A technician seen from behind and shoulders down holding a yellow tape measure across an empty built-in appliance opening between light wood kitchen cabinets, a plain clipboard with blank pages resting on the counter beside the opening, a receptacle and a water valve visible on the back wall of the opening, calm morning light.

Pre-Installation Site Check

A visit before you order: opening, path in, gas, water, drain, power and exhaust checked against the spec sheet.

(844) 638-8309

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

Price before any work
5 steps on the visit
6 problems it answers

Book a visit

Three short steps, about a minute.

or call (844) 638-8309

What the pre-installation site check
involves.

A pre-installation site check answers one question before money changes hands: will this appliance fit, connect and run where you want it? The technician brings the spec sheet of the model you are considering, or two or three candidates, and holds each against the room. The opening is measured at several points, since cabinets and walls are rarely square, and the floor is checked for slope. The delivery path is walked from the curb: steps, railings, door widths with the door stop removed, the tight turn at the top of the basement stairs. Then the connections are read as they are today: which fuel the house has and whether a shutoff sits where the new connector can reach it, the receptacle type and the breaker size on the circuit, the water valve and its condition, where the drain goes, and how the exhaust leaves the house and how far it has to travel. The result is a short written list: what fits as is, what the installation day will include, and what has to happen first, such as a new outlet by an electrician, a gas line by a plumber, a cabinet change by your carpenter, or a door taken off its hinges on the day.

How the visit goes

What it costsInstallations are quoted once the room and the model are known

Think of the ladder as a way to set one fitting job beside another, and nothing more precise than that.

Answers 6 problemsUnit Too Big for the Opening: Cutout, Depth and the Delivery Path

Plug Does Not Fit the Outlet: Cords, Receptacles and Circuits · Breaker Trips on the First Run: Leave It Off and Find Out Why · Hood Not Drawing Smoke: Duct Size, Damper and Makeup Air · Appliance Installation Code on a New Unit: Setup Modes and Hookup Messages · Burning Smell on the First Run: When It Is Normal and When to Stop

Comes up most onCold storage

Cooking appliances · Dish care · Laundry

Codes that lead hereE:9001 · Bad Line · Bad Line

Gaggenau E:9001: incoming power to a dish care machine.

Pre-installation site check,
step by step.

Write down what fits now, what the installation will cover, and what a licensed trade or a carpenter must do before the delivery.

Read the spec sheet and the installation instructions of the model, or the few models, you are weighing.

Measure the opening at the front, the back and both sides, and check the floor for level and for any new flooring in the way.

Walk the delivery path from the street to the room, noting every door width, stair turn and railing.

Look at the existing gas shutoff, receptacle and breaker, water valve, drain and exhaust, and compare each with what the model asks for.

Write down what fits now, what the installation will cover, and what a licensed trade or a carpenter must do before the delivery.

The problems
it answers.

6 of them, from unit too big for the opening: cutout, depth and the delivery path to burning smell on the first run: when it is normal and when to stop.

All problems

A kitchen with a new stainless French door refrigerator still on its low appliance dolly, stopped halfway into a cabinet opening whose top edge is visibly too low for it, a yellow tape measure lying extended along the counter beside it, cardboard corner guards at the edge of the frame, even daylight.

Most common

Unit Too Big for the Opening: Cutout, Depth and the Delivery Path

6 causes, cheapest first

Before you call

Tell us this when you book

The make and model you are considering, or a link to its spec sheet, and the appliance it will replace
Which room, and whether the new unit goes where the old one stood or somewhere new
Any stairs, narrow halls or tight turns on the way in, and whether there is an elevator
What the house runs on: gas or propane, and whether you have noticed the type of receptacle behind the old unit

It also answers

A price before
any work.

Think of the ladder as a way to set one fitting job beside another, and nothing more precise than that. Sliding a new dishwasher into the space the old one left may take an hour, while a panel-ready column pair set into fresh cabinetry can fill a working day; a valve that turns freely costs nothing extra and a seized one adds a step; an exhaust that exits right behind the machine is simple and one that climbs to the roof is not. Your price is set after the model and the room have both been looked at, it is written down, and the work starts when you say go.

Read the full cost guide

Installation	Relative cost
New gas range, cooktop, wall oven or dryer connected with a new connector, conversion kit fitted if needed, every joint leak-tested and the first flame read
New supply line and quarter-turn stop for a refrigerator, ice maker, dish care machine or laundry pair, flushed and tested under pressure
Drain hose routed through a high loop, an air gap or into a standpipe, disposer knockout removed, first drain checked
Metal exhaust transition and reachable wall run fitted from a new dryer to the outside hood, joints taped, airflow confirmed
Wall, island, insert or downdraft hood mounted and ducted outdoors at full size, damper and cap fitted, fan and lights tested
Built-in column, integrated drawer, wall oven or panel-ready model set to its cutout, anchored, connected and its panels or trim aligned
Laundry pair stacked with the maker's kit or raised on pedestals, leveled, connected and run together
Anti-tip bracket fastened and engaged, leveling legs set, doors squared on a range, cold storage unit, dish care machine or laundry machine
Old appliance shut off, disconnected, capped and carried out, opening cleaned, disposal or recycling arranged

Where it
comes up most.

Most bookings: Cold storage, Cooking appliances, Dish care, Laundry.

All appliance types

Codes that lead here

Often the same visit

A bright kitchen during an installation, a new stainless French door refrigerator on a low four-wheel appliance dolly being eased toward an empty cabinet opening, a technician seen from behind and shoulders down guiding it with one hand on the side of the cabinet, a folded moving blanket and a coil of new braided water line on a protective floor runner, cardboard corner guards at the edge of the frame, even daylight.

Cold storage

A home kitchen mid-installation, a new stainless freestanding gas range pulled a foot out from its opening, a technician seen from the shoulders down kneeling beside it and tightening a new yellow-coated flexible gas connector to a wall shutoff valve with a wrench, a small spray bottle of leak solution on the floor, the anti-tip bracket screwed to the floor at the back, every burner off, even daylight.

Cooking appliances

A kitchen during an installation, a new stainless built-in dishwasher halfway slid into its opening under a stone counter, its kick plate removed, a technician seen from behind and shoulders down on one knee guiding a gray drain hose and a braided supply line through the hole in the side cabinet, the sink cabinet doors open beside him, a flashlight on the floor, even daylight.

Dish care

The makes
we see it on.

37 makes on this site, and the pre-installation site check on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page.

All 37 brands

Pre-installation site check,
where we come out.

The home, the climate and the building all change how the pre-installation site check goes. These notes are about that, metro by metro.

All service areas

Tampa BayFL · 31 areas

Before a new appliance is ordered for a Tampa Bay house, the pre-installation site check asks the question that decides the rest: does the home have natural gas, a propane tank or neither, since a gas cooktop bought for an all-electric slab ranch cannot simply be plugged in.

OrlandoFL · 30 areas

A pre-installation site check in an Orlando subdivision usually finds a builder-grade opening sized to the unit that came with the house, so the technician measures width, depth and the doorway into the garage laundry before the owner commits to a larger upgrade.

Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas

In a South Florida condo tower the pre-installation site check covers the building as much as the kitchen: the freight elevator's door and cab size, the association's rules on laundry machines and the paperwork the manager wants before a delivery is let in.

New York MetroNY · 75 areas

A New York pre-installation site check starts on the sidewalk, counting flights, measuring the tightest landing turn and the apartment door, because in a walk-up the stairwell decides which appliance can come home long before the kitchen opening does.

HoustonTX · 36 areas

Houston houses often have gas at the kitchen wall and a laundry out in the garage, and a pre-installation site check there confirms the gas stub, the dryer outlet type and whether the house was raised under flood rules, which changes steps and the delivery path.

ChicagoIL · 50 areas

A Chicagoland pre-installation site check walks the basement stairs with a tape measure, since many laundries sit below grade behind a turn at the landing, and it notes whether the standpipe, the floor drain and the exhaust wall are where the new machines expect them.

Los AngelesCA · 95 areas

In Los Angeles a pre-installation site check looks for the earthquake shutoff at the gas meter and the anchoring points behind a tall unit, and on hillside lots it measures the outside stairs and gates, which are often narrower than the kitchen doorway.

San DiegoCA · 31 areas

San Diego backyard cottages and garage conversions are getting their own kitchens and laundries, and a pre-installation site check there confirms what the smaller unit was wired and plumbed for, so a 24-inch appliance is chosen to fit the space rather than squeezed in.

San Francisco Bay AreaCA · 74 areas

Many Bay Area remodels now swap gas for induction, and a pre-installation site check there tells the homeowner whether a 240-volt circuit is already at the wall or whether a licensed electrician needs to come first, before the cooktop leaves the store.

A family unpacking groceries into a newly fitted kitchen, the fresh appliances set flush in their openings. — For the heart of your home.

Questions about
the pre-installation site check.

Is a site check worth it for a simple like-for-like swap?

For the same size and the same connections, often not; the installation visit measures on the day anyway. It earns its cost when the model is a different size, built in, panel-ready, heavier, on a different fuel or going into a new spot.

Can the site check be done from photos?

Photos of the opening, the receptacle, the shutoff and the exhaust help a lot and can settle an easy case. A tight built-in cutout, an uneven floor or a long exhaust run still needs a tape measure in the room.

What if the site check finds the house needs an electrician first?

You get a plain note of what the model asks for, such as the voltage, the amperage and the receptacle type, to hand to the electrician. The installation is booked for after that work is done.

Back to your everyday

Ready to book the pre-installation site check?

Have these to hand: the make and model you are considering, or a link to its spec sheet, and the appliance it will replace, which room, and whether the new unit goes where the old one stood or somewhere new, any stairs, narrow halls or tight turns on the way in, and whether there is an elevator, what the house runs on: gas or propane, and whether you have noticed the type of receptacle behind the old unit.

Schedule an installation Call (844) 638-8309