Hurricane Florence knocked out power for weeks in Wilmington. A whole-house standby generator starts automatically when the grid goes down — lights, AC, refrigerator, well pump, everything stays on. Generac, Kohler, and Briggs & Stratton.
We calculate your home's electrical load to size the generator correctly. Undersized generators trip breakers. Oversized ones waste fuel and money.
Generator placement, gas line routing, setback requirements, and noise considerations. The unit needs to be far enough from windows and property lines to meet code.
Concrete pad, generator placement, automatic transfer switch, gas line coordination with your plumber, and electrical connections. Permitted through New Hanover County.
We program the weekly test cycle, walk you through the controls, and make sure the automatic transfer happens cleanly. When the power goes out, you'll know it works.
Market leader in residential standby generators. Guardian and Protector series. 10kW to 26kW. Wi-Fi monitoring through the Mobile Link app. Most parts available locally.
10kW – 26kW · Wi-Fi EnabledQuieter than Generac, premium build quality. 14kW to 38kW. Aluminum enclosure standard. If noise matters — close neighbors, small lot — Kohler is worth the premium.
14kW – 38kW · Premium QuietSolid mid-range option. 10kW to 20kW. Symphony II power management system prioritizes loads automatically. Good value for the coverage.
10kW – 20kW · Load ManagementLights, refrigerator, well pump, a few outlets. Keeps the basics running during an outage. Good fit for smaller homes or tight budgets.
Add AC, kitchen appliances, and laundry. Covers the circuits you actually use day-to-day. The sweet spot for most Wilmington homes.
Everything — HVAC, pool pump, EV charger, all of it. For larger homes or homeowners who want zero compromises when the grid drops.
Pricing depends on generator size, brand, and installation scope. That includes the unit, pad, transfer switch, gas line, electrical, permit, and inspection. You get a detailed, itemized quote after the site visit and load calculation.
If you have a natural gas line, use it — unlimited fuel supply. No gas line? Propane tank. We coordinate with the gas company or propane supplier. Either fuel works, but natural gas means you never run out.
2–3 days from start to finish. Day one: pad and gas line. Day two: generator and electrical. Day three: final connections, programming, and inspection.
Depends on the size. A 22kW generator will handle most homes completely. If you have a very large home with multiple HVAC systems, we might recommend a larger unit or a load management system that prioritizes circuits.
Oil change and filter every 200 hours of run time or annually. Most brands have a weekly self-test that runs for 5–10 minutes. We can set up annual maintenance if you want it done right.
Cliff installs whole-house generators all over the Wilmington area — from Wrightsville Beach to Leland, down through Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, and up to Hampstead and Ogden / Porters Neck. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November, and anyone who lived through Florence knows what four days without power feels like in August heat. Duke Energy outage maps light up like a Christmas tree every time a serious storm rolls through. The beach communities — Wrightsville, Carolina, Kure, Figure Eight Island — lose power first and get it back last. A standby generator changes that equation entirely.
Salt air is real down here, and it eats outdoor equipment if you don't plan for it. Cliff specs corrosion-resistant enclosures and factors in coastal setbacks when placing units at beach homes. Inland neighborhoods like Monkey Junction and Myrtle Grove deal with downed trees and flooded substations instead. Different problems, same result — no power for days. Whether you're running a Generac Guardian, Kohler, or Briggs & Stratton, the installation has to be done right for the conditions you're actually dealing with. Permitted, inspected, and built to handle what this coast throws at it.