home package — thermostats, lighting control, the works. It didn’t. The bid covered code-required wiring and standard fixtures; the smart home components were a separate, sizable line item the homeowner hadn’t budgeted for. Nobody did anything wrong exactly, it just wasn’t spelled out clearly at the proposal stage. We ended up walking the whole scope with them room by room before signing off on anything, which is honestly how every one of these conversations should start.

Coastal and Climate Considerations Still Apply

Even scope items that sound purely mechanical get shaped by where the home sits. Homes closer to the water or in flood-prone zones may need panels mounted higher than standard, exterior components rated for coastal exposure, and additional attention to corrosion-resistant hardware. It’s not the focus of this piece, but it’s worth knowing that “what’s included” can shift a bit depending on the lot itself — something we go over during our initial walkthrough on every new construction project. For homes closer to the water, we’ve laid out those considerations in more detail in our new construction planning guide for Sarasota coastal homes.

Talk to Coharbor Electric Before You Sign a Scope

If you’re reviewing a new construction electrical bid in Sarasota and something feels vague, that instinct is usually right. A clear scope should tell you exactly what’s covered — rough-in, panel, code-required safety devices — and exactly what isn’t, so there are no surprises three months into the build.

Coharbor Electric is licensed and insured, and we walk every new construction client through the full scope before work starts, not after. We work across Sarasota, Palmer Ranch, Lakewood Ranch, Siesta Key, Laurel Park, and the surrounding Southwest Florida area. If you’re planning a new build or reviewing a bid you’ve already received, give us a call — we’re happy to look it over with you.