Man, I feel this in my bones. I once thought 30A would be plenty for “just a few tools” and a beer fridge—didn’t factor in the day I’d want to run the welder, AC, and every light at once. The breaker said nope. Solar crossed my mind, but honestly, the math (and the upfront cost) made my head spin. Did you ever regret not just oversizing everything from the start? Or maybe that’s just how we learn...
Honestly, I don’t think oversizing from the start is always worth it. Costs add up fast, and half the time you end up paying for capacity you never use. I usually run a dedicated line for big stuff like welders or compressors later, if I really need it. Sure, it’s a pain to upgrade, but at least you know exactly what you need by then. Guess it depends how much you like tearing into drywall...
I get where you’re coming from, but man, I learned the hard way about not planning ahead. When I first ran power out to my garage, I figured a couple outlets and some lights would be plenty. Fast forward a year, and suddenly I’m knee-deep in projects, wishing I’d just gone bigger from the start. Ended up having to trench again because my little 20A circuit wasn’t cutting it for the table saw and heater running at the same time. Not my favorite weekend.
That said, yeah, it’s definitely a balance. If you know you’re just going to be parking the car and maybe plugging in a shop vac once in a while, no sense in dropping a bunch of cash on heavy gauge wire and a subpanel you’ll never use. But if there’s even a chance you’ll want to run something beefy like a welder or compressor down the line, it’s worth at least running conduit big enough for future upgrades. Pulling new wire is way easier than busting up concrete or tearing into finished walls later.
Tearing into drywall is kind of my nemesis too… every time I patch it up, I swear it never looks quite right again. Guess that’s why I lean toward overkill on the planning side now. Learned my lesson after patching that same spot three times because I kept “adding just one more thing.”
But yeah, totally depends on your plans and how much hassle you’re willing to put up with later. Some folks love tinkering with upgrades—me, I’d rather do it once and be done if I can swing it.
I get the urge to future-proof, but honestly, I’ve seen a lot of folks overbuild and regret the expense. Sometimes less is more, especially if you’re not planning to turn the garage into a full-blown workshop. There’s something to be said for keeping it simple and tidy—too many outlets or oversized conduit can actually make the space feel cluttered. If you ever do need more power, surface-mount raceways are a decent workaround that don’t require tearing up finished walls. Just depends on how much you value aesthetics versus convenience, I guess.
I totally get where you’re coming from. I went down the rabbit hole of “future-proofing” when I started my own garage project, and honestly, I ended up with a few more outlets than I’ll probably ever use. It’s easy to get caught up in the what-ifs, but you’re right—keeping things simple can save money and headaches. Surface-mount raceways are a solid backup if you ever need to add more later. Sometimes it’s better to just focus on what you actually need right now and not overthink it.