200-Amp Panel Upgrade in Brush Prairie: Barn Service, RV Outlet, and Hot Tub Disconnect on a Working Rural Property
The short version: A Brush Prairie property owner needed the existing pole-mounted service removed and replaced with a modern 200-amp panel on the barn, plus dedicated circuits for an RV, a hot tub, and exterior receptacles. MAS Pro completed the full project in about a day and a half, including utility coordination, the panel installation, two exterior receptacle circuits, a 50-amp RV outlet, and the hot tub disconnect.
The Project at a Glance
Project Summary
What the Homeowner Was Working With
This is a setup we see often on rural and semi-rural Brush Prairie properties: an older pole-mounted service feeding a house and outbuilding, with a small panel that was sized for a much simpler load profile. The existing pole carried the service drop, the meter, and an outdoor light. The panel attached to it had reached the end of useful life and did not have the capacity or layout to support what the property owner actually wanted to plug in.
The owner had two specific needs driving the upgrade. The first was a 50-amp RV receptacle for an existing camper. The second was a properly protected outdoor disconnect for a hot tub. On top of that, they wanted a couple of clean exterior receptacles for general outdoor use that did not depend on extension cords running from the house.
None of that was workable on the old service.
Why a 200-Amp Service Was the Right Call
For a rural Clark County property with a house, a barn, an RV, a hot tub, and the kind of mixed outdoor loads that come with that lifestyle, 200 amps is the modern baseline. It gives the property meaningful headroom for the loads in place today and for the loads that tend to show up later: an EV charger, a heat pump conversion, a shop expansion, or a future ADU.
Trying to add an RV outlet and a hot tub circuit to an undersized panel is one of the most common reasons we get called back for nuisance trips, warm breakers, and connections that loosen over time. The right move is almost always to upgrade the service first and then build the new circuits onto a panel that has the capacity and the slots to support them properly.
The Scope of Work, Step by Step
- Utility coordination. Clark Public Utilities was scheduled in advance to disconnect service so that the existing pole, light, and panel could come down safely.
- Demolition of the old service. The pole, the outdoor light, and the original panel were removed. The original power feed was retired.
- New 200-amp panel installed on the barn. Mounting the panel on the barn shortened the run to the loads that drive the property (RV pad, hot tub, exterior receptacles) and gave the homeowner a clean, accessible service location.
- Power re-routed from the new panel. Existing circuits that were previously fed from the old pole-mounted service were re-routed to the new panel with proper conductor sizing and grounding.
- Two dedicated exterior receptacles. Weather-rated, GFCI-protected outlets installed in usable locations on the property, no extension cords from inside the house.
- 50-amp RV receptacle. Dedicated circuit, sized for full RV hookup use, with the correct receptacle style for a 50A camper inlet.
- Hot tub disconnect. Properly fused exterior disconnect within sight of the tub, sized for the unit’s nameplate load.
- Inspection and sign-off. Final inspection through Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) per state requirement.
Working with Defeat Contracting on the Coordination
This one was a team effort. Defeat Contracting coordinated alongside our crew on the broader site work, which made the schedule smooth and kept everyone moving in the same direction during the utility disconnect window. On rural Brush Prairie properties where a full service upgrade touches the structure, the dirt, and the utility company in the same day, having more than one set of competent hands on site is what keeps a one-and-a-half-day project from becoming a three-day project.
Planning a Service Upgrade in Brush Prairie?
If your Brush Prairie or Battle Ground property is running on an undersized panel and you are looking at adding an RV outlet, a hot tub, an EV charger, or a shop, the right starting point is a 200-amp service upgrade. We can come out, look at the existing service, talk through where the new panel should live, and give you a straight quote.
Call (360) 907-3412What This Setup Costs (And Why That Range Is Wide)
The honest answer for a Brush Prairie 200-amp service upgrade with added circuits like this one is that the total varies meaningfully depending on a few things. The biggest cost drivers are the length of the new service run, whether the meter base needs to be replaced, whether the grounding system needs to be rebuilt, and how many additional circuits like the RV outlet and hot tub disconnect get added at the same time. For a project that includes the panel, the utility coordination, the permit, and dedicated outdoor circuits, you should expect a meaningfully higher number than a simple panel swap on its own. The benefit of doing it all in one mobilization, as this homeowner did, is that you pay one trip charge, one permit, and one set of utility coordination steps, rather than coming back to do each piece separately.
Why Brush Prairie Properties Benefit from a Local Crew
Brush Prairie is not Vancouver. The lots are bigger, the structures are spread out, the services are often older, and the load profiles tend to include things you do not see in a city subdivision: RVs, hot tubs, barn lighting, shop tools, well pumps, multiple outbuildings. A contractor who works the area regularly understands what Clark Public Utilities will and will not do on a given week, knows what L&I inspectors want to see on rural service upgrades, and shows up with the right disconnects and weatherheads instead of needing to make a hardware store run mid-job.
MAS Pro has been doing electrical work in Clark County since 2017 and our team has been working in plumbing and trades in the area since 1987. The combined three-division license (electrical, plumbing, HVAC) means that on a property where a service upgrade is also adjacent to a water heater swap, a heat pump conversion, or a generator install, you are dealing with one company instead of three.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Any electrical service upgrade in Clark County requires a permit pulled through Washington State Labor and Industries. A licensed electrical contractor pulls the permit as part of the job and schedules the L&I inspection after the work is complete. Homeowner-pulled permits are an option in some cases, but for a service upgrade involving the utility, the contractor route is the standard.
Sometimes, if the existing panel has the capacity and the available slots. The honest check is a load calculation: a 50-amp RV outlet adds real load, and most older 100-amp panels in Brush Prairie that already feed a house with modern appliances do not have the headroom. If the calculation comes back tight, upgrading the service first is the right call, and it costs less than installing the outlet twice.
For a coordinated service upgrade with Clark Public Utilities, power is typically off for several hours during the panel swap and re-feed. The utility schedules a disconnect and reconnect window in advance, the crew does the cut-over inside that window, and the home is back on power the same day in most cases.
It depends on the load distribution. On this Brush Prairie project, the barn was the right spot because most of the new loads (RV, hot tub, exterior outlets) lived on that side of the property. On other properties, the house is the better mounting point. A licensed electrician walks the property with you and recommends the location that gives you the cleanest runs and easiest future expansion.
You can, but it usually costs more to come back. Adding the disconnect during the same mobilization as the panel work means you share the permit, the trip, and the trenching. Adding it later means a separate service call, a separate permit, and additional labor to tie into a panel that is already buttoned up.
We handle the utility coordination as part of the job. That includes scheduling the disconnect and reconnect window with Clark Public Utilities, confirming the cut-over date, and making sure the crew is on site and ready when the lineman arrives. You should not need to make that call yourself.
