Montecito, Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, for builders and architects
New construction electrical in Montecito and Santa Barbara.
Montecito estates take years to build and are wired once. County Line Electric comes up the coast for that work: estate-scale electrical for Santa Barbara general contractors and architects, with the generator, the Lutron system and the automation backbone in the plan from the first drawing, and a crew that stays for the phase.
The job
Unincorporated county, long driveways, and houses that have their own water.
Montecito and Hope Ranch are unincorporated Santa Barbara County, permitted through the county's Planning and Development department; the City of Santa Barbara permits inside its own limits. Power is Southern California Edison. The lots are large, often with a well, a booster pump, a long gated driveway and several outbuildings, and the Santa Ynez foothills above Montecito are a high fire hazard zone with the Thomas Fire and the 2018 debris flow in recent memory. An estate here is designed with standby power, hardened exterior equipment and a network that reaches every building.
County Line's office is in Newbury Park, at the far end of the map from Montecito, and it does not pretend otherwise. It takes Montecito and Santa Barbara new construction because the jobs are long enough for a crew to be on site by the week rather than the hour, and it carries the full electrical scope for the builder: plan review, SCE coordination, temporary power, rough-in, Lutron and automation, the generator, finish and the county final.
Scope on a Montecito build
What County Line carries.
County Line Electric carries this scope on a Montecito build.
- SCE application, temporary power, service and panels sized for an estate: generator, EV, pumps, guest houses, electrified kitchen
- Complete rough-in to the current California Electrical Code under county or city inspection
- Lutron HomeWorks lighting control, Ketra, motorized shades
- Low-voltage backbone across the property: fiber between buildings, cameras at the gate, outdoor audio
- Generac standby generator, well and booster pumps, pool and spa equipment, gate, landscape lighting
- Finish, programming, the final and the owner walkthrough
County Line Electric at a glance
- 20+ yrsIn businessJeff Tucker has run County Line Electric in the Conejo Valley for over 20 years.
- #949580California contractor licenseLicensed, bonded and insured. Check it on the CSLB site any time.
- GeneracStandby generator estimatesA written estimate after a site visit and a load calculation.
- A+BBB Accredited since 2017Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. See the profile.
- 5.0HomeAdvisor ratingFive stars from every reviewed job. Read the reviews.
Questions from Santa Barbara builders
Does County Line Electric take new construction in Montecito?
Yes. County Line Electric works as the electrical subcontractor to general contractors and architects on estate new construction in Montecito, Hope Ranch and Santa Barbara, carrying the electrical from the SCE application through the county or city final, with a crew on site by the week. It does not take short service calls that far from its Newbury Park office.
Who permits a new house in Montecito?
Santa Barbara County Planning and Development, because Montecito and Hope Ranch are unincorporated. Addresses inside the City of Santa Barbara are permitted by the city's building division. Electric service is Southern California Edison. County Line Electric files with the right one.
Can County Line handle the generator and Lutron on the same build?
Yes, and that is the reason to hire one contractor for the electrical and the systems: the generator transfer switch, the dimming panels and the automation backbone go in at rough-in with the branch circuits, by the same crew.
Related
Inspections
Passing the first time is the schedule.
On a custom home the electrical inspections are the rough, sometimes a service inspection, and the final, and each one that fails costs the builder a week. County Line schedules its own inspections, walks the house before the inspector arrives, and has worked with the inspectors in the City of Los Angeles, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Beverly Hills and the three counties long enough to know what each one looks for. The company keeps the correction list short by doing the work to the code as written, not to the code as remembered.
As-builts and a labeled panel go to the builder at the end, because the next electrician to open that panel, in ten years, should not have to guess.
Change orders
Where they come from, and how County Line keeps them rare.
Electrical change orders on a custom home come from three places. One is a lighting plan that does not match the framing, another is an owner who decides at trim that there should be a keypad by the bed after all, and the third is a service sized for the house in the drawings rather than the house being built, with its generator, its two EV chargers and its induction range. County Line prices from the full set to catch the first, captures the owner's decisions in writing before finish to catch the second, and sizes the service from a real load calculation to catch the third.
When a change is genuinely the owner's, it is priced in writing before the work is done. A change order that arrives after the fact is a bill, not a change order.
Logistics
How County Line works in Santa Barbara County.
The office is in Newbury Park. New construction there is staffed by the phase, with the crew on site by the week.
Service visits, generator maintenance and small jobs are scheduled in batches by area, so the crew is in one part of the map for the day rather than crossing it.
Official references
Where the facts on this page come from.
County Line links to the authorities rather than restating them. Rules change; these pages are current.
- County of Santa Barbara: Montecito and Hope Ranch permits
- City of Santa Barbara: permits inside the city
- SCE Public Safety Power Shutoffs: the foothills
- Generac: the units County Line installs
- CSLB license check: license #949580
Next step
Send the project. We will tell you straight if it fits.
Site city, project type, phase and a few lines of scope. Jeff reads every one and calls back on the ones where County Line is the right electrical sub. No plans on the public form, please.
Or call (805) 499-0823. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.