Generator Budget

Standby generator quotes are hard to judge if you don't know what a normal range looks like. Generator Budget gives you one before you call an installer. The page opens with a planning baseline for a 2,200 square foot US home: roughly $8,770 to $18,160 installed, with $13,720 as the typical case. Then you replace the assumptions with your own.

The calculator has eight controls. You set the home size, keep automatic sizing or pick a generator from 10 kW to 48 kW, and choose how much of the house you want backed up. The page suggests changing coverage, fuel source and site condition first. Distance and location adjust it further. Each change updates the size, the low-to-high range and the itemized costs, so you can see where the money goes rather than just the total.

The method and sources section lists what the model draws on: Generac's installation guidance, Home Depot listings for generators and transfer switches, and US Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities and Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for adjusting by location. The model is versioned, currently 2026.08, and the page repeats that the output is a planning range, not a contractor quote or an electrical design.

There's also a 50-state cost comparison, a quote checklist and an FAQ. The page promises no signup and no sales call.

The value here is in walking into an installer conversation knowing which line items to ask about, such as pad and site work, fuel line distance or transfer switch type. It can't see your panel, your gas service or local permit rules, so expect real quotes to differ. It's a better starting point than a single national average.