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How to inspect electrical rough-in

Electrical rough-in is the last honest look at the wiring you will ever get — once the drywall goes up, everything you did not photograph is a guess. This walkthrough follows the wire from the panel out to the last box, in the order a good foreman checks it, and points out what has to be right before you call for the AHJ's rough inspection.

For the electrical foreman checking their own crew's work, or the GC's superintendent verifying rough-in before insulation and board close the walls.

Step by step

  1. Confirm boxes are set to the finished-wall depth

    Every device and junction box should be plumb, secured, and set out to the plane of the finished surface — not buried behind the tile or standing proud of the drywall. Note the box fill: crowded boxes fail on the AHJ walk.

  2. Verify conductor type, size and routing

    Check that the conductor matches the circuit on the drawings — the right gauge for the breaker, the right cable or raceway for the location. Home runs should land at the panel they are labeled for, and you should be able to trace a circuit end to end.

  3. Check supports, staples and protection

    Cable should be stapled at the required intervals and within the required distance of every box, run through bored holes near the center of the stud, and protected by nail plates wherever it passes a framing edge a screw could find.

  4. Inspect the grounding and bonding

    Confirm the equipment grounding conductor is present and continuous, grounds are made up at the boxes, and the grounding electrode system is landed. This is the item that quietly fails the final if it was skipped at rough-in.

  5. Look at panel and gear terminations

    At the panel, check that conductors are landed on the correct breakers, neutrals and grounds are separated where required, torque is being followed, and circuits are legibly identified. Photograph the open panel before the cover goes on.

  6. Verify boxes for clearances and fire-rated walls

    Check working clearance in front of gear, and confirm that boxes in fire-rated assemblies are the listed type, spaced and backed as the listing requires. Any penetration of a rated wall gets flagged for the firestopping walk.

  7. Photograph and document before cover

    Capture each run, each open box, and the panel while they are exposed, tied to the room and circuit. This is the pre-cover record that lets you answer a question three months from now without opening the wall.

What gets missed

  • Boxes set to the stud face instead of the finished-wall depth, so device plates never sit flat over tile or thick board.
  • Missing nail plates where a home run crosses the edge of a stud a drywall screw will hit.
  • Overfilled boxes that meet no one's count once the devices and grounds go in.
  • Grounding conductors left long and unmade-up in the boxes, deferred to final and then forgotten.
  • Calling for the AHJ rough inspection before insulation is cleared, so the inspector red-tags a wall you cannot yet close.

Questions people ask

Does this walk replace the AHJ's rough-in inspection?
No. This is your own pre-cover verification so the work is right before the jurisdiction's electrical inspector looks at it; their rough-in sign-off is the one that lets you close the wall.
When should electrical rough-in be inspected?
After boxes, conductors and grounding are complete and supported but before insulation, and always before drywall — anything covered can only be verified by tearing it back open.

Standards behind it

Terms worth knowing

Checklists that make this a one-tap job

Free, field-ready checklists, each with the photo every item needs before it can be submitted.

Electrical Rough-in· ElectricalElectrical rough-in inspection checklistBoxes, raceways, conductors and grounding before the walls close10 items14 photosElectrical rough-inElectrical rough-in inspection checklistBoxes, conductors, grounding and protection before close-in.13 items21 photosElectrical Pre-cover· ElectricalElectrical pre-cover inspection checklistThe hold-point walk before insulation and drywall bury the rough-in6 items14 photosElectrical Final· ElectricalElectrical final inspection checklistDevices, terminations, labeling and energization before turnover9 items14 photos
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Reading the steps is one thing. Proving you walked them is the job.

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