Friendswood is a city where flood history is not background context. It shapes what we recommend and where we put it.
Clear Creek and Harvey
Friendswood experienced severe flooding along Clear Creek during Harvey in 2017, with neighbourhoods including Forest Bend and the areas nearest the creek among the worst affected in the region. Many homes have been rebuilt, elevated or bought out since.
Two things follow for our work.
Equipment placement is the first. Where battery backup, transfer equipment or a generator goes on a property with that history, floor level is a choice rather than a default. Elevated placement costs modestly more and removes a whole category of loss. On a home that took water, we site backup equipment above the recorded flood level as standard practice rather than as an upsell.
The second is that on a flooded home, existing garage-level circuits, receptacles and terminations get checked rather than assumed sound. Equipment that was submerged and dried out is not equipment that was unaffected, and adding a 40-amp continuous circuit to it without looking is not something we will do.
Backup demand runs high here
Friendswood households ask about backup power more than most cities we serve, and it is earned rather than sold. A community that has lost power to both a freeze and a hurricane inside a few years has a well-formed view of the risk.
For households with a capable electric truck, vehicle-to-home is worth checking before committing to stationary storage. A truck pack carries a multiple of a typical home battery, though it leaves when you drive.
Housing stock and panels
Wilderness Trails, Sunmeadow and the 1970s and 80s sections carry services from that era and need a load calculation before a charging circuit is designed. West Ranch and the newer development are post-2000 and usually have room.
Not a salt-air specification
Friendswood is inland of the bay frontage. The marine corrosion that governs installations in Seabrook and La Porte does not apply here, and standard 3R enclosures are appropriate for outdoor work.
Permits
The City of Friendswood runs its own building department. The city spans Galveston and Harris counties, but for addresses inside the city limits the city permits regardless of which county line you fall on.
What we install here
Backup power sited above flood level, Level 2 charging, and panel work on the older stock.
Call (346) 406-1223.