Electrical Pricing Guide: How to Price Electrical Jobs Right

Most electricians price the way they were taught: an hourly rate, a parts list, and a number that feels about right for the neighborhood. Then the month ends and the money doesn't match the work. This electrical pricing guide fixes that from the ground up. You start with what your hour actually costs, build every task on it, and give the homeowner real choices so your tech never has to talk anyone into anything.

Last updated: October 23, 2026

Why is electrical pricing harder than it looks?

Electrical work hides its time. A plumber can usually see the leak. You can't see a loose neutral behind a wall or a failing breaker until you go looking, and looking takes time nobody budgets for. Then there's the spread of work on a single truck: a $10 receptacle in the morning, a 200-amp service upgrade in the afternoon, an EV charger quote on the way home.

Most published guides answer this with a wage chart and a list of what other electricians charge. That's where shops get hurt. Your costs aren't your competitor's costs. Pricing off their number means you inherit their mistakes, and you never find out what your own business needs to stay alive.

Our founder, Rodney Koop, started in the family electrical business at 15, wiring homes and upgrading panels. He watched great electricians undercharge for years because pricing felt like selling. That's the problem this guide is built to solve, and it's the story behind the TNFR electrical pricing app.

What should an electrician charge per hour?

Whatever your billable hour says. Not the wage, not the going rate. Your billable hour is what every hour a tech actually bills has to bring in to cover everything: wages and burden, the truck, insurance, the office, software, your own pay and a real profit.

The wage is only the start. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts median pay for electricians at $30.38 an hour as of May 2025. That's what a tech costs on payroll, before taxes, workers' comp, benefits, training, drive time and the hours spent stocking the truck. None of those hours are billable, and all of them have to be paid for by the hours that are.

Here's an illustrative example. Say it costs $180,000 a year to keep one truck running, profit target included. Your tech is paid for 2,080 hours but bills 1,200 of them. Divide $180,000 by 1,200 and your billable hour is $150. Price off the wage, or off 2,080 hours, and every job you run is quietly short.

We walk through the full math in how to calculate your billable hour and make a profit, or you can skip the spreadsheet and use the calculator below.

What are the four numbers every electrical price book starts with?

Every price on a TNFR menu comes from four foundation numbers. Get these right and the rest of the price book follows. Get one wrong and it's wrong on every task.

Once those four are set, a task price is the time it takes times your billable hour, plus parts. Nobody guesses. The same task gets the same price no matter which tech is standing in the kitchen. If you want to see how this plays out against your margins, read what a healthy electrical contractor profit margin looks like.

Should electricians use flat rate or hourly pricing?

Flat rate, for almost all residential service. Electrician flat rate pricing protects your best tech. With hourly pricing, the faster and better they work, the less you make. It also turns the homeowner into a timekeeper. Flat rate fixes both. The customer knows the price before you start, and the tech who works clean and quick earns the shop more.

But a single flat number is only half the fix. One price is still a yes-or-no question, and when the answer is no, your tech walks out with nothing. Itemized time-and-materials quotes are worse. They hand the customer a list to argue with, line by line. We break that down in how to build an electrical price book that actually makes money.

How many options should you give a homeowner?

Five. You've probably been told to do good, better, best. It beats a single price, but it makes the in-between choice the default and leaves nowhere to go for the homeowner who wants it done right for good. Five options give you room for the cheapest safe fix, the full solution and the honest steps in between.

Rodney's favorite example is the humble receptacle. Here's how one small call becomes five real choices:

Every option is a real job you'd be proud of. The tech doesn't decide what the customer can afford. The menu does the asking, and the homeowner chooses.

That's the heart of getting electrical technicians to sell without turning them into salespeople. The app gives them 14 presentation scripts, so they know what to say when they hand over the menu.

How do you price the big electrical jobs?

The same way, with a few electrical-specific traps to price in before the tech ever leaves the shop.

Troubleshooting time

You can't flat rate a fix you haven't found yet. Price the hunt as its own task, in set blocks of time, and present it before you start. Once the cause is found, the repair goes on the menu like any other task. That keeps the hours you spend tracing a fault from vanishing into the repair price.

Panel and service upgrades

These are the jobs where a missed line item eats the whole profit. This Old House puts most 200-amp upgrades at $1,300 to $3,000 for homeowners, with permits running $50 to $300 and meter work needing utility coordination. Build the permit, the inspection trip, the utility wait and any drywall patching into the task. Then options can add surge protection, circuit labeling or a grounding upgrade on top.

EV chargers

Homeowners see a charger in a box and think it's an easy install. HomeAdvisor's cost guide shows why it isn't: a panel upgrade adds $800 to $2,000, rewiring $500 to $1,500, and permits $100 to $200. Price a load calculation into every charger task. Your options can range from a plug-in circuit near the panel to a hardwired charger with a longer run, a load manager, or the service upgrade that makes room for the second car.

Generators

Generator work runs from a simple inlet and interlock for a portable unit to a full standby install with an automatic transfer switch, gas line coordination and a pad. That range fits five options almost on its own. Price the permit, the gas trade, startup and the first service visit into the task so nothing gets given away.

Code and permits

Code-required items are not upsells. If the job needs AFCI or GFCI protection, it goes in every option, including the cheapest. A cheapest option that doesn't meet code isn't an option you should offer. Price permits and inspection trips as part of the task, never as a surprise on the invoice.

How do you price small jobs and cover callbacks?

Small jobs are where most electrical shops lose money without noticing. A ceiling fixture swap takes 30 minutes, but the trip, the drive and the parts run behind it took two hours of the day. That's what your service fee is for. It covers getting a licensed tech to the door, so the task price only has to cover the task.

Then give the small job somewhere to go. A fixture swap can become a fixture plus a dimmer, a whole-room lighting update, or added recessed lights. Most homeowners have a list. A menu reminds them.

Callbacks are the other leak. Every return trip costs a tech, a truck and a slot on the board, and brings in nothing. Build the cost of your callback rate into your billable hour, and use your higher options to offer longer warranties. When a homeowner chooses more complete work, there's less left behind to fail.

Do you need software to run an electrical price book?

You can build one in a spreadsheet. Plenty of shops start there. The trouble comes when costs change, a new tech starts, or the price book lives on three different phones. A spreadsheet doesn't present anything to a homeowner, either. It just holds numbers.

The New Flat Rate builds your price book from your four foundation numbers, puts the same five-option menu on every tech's device, and comes with the 14 presentation scripts and Training Lab Steps 1 through 9. If you also run HVAC calls, the HVAC pricing guide covers the same method for heating and cooling.