Houston’s Multi Brand Generator Specialists

The realistic range turnkey is $7,000 to $20,000, and the middle of that band is where most Houston jobs land. A 22kW Generac air cooled unit covers a 2,000 to 3,000 square foot home and is the most common install we run in Greater Houston. The price includes the generator itself, the automatic transfer switch, electrical hookup, gas connection off an existing CenterPoint Energy Gas line, City of Houston permit fees, and our 12 year Power Plus warranty. What pushes the number up is home size, distance from the panel, an upgraded service, or a new gas line. A Grasten Field Engineer does a free on site estimate so the price you see is the price for your exact property.

Yes. Three permits are involved: building, electrical, and mechanical (gas). All of them go through the City of Houston Public Works Permitting Center. Grasten Power pulls every permit, schedules the inspections, and deals with any HOA review that applies (Memorial, Tanglewood, River Oaks, and West University all have HOA processes). What we need from you is a signed Notice of Commencement and a property survey. The normal approval window is 10 to 21 business days. Hurricane season sometimes stretches that out.

For a home between 1,800 and 3,500 square feet, a 22kW or 24kW Generac air cooled unit handles the load. The big consumer is air conditioning, which on a Houston August afternoon is doing real work. Those sizes also handle the fridge, lights, well or pool pump, and a microwave starting at the same time. Past 4,000 square feet, multiple HVAC zones, an elevator, or a pool with electric heater, you’re looking at 26kW or larger. Cummins becomes a real option in that size class. A free estimate includes a proper load calculation so the unit fits your house, not someone else’s.

Most likely, yes. Neighborhoods like River Oaks, Memorial, West University, Tanglewood, and most master planned communities require architectural review before the unit goes in. The HOA usually wants a placement plan, some kind of landscape screening, and confirmation that the unit stays under their noise limit (55 to 65 decibels at the property line is the number that comes up most). Grasten Power puts together the HOA application package and sends it through on your behalf, so you don’t have to chase board meetings.

Most Houston homes on city gas service run natural gas. CenterPoint Energy Gas covers most of the metro, and the generator pulls off the same line that already feeds the house. No tank, no delivery schedule. If your address doesn’t have city gas, propane works fine. It means putting in a 250 to 500 gallon tank, either buried or above ground, plus an ongoing fuel delivery contract. Propane is reliable, but adds upfront cost and one more thing to keep track of. We walk through both during the estimate and tell you which one fits your address.

The crew is on your property for one to two days. Day one is the concrete pad, setting the generator, the gas and electrical connections, and wiring the transfer switch. Day two, if it’s needed, is final testing and walking you through the unit. The 30 to 90 day total timeline is almost entirely permits and inspections going through the City of Houston, not actual labor. The work itself moves fast once the permits clear.

Modern Generac and Kohler standby units run between 55 and 65 decibels. That’s roughly dishwasher volume. Kohler is consistently a few decibels quieter, which can matter in River Oaks, West University, or any HOA with a strict decibel limit. Cummins is closer to Generac. The weekly self test is 5 to 10 minutes. During an actual outage, the whole neighborhood is dark anyway, and the generator running next door is the least of anyone’s concerns.

All four brands we install (Generac, Kohler, Cummins, Briggs & Stratton) are built to handle hurricane force winds. What can damage a unit is storm surge or flooding, not wind. For homes in flood prone parts of Houston, the standard concrete pad sits at 18 to 24 inches above grade. For properties in known surge or flood zones we go higher, sometimes 36 inches or more, and look at relocating the unit to higher ground on the lot. We pull up the floodplain maps during the free estimate and talk through what makes sense for your specific address.

Yes. The team that installs it is the same team that services it. Our service vehicles are mobile, stocked with the parts that come up most often, and our dispatch runs 24/7 with a live phone (no answering service). When a major storm hits Greater Houston, our fleet stays in the metro to work through the call volume. Most Houston customers sign up for an annual maintenance plan at installation. It keeps the unit running right and keeps the 12 year warranty valid.