By Steven Lockhart
Reviewed by Alex Towery, C-10 #989290Outdoor and carport EV charging in Kentfield requires a NEMA 3R-rated weatherproof unit, exterior-rated conduit and fittings, and a routing plan. On properties with mature planting and finished hardscape, restoration after trenching is a scoped part of the work rather than an afterthought. C-10 licensed (CSLB #989290), Marin County permitted.
01The equipment side, briefly.
Anything mounted outdoors needs a wet-location rating — NEMA 3R or better. Conduit, fittings and the penetration through the building envelope all need to be exterior-rated and properly sealed. Indoor-rated equipment on a sheltered exterior wall is a listing violation and fails inspection, regardless of how dry that wall looks in August.
Mounting height matters more outside than in. Too low and the connector sits near standing water; too high and daily use becomes a nuisance. We set it against where the vehicle actually parks rather than guessing from a photograph.
02The part that is specific to Kentfield: putting it back.
On a property where the landscaping represents a serious investment and has had decades to mature, the route a conduit takes is a landscape decision as much as an electrical one. A trench through an established planting bed, across a finished drive, or under a mature root system is not a neutral act.
So the first move is looking for a route that avoids opening ground at all — along an existing structure, under a deck, following a line that is already disturbed. That is worth real effort before anyone reaches for a spade.
Where a trench is genuinely unavoidable, the restoration is scoped, priced and on the estimate. Not ‘we’ll tidy up’ — an actual line describing what goes back and how. A quote that leaves it off is not cheaper, it is incomplete, and that is worth knowing when comparing two numbers.
03Carports, porticos and the structures that are neither in nor out.
Plenty of Kentfield parking sits under something, or on an open driveway: a carport, a portico, a deep overhang, or simply the drive itself. These are the awkward cases, because they feel indoor and are not. A covered space open on two or more sides is generally treated as a wet location, and the equipment rating follows that rather than the intuition.
It is worth getting right rather than arguing about. Wet-location equipment in a dry spot is a small materials premium. Indoor equipment in a damp one is a failed inspection and, in time, a corroded charger.
04What the next month looks like.
Most Kentfield charger projects resolve inside a month. Here is where the time actually goes, phase by phase.
- Days 1–7Site walk, load calculation, written estimate. First the panel, then the parking spot, then the route between them. The Article 220 calculation comes out of that visit, and it is what determines whether a service upgrade enters the conversation at all.
- Days 7–21Permit filed, materials staged, date set. We file immediately and track it. No promised issue date, because that is not ours to promise, but an honest read on where the application sits whenever you ask.
- Days 21–30Install, inspection, closed permit. Crew on site, circuit landed, unit mounted and cable path set against where the car actually parks. Inspection afterwards, then a closed permit that stays with the house.
Two adjacent questions this page does not answer: ev charger kentfield and detached garage charging. Both sit under EV Charger Installation.