A standby generator sits on a pad, connects to a fuel supply, and starts itself when the utility supply fails. Transfer is automatic — nobody goes outside in weather to start anything.
Where this wins
Runtime. A battery holds a finite amount of energy and then stops. A generator runs until the fuel does, and on natural gas it effectively does not stop at all.
That distinction is why the answer differs across this service area. Inside the city, outages tend to be shorter, and a well-designed battery covers them silently. Out on the acreage — Dripping Springs, Driftwood, Spicewood, Liberty Hill, the rural parts of Hays and Bastrop counties — restoration after a regional event takes longest, properties are furthest from the substation, and the failure mode people are planning for is days rather than hours. That is generator territory.
Sizing against reality
The common mistake is sizing off square footage. It produces a machine larger than the house needs, which costs more to buy, more to install, more to fuel, and runs inefficiently at light load.
We size against a load calculation and an explicit list of what has to run. Refrigeration, well pump where there is one, enough lighting and outlets, and how much of the HVAC system. That last one is the swing factor in this climate: an August outage without cooling is a genuine health question, and it is also the largest single load on the list.
Fuel
Natural gas where a main reaches the property. Nothing to refill, nothing to run out during exactly the event you bought the machine for.
Propane where it does not, which covers much of the Hill Country side. Tank sizing then becomes part of the design — a tank sized for a heating appliance is not a tank sized to carry a generator through a multi-day event, and the difference is worth understanding before rather than during.
Fuel line sized and installed to the applicable code, and coordinated with the gas supplier where a meter upgrade is needed.
The pad, and what is under it
The generator needs a level pad, set back from openings and combustibles per the manufacturer’s requirements and the adopted code.
On the western side of the metro, that pad frequently sits on limestone. Excavation for the pad and for the fuel and electrical runs is the same rock problem that governs a charger trench, and it is worth establishing during the survey rather than discovering on the day. On the eastern clay, the consideration is different — a pad poured on expansive soil moves relative to the structure, so flexible connections at the transitions are not optional.
Transfer and sequencing
An automatic transfer switch rated for the service handles the changeover and, critically, isolates the house from the grid while the generator is running.
Where there is an EV circuit, we sequence it. The charger yields to the essential loads and takes what is left, typically overnight when the cooling load has dropped. Treating vehicle charging as a first-class load on generator power is how people discover their machine is smaller than they thought.
Scheduled self-test is configured before we leave, so that the first time it runs is not the first real outage.