Remodeling & Renovation Electrician in Naperville, IL — Residential & Commercial

Mid-project, the part of a remodel that quietly drives the schedule is the electrical. Whether it’s a kitchen gut, a basement finish, an addition, or a commercial space getting reworked for a new tenant, the wiring has to land right or every other trade slows down. Cob Services LLC has been the electrician on remodels across Naperville and the western suburbs for over ten years — for homeowners renovating the space they live in and for general contractors and property owners reworking commercial buildings.

Call (630) 427-5923 for a free estimate, or request service online.

Residential remodeling and renovation electrical work

Most remodel calls from Naperville homeowners come down to the same handful of project types. Here’s how each one usually goes and where the electrical piece ends up costing more than people expected when an unlicensed handyman tries it.

Kitchen remodel electrician

A kitchen remodel is the most electrical-intensive room in the house. New appliances pull more power than the originals, code now requires GFCI on every counter outlet and AFCI on the rest, and the lighting plan usually gets rebuilt from scratch. We add dedicated circuits for the dishwasher, disposal, microwave, and induction range, install under-cabinet LED with the right dimmer compatibility, and lay out recessed cans on a real plan instead of guessing. If the existing panel can’t carry the new load, we’ll tell you upfront and quote the panel upgrade as a separate line so you can see what each piece costs.

Bathroom remodel electrician

Bathroom remodels look small but the code requirements stack up fast. Every outlet has to be GFCI. Vanity lighting needs to actually light a face, not the wall behind it. Heated floors, towel warmers, and steam showers each need their own dedicated circuit. Exhaust fans need to be sized for the room and vented to the outside, not the attic. We pull the permit, do the rough-in behind the new tile and drywall, and come back for trim once the finishes are in.

Basement finish and basement buildout

Finishing a basement turns one open space into a home theater, gym, office, guest suite, or bar — sometimes all of them. The electrical work is bigger than people think. New circuits for each area, recessed lighting throughout, data and HDMI runs in the right spots, sump pump on its own circuit, and egress window lighting if the basement has a bedroom. Naperville requires a permit for basement finishes, and the inspector will look closely at the smoke and CO detector layout, the AFCI protection, and the bonding on the metal ductwork. We handle that side of it.

Room addition and home addition electrician

A room addition is essentially building a new piece of house onto an existing one, which means the new space needs its own properly tied-in electrical and the old panel has to be able to feed it. We coordinate with the GC during framing for rough-in, run a new sub-panel if the math requires it, and tie everything into the existing service the right way. Additions almost always need a permit and an inspection through the City of Naperville’s building department.

Whole-room rewires and small remodels

Plenty of remodels aren’t full guts. A homeowner pulls down old paneling and finds knob-and-tube behind it. A wall comes down and a few outlets need to move. A finished room turns out to have aluminum branch wiring that needs to come out. We handle these as part of the remodel without turning every job into a full-house rewire. If you do need the whole house redone, see our whole-house rewiring page.

Commercial remodel and tenant build-out electrician

Commercial work runs on a different clock than residential. Tenants need to open. GCs need rough-in done before drywall lands. Property managers need work scheduled around tenant business hours. We’ve done commercial remodel electrical for restaurants, retail, offices, multifamily, hotels, and grocery across DuPage and Will County, with a crew that shows up badged and stays out of the customer-facing space.

Commercial tenant build-outs and white-box build-outs

A vanilla shell with concrete floor and exposed deck has to become a working space for the new tenant. We come in after framing with the rest of the trades and rough in branch circuits, panel feeds, lighting, exit and emergency lights, data conduit, sign and pylon circuits if it’s retail, and any specialty equipment hookups the tenant needs. Trim happens after paint. We submit load calculations and panel schedules in the format the City of Naperville expects, so plan review doesn’t bounce back twice.

Restaurant and retail remodels

Restaurants are the most demanding commercial remodel work we do. Hood circuits, range and fryer hookups, walk-in cooler and freezer feeds with refrigeration alarm wiring, dedicated circuits for POS, dining-room lighting on dimmable scenes, and the right level of GFCI in any prep area near water. Retail remodels are usually about the lighting and the storefront sign — getting the brand-new fixture plan installed, the track-light rebuilt for the new layout, and the pylon sign back on its own circuit.

Office reconfigurations and tenant improvements

Most office remodels we get called for are reconfigurations: walls coming down, walls going up, conference rooms expanding, private offices being split, sometimes a whole floor being opened up. The lighting plan changes with the layout, so does the switching, and the floor boxes need to land where the new desks are going to be. We also handle the supply-side work when the existing panel can’t carry a new server room or break-room addition.

Multifamily and apartment remodels

Common-area remodels in apartment buildings, hotels, and condo associations are mostly about lighting, controls, and back-of-house. Hallway and stairwell lighting on photocells and occupancy sensors. Lobby and amenity-space lighting redone for a refresh. Laundry-room and trash-room circuits replaced when the equipment gets upgraded. EV charging installed for resident parking to meet Illinois multifamily compliance — see our EV charger installation page for the install side of that work.

When a remodel turns into a panel upgrade

Older Naperville homes built before the mid-90s usually came with 100-amp service. That panel was sized for the loads of the era, not for what a modern remodeled house pulls — induction range, EV in the garage, finished basement, AC, and a home office running three monitors and a laser printer. Plenty of remodels start as a kitchen and end up needing a 200-amp panel upgrade to actually feed the new appliances.

We won’t surprise you with that mid-project. Before quoting the remodel, we run a load calculation against the existing service. If a panel upgrade is going to be needed, you see the number on the original quote, separated out so you can decide. If you’re already planning the panel work, the electrical panel upgrade page covers what that piece looks like.

What a remodel electrician handles that a handyman can’t

• Permits. Most remodels in Naperville need an electrical permit pulled with the City of Naperville’s Building Department. A handyman can’t pull one. We pull the permit in our contractor name, schedule rough-in and final inspections around the project timeline, and sign off on the inspector’s punch list at the end. Surrounding suburbs each have their own process — Aurora, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Lisle, Downers Grove — and we work with all of them.
• Code compliance. The 2023 NEC tightened up GFCI and AFCI requirements, expanded the rooms that need tamper-resistant outlets, and changed how hardwired smoke and CO detectors get interconnected during a remodel. An inspector who finds a remodel done outside of code will fail the job and your project sits while it gets fixed. We work to current code on every remodel, residential or commercial.
• GC coordination. On a commercial build or a bigger residential remodel, the electrical schedule is in the middle of every other trade. Framing has to be done before rough-in. Drywall has to be hung before trim. The inspector has to walk before insulation goes in. We work to the GC’s calendar instead of asking them to work around ours.
• ComEd coordination. Service upgrades, meter relocations, and new commercial drops all need ComEd in the loop. That’s the piece that quietly adds weeks to a project if it isn’t started early. We start it early.

Why Naperville property owners pick Cob Services for remodels

You have options for a remodel electrician in Naperville. Here’s why homeowners and businesses keep landing on us:

• Licensed and insured in Illinois. License #26-00032356.
• The owner runs your project. Alexandr Godonoaga walks every estimate, runs every job, and stays the point of contact through final inspection. No project hand-off to a subcontractor nobody hired.
• 10+ years of remodels in Naperville. We know the City of Naperville inspectors, the ComEd field reps, and the quirks of every neighborhood from downtown to the Route 59 corridor.
• Both residential and commercial. Same crew, same standards.
• Free estimates, including virtual. Snap a few photos, send them over, and we’ll quote without taking your afternoon for a site visit unless we genuinely need one.
• Permits pulled in our name, not yours.
• 24/7 emergency support after the remodel is done. If something goes sideways at 11 p.m. six months later, you call us — see emergency electrical services.

You can also see examples of remodel work we’ve done on our recent projects page.

Service area for remodel electrical work

If you searched “remodeling electrician near me” or “renovation electrician Naperville” and you’re in or around Naperville, you’re in our area. We work on residential and commercial remodels across:

• Naperville, IL
• Aurora, IL
• Lisle, IL
• Plainfield, IL
• Bolingbrook, IL
• Downers Grove, IL
• Hinsdale, IL
• Burr Ridge, IL
• La Grange, IL
• Oswego, Lockport, Joliet, Western Springs, and the rest of the western suburbs

Not sure if we cover your address? Call (630) 427-5923. If it’s close to Naperville, the answer is almost always yes.

Frequently asked questions about remodeling electrical work

Do I need a permit for the electrical work in my remodel?

For most remodels involving new circuits, panel work, additions, basement finishes, or significant lighting, yes. Replacing an existing fixture for a new one of the same type usually doesn’t need a permit. We pull the permit in our contractor name when the job calls for one, so you’re not the one chasing City Hall.

How much does a remodel electrician cost in Naperville?

It depends on what’s getting remodeled. A bathroom rework with new GFCIs, vanity lighting, and a fan is usually a one-day job in the $700 to $1,500 range. A kitchen remodel with new circuits, recessed lighting, and under-cabinet runs $3,500 to $8,000 depending on the layout. A basement finish runs $4,000 to $12,000 depending on size and how much new circuit work is needed. Commercial build-outs price by square footage and tenant specs — we walk the space and quote a flat number. No hourly surprise on the invoice.

How early should the electrician get involved in a remodel?

As early as the design conversation if possible. Where the lighting goes, where the outlets land, whether the existing panel can carry the new load — these are cheaper to figure out before framing than after drywall. On commercial build-outs, we want to be in the loop during the tenant-fit plan review.

Can you work directly with my general contractor?

Yes. Most of our commercial remodel work and a good chunk of the residential is direct with a GC. We coordinate around their drywall date and inspection windows, submit our load calcs and panel schedules with their plan set, and stay reachable through closeout.

What if my old wiring isn’t up to code once we open the walls?

That’s the most common surprise on remodels in older Naperville homes. Knob-and-tube, cloth-insulated wiring, aluminum branch circuits, and ungrounded two-prong outlets all show up once drywall comes down. We quote what’s there to fix, separated out from the remodel scope, so you can see exactly what the existing-conditions work costs versus the new remodel work. If the scope grows past partial replacement, see our whole-house rewiring page.

Do you do lighting design as part of a remodel?

Yes. Recessed-can layouts, kitchen lighting plans, basement scene control, commercial fixture selection. We sit down with you, walk the space, and lay out a plan before cutting any holes. For larger custom lighting work, the custom lighting installation page covers our full design and install process.

Are you licensed and insured for both residential and commercial remodels?

Yes. License #26-00032356, fully bonded and insured, and we install on both residential and commercial jobs every week.

Ready to get the electrical handled on your remodel?

Call (630) 427-5923 or request a free estimate online. We work on residential and commercial remodeling and renovation projects across Naperville, IL and the western suburbs.

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About the project lead

Cob Services LLC
(630) 427-5923
2020 Calamos Ct Suite 200, Naperville, IL 60563
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