Design-Build Electrical Projects
ACS specializes in full-service design-build electrical projects that take your vision from concept to completion. We serve residential, commercial, and industrial clients across Maine, combining expert electrical design, precise installation, and seamless project management to deliver safe, efficient, and code-compliant results.
Overview
Design-build is a different way of contracting electrical work. In a traditional design-bid-build project, an engineer draws the system, the drawings are put out to bid, and whichever contractor wins the bid inherits the design whether or not it matches the realities of the building, the service drop, or the schedule. Problems that surface during rough-in turn into change orders, and nobody on the team owns both the drawing and the wire. Design-build collapses that separation. The same contractor who runs the load calculations, draws the single-line diagram, and lays out the panel schedule is also the one pulling the feeder and landing the conductors.
For an owner, the practical benefit is a single point of accountability. If a circuit does not work as designed, there is no finger-pointing between the engineer and the installer one team owns the outcome from the first site walk through final inspection. For a general contractor, it means one scope, one set of drawings, one submittal package, and a trade partner who can adjust the design in the field when a beam or a plumbing riser lands in the way of a conduit run. Most of the new commercial construction and custom residential projects we take on in Maine come to us this way.
Design, Build, and Sign Off One Team
The design phase starts with a site walk and an owner conversation about what the building needs to do. From there we run the load calculations against the anticipated occupancy and equipment, draw the single-line diagram and panel schedule, specify the service entrance and any subpanels, lay out lighting and receptacle plans, and produce the drawing package the local Authority Having Jurisdiction and the utility will review. For commercial projects we coordinate early with the mechanical and plumbing engineers so HVAC equipment, boilers, and water heaters are accounted for in the load before the service is sized.
The build phase is the work most owners picture when they think of an electrician: running feeders, setting panels, pulling branch-circuit wire, mounting devices, and terminating the service. Because the same team drew the plans, we can adjust on the fly when the framing, the duct, or the plumbing stack shifts during construction no stop-work, no change order, no waiting for a sealed revision. We pull the permits, coordinate the utility cut-in, schedule the inspections, and commission the service at turnover.
Why Choose ACS?
- One team handles design and installation, minimizing miscommunication and saving you time.
- Early collaboration allows for smarter planning, reducing change orders and unexpected costs.
- With our deep experience and focus on safety, you get an electrical system built to last and meet code.
Streamlined Process
One team handles design and installation, minimizing miscommunication and saving you time.
Cost-Effective Solutions
Early collaboration allows for smarter planning, reducing change orders and unexpected costs.
High-Quality Results
With our deep experience and focus on safety, you get an electrical system built to last and meet code.
Serving the Lewiston-Auburn Area
The bulk of the design-build work that comes through our pipeline is small-commercial new construction and major renovation across Lewiston, Auburn, and Augusta medical offices, commercial kitchens, warehouse retrofits, manufacturing floors, and the occasional adaptive-reuse project in one of the old mill buildings. Custom homes in Freeport, Pownal, and the Sebago lakes country fill out the residential half of the mix, where a builder wants one electrical contractor carrying the full drawing set from permit to final trim. As a licensed Maine electrical contractor running design-build projects across Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Cumberland counties for more than two decades, we are equipped to sit at the design table with the architect and the GC from the first site walk, and to stand behind the drawing when the inspector shows up.