My experience with getting a whole house generator won't cost the same as most people. My generator was bought from junk yard that went through a flood. Then a new engine was bought and put into it. Plus my dad is an electrical engineer so he installed it so I had no installation cost. The total cost for mine was less than $3,000 but I suspect to buy a new one with installation would be several times that cost. I know the generators new are around $5-6000 and the transfer switch is close to another $1,000. I have no clue how much installation is.Can you give us an idea what "pretty expensive" means? Im a no tech savvy older female who has no idea what t get or what i need to spend to keep my two tanks ( 32 gal and 16 gal Biocubes) up and running should we have a storm or loss of power. Thanks much!!