First Blueprints, Commercial upgrade for a 600 am 6 meter service

[Andrew Fidler]

Fancy!Plan 2600 Amp Service Upgrade

I wanted to share a BP first for me...some investors who avoid city inspections and permits, not me! I had a fire in an apartment unit and part of the evaluation from the City of Toledo was a replacement of the electrical service. Since this is a 600 amp service with SIX strands of 350mc wire the size of your thumb we had to retain the services of an engineer to draft plans along with my electrician and I figuring out how we would replace service with an occupied building. (More to follow on that I'm sure)

I picked up the plans last night from the engineer and have to say I'm a little addicted to well-thought out projects at this point...this is completely different than investing in single family foreclosures. 

How was the City of Toledo to deal with??? Honestly they have been super helpful, my electrician has cell numbers for the inspectors and the supervisor to discuss options as we need to address them. The Dept of Building Inspection has been supportive of upgrading an occupied building. I don't have anything to compare to of course...Akron, Cleveland, Columbus Cincinnati...investors in those areas I'd love to hear your experience.

The plans will be submitted today by my electrician and I'm being told to expect a 3 week review period after which hopefully we are approved to pull the permit and schedule the job...otherwise there will be questions and clarifications and have to submit revised plans and wait another three weeks. (The point was for the team we had to get everything figured out the first time!)

Do I make it sound too easy? Well my 9-5 prior life had me inside Ford and GM as a project manager balancing the UAW and outside contractors paired with the concerns of production and the safety dept...so the city is now the safety dept, my rental income is production, and my team is the UAW/contractors. (If I sound like I miss the job it's because I do) :)

I suspect the regular rehab of commercial real estate may be in my future, it really is exciting!