Every year in October we get a wave of standby generator inquiries from owners who watched a neighbour ride out the September windstorm in comfort while their own house went dark. We can almost always book those October jobs before Christmas. The same call placed in mid-December gets a spring install date, and the reason is not about us — it is about gas fitters, frozen ground, and the ESA inspector's calendar. Here is the actual timeline.
The four schedules that have to line up
A standby generator install is not one trade — it is four schedules that all have to converge:
- The electrician (us). Pulls the ESA permit, lands the pad-side wiring, installs the transfer switch, commissions the unit.
- The gas fitter. Runs the gas line from the meter (natural gas) or the buried propane tank to the generator. Pressurizes, leak-tests, and signs off on the gas-side install.
- The excavator/pad crew. Prepares the concrete or composite pad the generator sits on. Trenches between the house, the pad, and the gas tank.
- The utility (Hydro One, Alectra, Burlington Hydro, Oakville Hydro, Lakeland Power). May need to coordinate a service disconnect for the transfer switch install if the unit is service-rated.
- The ESA inspector. Final inspection after commissioning.
All five schedules tighten in October. By the second week of November, the gas fitters are booked into January. By Christmas, ground is frozen and trenching cost doubles or the work is deferred to thaw. By January, the ESA inspector backlog is two-to-three weeks. The compound effect: a December order is a March install.
What the install actually looks like: start to finish
For a typical residential standby (a Generac Guardian 22kW air-cooled, or a Kohler 20RESCL, on natural gas, with an automatic transfer switch fed off a 200A service), the install schedule looks like:
- Site visit and quote. 1 hour. Verify panel capacity, gas-line length, ATS location, pad location, exhaust clearances. Photo the panel, photo the meter, photo the proposed unit location.
- Order and lead time. 2–6 weeks depending on model and current dealer inventory. Generac 22kW has been shipping at 2–3 weeks lately; larger Kohler and Cummins units run longer.
- Day 1 on site. Pad placement (or pour, depending on style), gas-fitter trench, conduit between pad and house, ATS rough-in, generator placed and bolted to pad.
- Day 2 on site. Gas-fitter completes the gas line and pressure test. We complete the line-side and load-side wiring at the ATS. Generator wiring is dressed and torqued.
- Commissioning. Initial start, fault-code clear, controller programming for site-specific exercise schedule and ATS behaviour, real transfer test on the panel.
- ESA inspection. Scheduled at the end of commissioning. Inspector signs the Certificate of Inspection. Typically 1–2 weeks after the install is complete.
Total elapsed time from order to commissioned: 4–8 weeks in October. 10–14 weeks in December.
Why frozen ground triples the trench cost
The gas line from the meter to the generator is buried. In Ontario the standard depth is 24 inches in undisturbed soil — below frost. In summer, that is an hour of mini-excavator time per 30 metres of trench. In January with frozen ground:
- The excavator cannot bite — the bucket skips off the surface
- The crew brings in a frost ripper or a hydraulic breaker to crack the top layer
- If the gas-fitter has to run a buried propane line to a new tank, the tank install itself becomes a project — the concrete pad cannot be poured into frozen ground
The answer most installers will give: if the ground is frozen, the trench work waits for thaw. The generator can be set on its pad and the inside-the-house wiring can be done in winter, but the gas line is the bottleneck and the gas line means waiting for spring.
The ATS: what makes it the hardest part of the install in older homes
The automatic transfer switch is what makes the generator automatic. In a service-entrance-rated install, the ATS replaces the main breaker and sits between the meter and the panel. In a panel-side install, the ATS sits between the panel and a sub-panel that holds the generator-backed circuits.
Service-entrance ATS is cleaner — every circuit in the panel is on generator. But it requires utility coordination for a service disconnect to install, and it works only if the panel and service are clean and modern. Older homes with FPE or Stab-Lok panels need the panel replaced first (see our FPE Stab-Lok post). That adds another full day to the install.
Panel-side ATS is more common on retrofits. The downside is that only the circuits moved to the generator sub-panel are backed up — owners have to decide what goes on generator. The selection conversation is part of the install: well pump always, freezer always, furnace always, kitchen receptacles usually, central AC sometimes (the AC adds significant load to the generator sizing).
Sizing: the math that gets simplified to nonsense
The most common sizing mistake is "this is a 2,500 sq ft house, so a 22kW generator." That is rule-of-thumb nonsense. The real math is:
- Sum the simultaneous starting loads (well pump 6 kVA inrush, AC compressor 8 kVA inrush, electric range 8 kVA running)
- Sum the simultaneous running loads (lights, fridge, furnace, computer, etc.)
- Pick the generator with running capacity comfortably above the running sum and surge capacity comfortably above the starting sum
For a Muskoka cottage with a deep-well pump and an electric water heater, the well-pump inrush can dominate the sizing. For a Hamilton bungalow with gas everything, the AC compressor often dominates. The right sizing comes from a real load calc, not a square-footage rule. Detail is in our generator sizing post for Muskoka.
Cottage-specific timing: the propane question
Most Muskoka cottages run on propane, which means the install includes a propane tank sized to the generator. A 22kW unit on propane burns through propane at about 3.5 gallons per hour at full load — a 500-gallon tank is a 140-hour reserve. The tank itself is delivered, set, and connected by the propane supplier. The supplier's install schedule is its own calendar; by November, the suppliers are running tight.
If you have an existing 500-gallon tank that has been heating the cottage for years, the install is faster — the tank is already there, the regulator just needs to be sized for the generator's pressure requirement.
What we recommend if it is already November
If we are talking in mid-November and you want a generator before Christmas:
- It is possible if the gas line is short, the trench can be cut before hard freeze, and we can get the ESA inspector on a short cycle
- It is not possible if the install needs new propane tank delivery and set, or if the gas line is long and the ground freezes first
- The alternative is a high-quality portable generator with an interlock kit at the panel — code-compliant, ESA-inspected, and a fraction of the standby cost. Owner has to start it manually, but the family is not in the dark.
When to call us
If you have been thinking about a generator and watched a neighbour come through a windstorm last weekend, the booking window is short. We do standby generator installs across both clusters — Hamilton, Burlington, Waterdown, Ancaster, Oakville, and the full Muskoka cluster including Huntsville, Bracebridge, Port Carling, and Baysville. Request a generator quote with a panel photo and proposed location and we will quote inside the week.