Nobody rings a contractor to buy “a standby generator”. They ring because outages keep happening, or one long one did damage, or somebody in the house depends on power — and then have to describe a project they have not yet decided the shape of.
Turn what is already true about the property into one ask, stated in the sentence you would use on the phone, with the rule that produced it named.
What this produces, and what it will not
It produces:
One scope of work to ask for, from a closed list of seven.
The sentence to say, written in the first person because you will say it.
What the contractor is being asked to do, and what the ask is not.
The published rule that decided it, by number.
It never produces:
A generator size, capacity, or kilowatt figure.
A load calculation, or anything described as one.
A price, a range, or an estimate.
A brand, a model, or a recommendation between manufacturers.
Any statement that this property can take a particular installation.
Any suggestion that a contractor is standing by.
Where your answers go
Nowhere. Everything you enter stays in this browser tab. Nothing is saved, sent, or recorded, and closing the tab discards it. Print or copy the result if you want to keep it.
Everything that decides whether an installation is possible at a given address is set locally: the clearance a gas utility requires between its meter and a door or window, the setback a municipality applies to exterior equipment, and whether an association reviews it at all. This resource covers the whole country and therefore cannot tell you which of those apply to your address. What it can tell you is that they exist, that they are decided at the property rather than on a form, and that a contractor who answers them from a phone call has not answered them.
Five questions. Nothing is sent anywhere and no contact details are asked for — the answer appears on this page.
The logic, in full
These are the rules applied, in the order they are applied — not a summary of them. The first one that matches decides, and the result above names which. A decision surface whose reasoning you cannot inspect is a black box, and a black box is not worth trusting with a five-figure decision.
Note what the ordering encodes. Every rule that ends in an assessment sits above every rule that ends in equipment, so an unknown answer, a rented property, a tight lot or an absent fuel supply stops the equipment conversation. Those are precisely the conditions under which naming a product would be a guess, and a guess carried into a real quote does damage.
There is a standby generator here that has stopped working properly → service existing
There is a working standby generator here already → site assessment first
A generator has been bought but nothing is wired for it → transfer switch only
There is a portable generator being run on extension cords → portable with interlock
The property is rented, or the exterior is not yours to change → site assessment first
What has to keep running is not settled yet → site assessment first
The lot is tight, or an association reviews exterior work → site assessment first
It is not known what is beside the house or who authorises the work → site assessment first
There is no fuel supply, and the list of things to keep running is short → battery comparison
There is no fuel supply, and the whole house has to stay on → site assessment first
The fuel supply at the property is not known → site assessment first
The whole house has to stay on, and there is a fuel supply and space for a unit → whole home standby
A named list has to stay on, and there is a fuel supply and space for a unit → essential circuits standby
Whichever of these you end up asking for, the permit is issued by a jurisdiction rather than by a trade body, and which jurisdiction depends on whether the address is incorporated. That is worth establishing before the first site visit, because "who pulls the permit, and with whom" is a question with a different answer one town over.
Limitations
It composes decisions; it determines nothing about the property. Whether the site supports the ask it returns is established by somebody standing in the yard.
Six of the thirteen rules resolve to a site assessment rather than to equipment. That is the honest answer whenever the picture is incomplete, and the picture is usually incomplete.
Clearances, setbacks and permitting are set locally and vary by address. A national resource cannot tell you which apply to yours.
The ask is only as good as the five answers. It takes your word for all of them.
Standby generator or portable generator? — Whether this household needs equipment that operates without anyone present, or can rely on equipment a person sets up and runs.