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Quoting electrical work on the spot is tough. Jobber lets you build line-item quotes with your saved pricing so you are not recalculating markup in your head every time.
For bookkeeping, FreshBooks or QuickBooks Self-Employed will track income and expenses without needing a full accounting degree.
Electrical work carries more liability than most trades. You're dealing with code compliance, inspection requirements, and the reality that mistakes can cause fires. Your pricing should reflect that responsibility, but a lot of electricians still charge like they're competing with handymen.
Residential electrician rates typically fall between $70 and $130/hour, with licensed master electricians on the higher end. Commercial and industrial work commands more. The per-job average for common residential calls (outlet installation, panel work, fixture swaps) ranges from $150 to $500, but that depends entirely on your local market and the scope of work.
Your price needs to cover more than just time on-site:
Some jobs require permits and inspections. That's non-negotiable time you need to bill for. A panel upgrade might take 4 hours of install work but require 2 additional hours for the permit application, inspector scheduling, and the inspection itself. If you only price the install, you're giving away those 2 hours.
For service calls (troubleshooting, outlet adds, fixture swaps), flat-rate pricing protects both you and the customer. For larger projects (rewires, panel upgrades, new construction), time-and-materials with a not-to-exceed estimate works better because scope changes happen constantly on bigger jobs.
The free ProTradeOps starter kit includes job costing templates that help you track which job types are actually profitable and which ones you should reprice.
Pricing patterns from electricians who run profitable shops.
Diagnosing an electrical issue is skilled work. A $75-125 troubleshooting fee (applied to the repair if approved) values your expertise and filters out people who just want a free diagnosis.
Wire and conduit get a 30-50% markup. Devices (outlets, switches, breakers) get 50-100%. Fixtures and panels are lower margin but higher dollar. Be intentional about it.
When you find code violations during a service call, that's additional scope. Price it separately and explain why. Customers understand "this isn't up to code and it's a safety issue."
If a job requires two electricians (panel swaps, heavy conduit runs), make sure you're billing for both. Some shops accidentally price two-man jobs at single-tech rates.
Job costing sheets, estimate templates, and scheduling tools built for electrical contractors.
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