200-amp service upgrades and breaker-box replacement — permits pulled, inspection passed, CenterPoint coordinated. Serving Pearland and Friendswood.
We pull the permit, do the work to code, schedule the inspection, and stand behind it with a workmanship warranty. If you want a bigger or safer panel done once and done right, that's the trade.
Load-calc first
Before we talk price, let's talk about whether you even need this. Plenty of homes that look like they need a 200-amp service actually don't — and we'd rather tell you that than sell you one.
You probably do need a panel upgrade if you're seeing any of these:
We run an actual load calculation and look at your real panel before we ever recommend an upgrade. If your existing service can carry what you're adding, we'll tell you — we won't sell you a 200-amp service you don't need. That check comes first, before any quote.
Known hazards, honestly stated
Some panels aren't just maxed out — they're a known hazard, and the homeowner usually finds out the hard way (a home sale, or an insurance letter).
If your panel is a Federal Pacific (FPE) Stab-Lok, a Zinsco, or a similar vintage breaker box, it matters. The documented problem with these is that the breakers can fail to trip when they should — the one job a breaker exists to do. A breaker that doesn't cut power on an overload or fault is a real fire risk, which is exactly why insurers and home inspectors single these panels out.
The truthful stakes, no fear-mongering:
We replace these with a modern, code-correct panel — permitted and inspected — so the box that's supposed to protect your home actually does. If you want the full background first, here's our guide to dangerous FPE, Zinsco, and Stab-Lok panels →
The real sequence
"Panel upgrade" sounds like swapping one box for another. It's more than that, and the parts you don't see are where it goes right or wrong. Here's the real sequence:
We size the service to your home's actual and planned load — so you get the capacity you need (usually 200-amp) and not a number we made up.
A modern panel with room to grow, wired to NEC 2023.
Older homes are frequently behind here; we correct it as part of the job, not as a surprise add-on.
A service upgrade means the meter and service disconnect have to be handled with the utility. We handle the CenterPoint hand-off so you don't — the scheduling, the disconnect and reconnect, the meter. This is the step that trips up handymen and out-of-area generalists, and it's exactly where "done right the first time" is earned, not claimed.
We pull the permit and schedule the inspection so the work is signed off and on the record.
That's the difference between a panel that passes inspection and one you end up paying to fix twice. For the full service walkthrough — service sizes, what we install, and how we quote — see our full panel-upgrade service →
Permits & inspection
This is the part most "[service] [city]" pages skip — and it's the part that actually matters in Pearland, because Pearland is split across two counties.
Pearland sits in both Brazoria County and Harris County, so which jurisdiction permits and inspects your service change can depend on your specific address. A service upgrade on the Brazoria-County side and one on the Harris-County side aren't automatically handled the same way. Friendswood — which we also serve — is its own jurisdiction again. Getting this right is not optional on a panel swap: a service change is permitted, inspected work.
Verified City of Pearland panel/service-change permit + inspection specifics for BOTH the Brazoria-County and Harris-County portions of Pearland (which permit a service change requires, the fee structure, and the inspection sequence), plus Friendswood permit specifics. Do NOT publish invented fee amounts, office names, or process steps — confirm with the owner / the relevant permit office before this section ships with numbers. Until then, this section stays general and honest.
What we can tell you holds across Houston-area jurisdictions: electrical permits are issued to registered master electricians — not to the homeowner. In practice that means you legally can't pull this permit yourself; the master electrician who does the work pulls it. That's why "a good contractor will pull their own permit" is the right instinct — and why an electrician who asks you to pull the permit is a red flag. More on that in how electrical permits work in Texas →
Verify that the master-electrician-pulls-the-permit rule holds for the specific Pearland/Friendswood jurisdiction before stating it as a Pearland-specific fact (it is stated above as a Houston-area norm).
The point: we know which way your address goes, we pull the right permit, and we schedule the inspection. You don't chase a county office.
Straight talk on price
We publish a range so you're not ambushed.
And the downside worth naming, because it's the real one: the expensive panel upgrade is the unpermitted one. Work that's done without a permit or fails inspection gets paid for twice — once to do it, once to redo it — and an unpermitted electrical alteration can give an insurer a reason to deny a claim. A permitted, inspected job is the cheaper path, not the pricier one.
Want a ballpark before we visit? Try our panel-upgrade cost calculator → For a deeper breakdown, here's our full panel upgrade cost guide → Spreading the cost out? See our financing options →
Proof
We'd rather show you one specific, verified job than a vague review count.
A named Pearland or Friendswood panel-upgrade customer review, and real before/after photos of a Pearland panel job. Do NOT fabricate a Pearland-specific review, star rating, or job count, and do NOT relabel an existing review as a Pearland panel review.
Until those land, here are real, verified reviews we can stand behind — every one named, dated, and collected through Housecall Pro, the platform we run our jobs on:
Excellent communication in setting up the appointment! Donald is awesome. He explained the work, started immediately and ensured that the work was done correctly. The job site was spotless after the work was completed, and I was impressed that he has a checklist that will ensure a thorough job from start to finish. Outstanding company. Highly recommend.
I had a generator inlet and sub panel installed by Jason at TriCoast. The work was great, cleaned up their mess and tested everything before they left. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for a professional electrical project. Pricing was extremely fair for the work that was done. Give them a call, you will not regret it.
Took the time to explain the scope of work and assisted with city permitting. Quality work done promptly and professionally.
The checklist and the spotless site are the parts we work to repeat on every job.
Where we work
We're your neighbors' electrician in the Galveston Bay / South Houston corridor. We do panel upgrades and breaker-box replacements across Pearland and Friendswood, and out into the surrounding communities — Alvin, Manvel, south Pasadena, and the wider mainland Bay Area. Don't see your town on the list? We very likely cover it — just ask.
FAQ
Fair question — it's the one most people are thinking. We don't quote a panel upgrade until we've run a load calculation and looked at your actual panel. If your existing service can carry what you're adding, we'll tell you. We won't sell you a 200-amp service you don't need.
Typically $1,183–$1,972, and most Pearland and Friendswood jobs fall in that range. What moves the number: the amperage, whether the panel has to be relocated, bringing grounding to code, replacing a dangerous panel, and the scope of the CenterPoint coordination. We give you a real number after we see your panel — not a guess over the phone.
Yes. We replace FPE/Federal Pacific, Zinsco, and Stab-Lok panels with a modern, code-correct panel — permitted and inspected — which is what satisfies the insurer and clears a resale inspection.
Yes, a service change is permitted, inspected work — and we pull the permit. In Houston-area jurisdictions, electrical permits are issued to registered master electricians, not to homeowners, so the electrician doing the work pulls it.
Yes. A service upgrade involves the meter and service disconnect, and we handle that utility hand-off with CenterPoint — scheduling, disconnect, and reconnect — so you don't have to.
Yes — Friendswood, Pearland, and the wider Bay Area corridor. See our Friendswood electrical services.
FAQ open item — "Do I need a permit to replace my panel in Pearland, and who pulls it?": confirm the exact permit + inspection process for the Brazoria-County and Harris-County portions of Pearland and for Friendswood before publishing jurisdiction-specific steps; then update both the on-page answer and the FAQPage schema with the jurisdiction-specific detail.
Tell us what's going on — a full panel, a flagged box, tripping breakers, or a new EV charger you want to add. We'll run the load calculation and look at your actual panel before we quote, so you know whether you need the upgrade at all. No upsell — load-calc first. Licensed master electrician, TDLR EC #EECELE00037785.