Capital programs and public works
Public & Municipal Electrical Work
Water, wastewater, aviation, transit and street work for public owners — bid publicly, built next to something that is still running.
Public work is not private work with extra paperwork. The City of Phoenix preliminary 2026-31 Capital Improvement Program runs $11.428 billion across 25 program areas, and its five largest lines — Water, Aviation, Wastewater, Public Transit and Street Transportation — are every one of them electrically heavy. What makes the sector different is not the conduit. It is that the budget is published, the bid is public, the review is formal, and whatever you are working next to is usually still in service.
The Phoenix pipeline, in the city's own numbers
Council approved the 2026-2031 program unanimously on 3 June 2026. Year one alone is $2.661 billion. The prior 2025-2030 program was $11.5 billion across 966 projects, so this is a steady pipeline rather than a spike.
| Program | 2026-31 total |
|---|---|
| Water | $2.775B |
| Aviation | $2.100B |
| Wastewater | $1.881B |
| Public Transit | $1.438B |
| Street Transportation & Drainage | $1.198B |
$273.4 million of the 2023 General Obligation Bond falls inside that window. Voters approved that $500 million bond in November 2023, the city's first since 2006, and it runs through fiscal 2028-29 — which is why fire stations, libraries and park buildings keep turning up on bid lists.
Aviation runs on its own clock. Sky Harbor is building a roughly 173,000 square foot, six-gate Terminal 3 concourse at about $368 million, opening fall 2027; the West Terminal beyond it is a roughly $4 billion project with design procurement anticipated in 2027. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway has finished a $28 million five-gate terminal modernization, and Deer Valley handled 490,702 aircraft operations in 2025 against 369,759 in 2015.
Be honest about what those numbers mean to an electrical subcontractor. Most of $11.428 billion is pipe, pavement and concrete, and a $368 million concourse is not mid-size scope either. The realistic work is the pump station, the hangar, the fire station, the site distribution and the lighting — bought as a subcontract under a general contractor, a CMAR or a job-order contract.
What the electrical scope actually is
Water and wastewater
These two are $4.656 billion of the five-year program and the densest electrical work in the sector: motor control centers, variable frequency drives on pump and blower motors, 480 V distribution, standby generation and transfer, power and control raceway out to instruments the owner's integrator terminates. The hard part is rarely the load calculation. It is that the plant does not stop — work lands in shutdown windows measured in hours, against temporary power and a switching sequence agreed in writing beforehand.
Streets, transit and site distribution
Duct bank, pull boxes, service pedestals, meter and disconnect assemblies, lighting and signal circuits, and the restoration behind them. Pavement replacement in a public street is its own permit, detail and inspection, and it belongs in the bid rather than the closeout. Underground and trenching covers that scope in depth.
Municipal buildings
Fire stations, libraries, senior centers, park buildings, occupied office renovation. Ordinary commercial rough-in, gear, lighting and controls — with a formal submittal process and a closeout package far heavier than a private tenant improvement.
Constraints particular to public work
Arizona has no statewide building or electrical code. A.R.S. Title 9 lets each city adopt by reference; A.R.S. section 11-861 gives counties the same power over zoned unincorporated areas. Phoenix has enforced the 2023 NEC since 1 August 2025 under Ordinance G-7397, while unincorporated Maricopa County is still on the 2017 NEC and Glendale moved to the 2023 NEC only on 9 January 2026. A regional main or a transit corridor crosses that line mid-project routinely. Gilbert, Peoria and Tempe should be confirmed with each city's building department before design — we will not print an edition we have not confirmed.
The amendment that catches out-of-state bidders is NEC 250.118 item (4). Phoenix, unincorporated Maricopa County and Glendale all amend it to read "electrical metallic tubing with an additional equipment grounding conductor." EMT alone is not an acceptable equipment grounding conductor here. Phoenix and Glendale also amend 334.10 to keep NM cable out of commercial buildings.
Public work also adds a reviewer private work rarely meets. Arizona Administrative Code R4-36-201 makes the 2024 International Fire Code the state fire code, and the Office of the State Fire Marshal reviews new construction, remodels and additions to state and county buildings and to public, charter and private schools. Put it in the schedule early. Separately, Phoenix deleted three sections of the 2024 IECC outright — C405.12 automatic receptacle control, C405.13 energy monitoring, and C405.15, which required 0.75 W per square foot of on-site renewable generation — and made C408 commissioning optional. Public specifications often require all four anyway, by contract. The specification sits above the code floor, and it is what we bid.
Then the desert, which is not decoration. ASHRAE puts the Phoenix cooling design dry bulb near 110°F, and NEC Table 310.15(B)(1) takes a 90°C conductor to 87 percent of table ampacity at 41-45°C ambient and 82 percent at 46-50°C. Enclosures matter as much: NEMA Type 3R is rainproof and carries no windblown-dust requirement at all, while Type 4 does and 4X adds corrosion resistance. On a pump station yard or a roadside cabinet, 3R is usually the wrong default.
Utility coordination, and where the date really comes from
APS and SRP split the Valley and there is no retail choice, but municipal boundaries are not utility boundaries — SRP's own city list says its cities are "served all or in part." Downtown Mesa is the one most people miss: the City of Mesa runs its own electric utility across roughly 5.5 square miles.
The division of labor is identical at both majors and none of it is negotiable. The customer trenches, installs conduit and pours the transformer pad; the utility sets the transformer, owns the meter and furnishes the CTs; only utility employees energize. SRP will not energize the load side until the authority having jurisdiction approves the installation. Its pad detail asks for pre-cast construction, 12 feet of clear working space at the front, 3 feet at the sides, 18 inches at the back, and CLSM backfill per MAG Section 728.
Two items set the real energization date. First, APS requires every commercial meter enclosure to be submitted through an APS representative before it is manufactured — gear released ahead of that review is a risk someone is carrying quietly. Second, the money: under APS Schedule 3 a line extension agreement and advance payment of all project costs come before APS construction starts, refundable only against a five-year feasibility review and never with interest. SRP treats the same cost as a generally non-refundable contribution in aid of construction. Either way it is an owner budget line, best named during design rather than at buyout.
How we deliver it
We hold CR-11 Electrical, ROC 276948, KA Dual Engineering, ROC 312437, and KB-1 Dual Building Contractor, ROC 329360 — all active, all state-issued, and an Arizona ROC license is valid in every county. The engineering license is what puts the trench, the duct bank and the right-of-way work in one contract with the gear. Check the numbers yourself.
Where a classification runs out you hear it during the bid period, not after the apparent-low letter. The Registrar of Contractors puts transmission lines on public rights-of-way, pole erection and street lighting of all voltages under A-17 Electrical and Transmission Lines — separate from the C-11 and CR-11 scope, which stops under 600 volts. Site and parking lot lighting on the owner's property is ours; a roadway package written to A-17 may not be.
Phoenix permits run through SHAPE PHX, which took on commercial plan review and inspections on 27 April 2026. Our posted hours are Monday to Thursday 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Friday 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Night or weekend work at an operating facility is a scheduled shift, priced at bid time. Submittals, certified payroll where funding requires it, as-builts and O&M closeout are scope items with hours behind them.
What we will not do
- Energize anything on the utility side. Nor can anyone who is not an APS or SRP employee, whatever the schedule says.
- Bid a hard-bid package off an incomplete electrical set without using the RFI period. You get a written clarification, not a guess buried in the number.
- Write PLC or SCADA code, or commission a treatment process. We install and terminate the power and control work and coordinate with the owner's integrator.
- Quote a utility energization date. APS and SRP schedule their own crews.
- Service-call work. This is scheduled, permitted scope.
Send the invitation to bid, the specification sections, the drawings and any utility correspondence through the contact page. If the delivery method is design-build or CMAR with design assist, say so — utility coordination and gear procurement are the long poles.
Frequently asked questions
Do you bid public work as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor?
Mostly as the electrical subcontractor to a general contractor, a construction manager at risk, or a job-order contractor, because that is how nearly all public electrical scope is bought in this market. The company also holds a KB-1 Dual Building Contractor license and a KA Dual Engineering license alongside the CR-11 electrical license, so a prime contract on an electrically driven project is possible. Tell us at the invitation stage which delivery method the agency is using, because it changes the bid form, the bonding and the schedule of values.
Which NEC edition applies on a City of Phoenix project?
The 2023 National Electrical Code. Phoenix adopted it as part of the 2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code under Ordinance G-7397, effective 1 August 2025, with local amendments published by the city. Do not assume it carries across the boundary. Arizona has no statewide building or electrical code, so each municipality and the county adopt and amend independently. Unincorporated Maricopa County is still on the 2017 NEC, Glendale moved to the 2023 NEC on 9 January 2026, and Scottsdale is on the 2020 NEC. On a linear project the edition can change partway down the alignment.
Who pays for the utility line extension, and when?
The owner, and earlier than most budgets expect. Under APS Schedule 3, a line extension agreement and advance payment of all project costs are required before APS begins construction, with any refund governed by a five-year economic feasibility review and no interest paid on the advance. SRP treats the same cost as a contribution in aid of construction, which is generally non-refundable and also earns no interest. Neither sits inside an electrical subcontract, so it should be carried as an owner line item identified during design rather than discovered at buyout.
Can you install street lighting in the public right-of-way?
It depends on the classification the documents require. The Arizona Registrar of Contractors puts transmission lines on public rights-of-way, pole and tower erection, and street lighting of all voltages under A-17 Electrical and Transmission Lines, which is separate from the C-11 and CR-11 electrical scope limited to under 600 volts. We hold CR-11 Electrical and KA Dual Engineering, which covers the engineering and right-of-way civil work, and we self-perform site and parking lot lighting on the owner's property. If a package specifically requires A-17, you will hear that from us during the bid period rather than after award.
Do you provide bonding and certified payroll?
Bid, performance and payment bonds are a normal part of a public bid package, and surety capacity rather than electrical skill is what decides the size of public job any contractor can carry. Ask us early about the specific project and you get a straight answer instead of a general claim. Certified payroll, where a project's funding requires it, is produced as a scope item with hours behind it. Both belong in the conversation before bid day rather than after.
Can you work in a facility that cannot be shut down?
That describes most water, wastewater and aviation work, and it is planned rather than improvised. It means temporary power, a written switching and lockout sequence agreed with the operator before anything is opened, short outage windows, and often night or weekend shifts. Our posted hours are Monday to Thursday 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Friday 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM, so off-hours work is a scheduled and priced shift, not an emergency callout. Give us the outage constraints at bid time and they get priced. Give them to us afterwards and they become a change order.
Get a price on this scope
Ready to price your Phoenix project?
Send us the plans, the scope, or just the problem. We will tell you what it takes. Call (602) 396-5216 or request a bid online.