I install whole-home generators for a living. I am also going to tell you when not to buy one, because the honest answer is that it depends on your situation and I would rather you know that upfront than find out after the invoice.
When it makes sense
You have medical equipment that cannot lose power. You work from home and a multi-day outage means real financial loss. You are on a well, which means no power means no water. You have lake property you rent out or use seasonally, and a power event while you are away can cause serious damage. You are in a PEC territory where multi-day outages after a storm are a real pattern, not a rare event.
In any of those cases, a whole-home standby generator is one of the few home upgrades that pays for itself in the first time you need it.
When it might not
You are rarely home. You have a small property with minimal loss exposure. You already have a reliable portable generator and your only concern is occasional short outages. In these cases a well-wired portable setup with a manual transfer switch is a fraction of the cost and covers you adequately.
The question I always ask
What is the cost of a three-day outage to you, in real terms? Lost food, lost income, hotel stay, damaged pipes, a sump pump that stops running. If that number is close to or above the cost of a generator install, the math usually works. If it is not, it might not.
