How Much to Charge for Electrical Work?

Charge a $75 to $200 service call fee for the trip and first 30 to 60 minutes, then bill hourly. Many electricians credit it toward the work if the customer proceeds.

Electrician hourly rate: $65 to $130/hr self-employed, $100 to $175/hr for a licensed shop with vans and techs.

Best for repeatable jobs: outlets, switches, fixtures, ceiling fans, panel swaps. The customer gets one number, and you get paid for being fast instead of penalized for it.

Typical range: $120 to $4,000+ depending on the job. See the table below.

Knob-and-tube, aluminum branch wiring, and troubleshooting belong on time and materials. Quote a not-to-exceed range and document what you find before committing to a firm price.

Charge $75 to $200 for the trip and diagnosis. It pays for travel, your stocked van, and your time even when the answer is a tripped breaker. Decide upfront whether you credit it toward the work, and tell the customer.

Setting a markup? Check it with the free markup vs margin calculator - a 30 percent markup leaves you a 23 percent margin, and the gap widens as costs rise.

Mark materials up 20 to 50 percent over cost. Devices, breakers, and wire carry the high end; big-ticket gear (panels, EVSE) the low end. You are paid for sourcing, transport, and warranty.

Charging cost-only is the most common rookie mistake. See Pricing mistakes.

Panel upgrades, service changes, and new circuits usually require a permit and inspection. Bill the permit cost plus a 15 percent handling fee, and build inspection wait time into the quote.

• Nights, weekends, holidays: 1.5x to 2x the normal rate
• Higher minimum to make the call worth rolling out for
• Disclose the premium when they book, not on the invoice

• Hourly target: $65 to $130 once licensed. Below this and you are undercharging for a licensed, code-critical skill.
• Always charge the service call fee. Your drive out is real even when the fix is small.
• Mark materials up at the low-to-mid end (20 to 40 percent). You don't carry a parts counter.
• Price code work for competence, not volume. The customer is buying a fix that passes inspection.

• Hourly target: $100 to $175. It has to cover techs, vans, insurance, and profit.
• Full markup on materials (up to 50 percent on small parts). You carry inventory and warranty risk.
• Flat-rate book. A priced job menu keeps every tech consistent.
• Service-call minimum non-negotiable. Rolling a van has a hard floor cost.

A free diagnostic trains customers to call you for free advice. Charge it, credit it toward the work if you like, but never roll out for free.

You sourced them, hauled them, and you warranty the install. Always mark up. 20 percent minimum, more on small parts.

Pulling permits and waiting on inspectors is billable time. Build it into the quote instead of absorbing it on code-required work.

You can't compete with someone ignoring code, and you shouldn't try. Sell the inspection-passing, insured, licensed result. That's the whole point of hiring an electrician.

A handshake quote disappears the moment a customer changes their mind. Send the price in writing, by text or email, before you pull a wire. When the customer adds circuits or fixtures mid-job, put that in writing too: a change order template records the new scope, the price change, and both signatures before you wire it.