Service
Run power to a detached garage
One light and an outlet is a small job. A shop, an EV charger or a heater turns it into a feeder and a subpanel.
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Written by HyreElectrical Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
To run power to a detached garage or shed, a licensed electrician installs either a single branch circuit or a feeder to a subpanel, buried or overhead, with a disconnect at the building and grounding electrodes where required.
What you plan to run out there decides which. The trench and the permit are part of the job.
Branch circuit or feeder?
A single 20-amp circuit can serve lights and a few outlets. A workshop, a heater or an EV charger in a detached garage usually needs a feeder and a subpanel.
NEC Article 225 requires a disconnect at the building served. A Saint Paul inspection checklist describes it as readily accessible outside or immediately inside, and says a feeder or a branch circuit over 20 amps needs a grounding electrode system.
What the job includes
A breaker at the house panel, cable or conduit in a trench at the burial depth the code sets, a disconnect or subpanel at the garage, ground rods or another electrode, and GFCI protection for garage outlets.
Overhead runs need clearance over drives and walkways.
Permit, time and what changes the price
A permit and at least one inspection, often a trench inspection before backfill.
Price drivers: trench length and ground conditions, conduit vs direct-burial cable, feeder size, subpanel, electrode work, and permit fees. No price ranges are published here until we hold enough sourced, dated quotes; see cost guides.
Plan for later
A larger feeder now costs less than a second trench later. List future loads: charger, compressor, heat. An electrician sizes the feeder to that list.
Call 811 before anyone digs, so buried utilities are marked. Check the license on your state board before anyone starts: how to check an electrician license.
What a fair written quote lists
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A person reads it and replies, free and with no obligation. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote or a dispatch line. If you smell burning or see sparks, stop using the circuit and call a licensed electrician now.
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A person at HyreElectrical reads the request and replies. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote or a dispatch line.
Questions
Can I run an extension cord to my shed?
Do I need a subpanel in my garage?
How deep is the trench?
Does the garage need ground rods?
Written and audited by
HyreElectrical Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model code, the federal safety notice, the municipal fee sheet or the utility tariff ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise or warrant electrical work. Authorship is organizational: this desk, not a named persona.
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- of the store is Florida — disclosed first, not footnoted
How this desk works
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- Load calculations on this site are a published simplification in the shape of NEC 220.82 — first 10 kVA at 100%, remainder at 40%, HVAC at 100%, EVSE at 125%. They are labeled as not a stamped calculation. A licensed electrician using the adopted edition does that work.
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Sources & retrieval dates
HyreElectrical is a publisher. It does not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work, holds no electrical license, and matching is still being built, so an inquiry is not a service call.
This page is general information, not a diagnosis or a quote. Code rules vary by the NEC edition your state or city adopted and its local amendments.