Tenant Improvement Electrical in San Jose and Santa Clara County Permit Coordinated. Inspection Ready.

A commercial tenant improvement covers the full electrical scope from the building service down to the last device cover plate. That includes a load calculation for the tenant-specific use and equipment list, a tenant panel or sub-panel sized to the space, all 120V and 240V branch circuit rough-in wiring, dedicated circuits for high-draw equipment, HVAC unit disconnect switches and circuits, a complete lighting fixture layout meeting the current Title 24 Part 6 lighting power density limits, occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting controls, exit signs and emergency egress lighting, data and telecom conduit rough-in, fire alarm device wiring coordination, GFCI protection at all wet locations, AFCI protection wherever CEC 210.12 actually reaches the occupancy (hotel and motel guest rooms and suites, dormitory units, and similar sleeping areas, which a standard office or retail suite is not), ADA-compliant device mounting heights, all device installations and cover plates, panel schedule labeling and documentation, and circuit testing and verification before the Certificate of Occupancy inspection.

Yes, and on a commercial TI that coordination is not optional. With the general contractor our team handles pre-construction RFI review, schedule alignment so electrical rough-in is complete and inspected before drywall closes, and submittal review for panel schedules and load calculations. With the mechanical contractor we coordinate disconnect switch locations, conductor sizing for rooftop units and split systems, and MEP rough-in sequencing so the ceiling space does not become a conflict. With plumbing we coordinate GFCI circuit placement relative to sinks and fixtures. With the fire alarm contractor we handle conduit sharing agreements and the dedicated power supply circuit for the fire alarm control panel. With the landlord or property manager we coordinate building electrical room access, house-panel work, and load calculation approval.

Commercial TI work needs several permits, and each city in Santa Clara County runs its own building department, submission portal, and plan-check queue, so the process varies by jurisdiction. The building permit is the master TI permit covering all work in the space. The electrical trade permit is separate and is pulled directly by Cali Rollin Electric as the C-10 electrical contractor of record. Mechanical, plumbing, and fire and life safety permits are also required depending on scope. Plan set requirements for a commercial TI submission generally include architectural drawings, MEP drawings, Title 24 energy compliance documentation, a CALGreen compliance checklist, and load calculation documentation. Our team prepares the electrical drawings and load calculation documentation required for submission. Commercial permit fees are set by each jurisdiction on its own basis, San Jose bills the electrical permit by inspection time, the County charges a percentage of the building permit fee, and most other cities go by device count or floor area, and they also scale with the number of trade permits pulled, so they are carried as a documented pass-through line in the quote rather than a flat number.

Our team handles Title 24 Part 6 compliance in two phases. At the design and permit stage we calculate lighting power density to confirm the proposed fixture layout stays inside the limits of the current California Energy Code cycle, map control zones so the room types §130.1(c)5 names (offices 250 square feet and smaller, multipurpose rooms under 1,000 square feet, classrooms, conference rooms, and restrooms) get their required occupant sensing and offices over 250 square feet get the control zoning §130.1(c)6D requires, document daylighting controls for primary and secondary daylit zones, and prepare and sign the required NRCC-LTI compliance forms. At the installation stage every fixture is verified against the California energy efficiency databases, occupancy sensors are positioned to eliminate the coverage gaps that cause most acceptance-test failures, and dimming controls are verified to reach the required minimum output before shutoff. Non-compliance at the acceptance test can hold the Certificate of Occupancy, which is one of the most expensive outcomes on a TI for a tenant already paying rent on an unoccupied space.

Panel capacity assessment is the first thing our team addresses on a TI, before any design or permit work begins. We start in the building electrical room to assess the existing service size, the main switchboard or distribution panel, and the feeder capacity actually available to your suite. We then calculate the proposed tenant connected load per NEC Article 220 using the equipment list from the architect or the tenant, covering lighting, HVAC equipment, receptacle loads, dedicated equipment, and continuous-load adjustments, and we use NEC 220.87 measured existing demand where the building has the metering history to support it. For a small office or retail TI under 3,000 square feet, a 100A to 150A three-phase 208Y/120V sub-panel is typical. For restaurant or medical TIs, 200A to 400A is common depending on kitchen or imaging equipment load. If the building switchboard cannot carry the new tenant load, we document that formally and coordinate with the landlord engineer on a service upgrade, a conversation that belongs before lease signing rather than mid-construction.

TI electrical runs on the construction schedule, and the permit is usually the longest single item. Pre-construction load calculations, electrical drawings, and submittal coordination take one to two weeks. Standard plan review for a commercial TI commonly runs 12 to 24 weeks in the larger Santa Clara County jurisdictions, longer on complex projects, though most cities offer an expedited or express plan-check option that can compress approval to a few business days for an added fee. Electrical rough-in, after framing and before drywall, takes three to ten days depending on the size of the space, and the rough-in inspection has to pass before drywall closes. Trim-out and device installation, after drywall and paint, takes two to five days. Title 24 acceptance testing, final inspection, and the Certificate of Occupancy follow within roughly three to seven days of scheduling. The single biggest schedule risk is the permit, so the best practice is to submit before the lease is finalized, letting approval land near the tenant possession date.

It depends on the lease, and the split is usually written into the work letter and the tenant improvement allowance rather than decided on site. In general, base-building work stays with the landlord: the service, the main switchboard, the house panel, common-area lighting, and any service upgrade needed because the building cannot carry the new load. Work inside the demised premises, meaning the tenant panel, branch circuits, equipment connections, and the lighting and controls serving the suite, is normally drawn against the tenant improvement allowance. Because that line moves from deal to deal, we quote TI electrical line by line so the scope maps cleanly onto the work letter, and so a landlord, a tenant, and a general contractor can each see which items sit on their side of the split before anyone signs. Where a scope item is genuinely a base-building deficiency, we document it in writing so it can be escalated rather than absorbed.