Owners ask
Electrical flat rate pricing: how to price jobs, with the math
Short answer: electrical flat rate pricing means quoting a fixed price per task instead of billing by the hour. For each job, add labor hours at your loaded labor rate, materials at current supplier prices and an overhead share, then add a profit margin of about 20% to 40%. A job costing $1,500 to do prices at $2,143 for a 30% margin.
Margin is not markup. A 30% markup on the same $1,500 gives $1,950, which is $193 short.
What is flat rate pricing for an electrical contractor?
It is a price book: a list of common jobs, each with one price the customer sees before work starts. Replace a GFCI outlet, install a ceiling fan, swap a 200-amp panel. The tech finds the job in the book, shows the price, and the customer says yes or no.
The alternative is time and materials, where the customer pays for however long the job runs. Flat rate shifts the time risk to you. If the tech is fast, you keep the difference. If the job drags, you eat it. That is why the book has to be built from your real costs, not from what a competitor posts.
The wage side matters less than it looks. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median electrician wage of $63,190 a year, or $30.38 an hour (May 2025 data, page updated August 27, 2026). That is what a tech earns. It is not what the tech costs you, and it is not what you bill.
How do I price one job flat rate?
Four steps, applied to each task. Sera's June 2026 guide gives the same sequence.
- Labor. Hours the job takes, times your loaded labor rate: wage plus payroll tax, benefits, the truck and tools the tech uses.
- Materials. Parts at today's supplier prices, not last year's.
- Overhead. Office staff, insurance, software, the shop. Many owners allocate it per labor hour.
- Margin. Divide the full cost by (1 minus your target margin). The guide suggests 20% to 40%.
Start with the 20 most common jobs. Test them on real calls, then add more. The same guide warns against a 500-item book that slows techs down on the doorstep.
What does a panel swap cost to quote?
Worked example with assumed numbers, not a client result. A 200-amp panel replacement. Loaded labor is $55 an hour (an assumption; the median wage is $30.38) and overhead is $20 per labor hour. The tech estimates 8 hours, and materials cost $900.
- Labor: 8 x $55 = $440
- Materials: $900
- Overhead: 8 x $20 = $160
- Full cost: $1,500
- Price at a 30% margin: $1,500 / 0.70 = $2,143
- Price at a 30% markup: $1,500 x 1.30 = $1,950, a margin of only 23.1%
Mixing the two terms is the most common mistake in a first price book. It underprices every job by the same quiet amount.
What happens when the job runs long?
This is the risk flat rate carries. The price is fixed at $2,143. Labor and overhead scale with hours.
| Hours | Labor + overhead | Full cost | Margin on $2,143 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | $450 | $1,350 | 37.0% |
| 8 | $600 | $1,500 | 30.0% |
| 10 | $750 | $1,650 | 23.0% |
Same example: $900 of materials, $75 an hour of loaded labor and overhead. A two-hour overrun costs 7 points of margin, or $150. Track estimated against actual hours per task and fix the book where it drifts.
A good book gets its hours from your own job history. A bad one copies a template. Review costs at least quarterly, and monthly when copper and equipment prices move, and update the labor rate whenever you change pay.
What does price book software cost?
A spreadsheet works for the first 20 jobs. Once techs quote from phones and you want good, better, best options on one screen, the book needs to live in your field service tool. I checked two pricing pages on November 3, 2026.
| Software | Price a month | Flat rate pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Housecall Pro, Basic | $59 | Price book, but not flat-rate pricing |
| Housecall Pro, Essentials | $149 (5 users) | Flat-rate pricing listed |
| Housecall Pro, Max | $299 (8 users) | Includes Essentials features |
| Workiz | Request pricing | Flat rate on Ultimate only |
Housecall Pro is billed yearly; extra users on Max are $35. Workiz publishes no prices on its page. For ServiceTitan the CostBench estimate is $250 to $498 a tech a month (pricing guide).
At 5 users, Essentials is $1,788 a year. That is the cheapest published way I found to get a flat-rate book onto the techs' phones.
When does owning the price book make sense?
For a small shop, rarely. CNL rebuilds the tools shops rent as one system they own, with code in your GitHub, data in your own cloud account and no per-seat fees. The One tool plan is $6,000 once plus $290 a month and about $150 a month of hosting at cost. At 5 users, $149 a month for Essentials is cheaper, so rent it. The calculation changes with a larger crew paying per user across several tools, such as the price book, dispatch and invoicing together.
The free audit prices your actual stack line by line and gives a fixed fee and a payback month within five business days. CNL only starts when the rebuild pays for itself within 12 months of going live. For a similar cost comparison, see the plumbing software price guide. CNL does not rebuild email, accounting ledgers or payroll.
Pricing book stuck in a spreadsheet? We will price the software.
Tell us which tools you pay for. Within five business days you get a free, line-by-line audit: what each tool costs you a year, what we would rebuild as one system you own, a fixed price, and the month it pays for itself. The plan is yours to keep either way.
Get my free audit Fixed quote. No per-tech fees. No call needed to get the plan.Questions owners ask
Is flat rate pricing legal for electricians?
Yes, a fixed price quote is a normal contract form. Licensing, permit and written-estimate rules vary by state, so check yours with your licensing board.
Should I show the customer hours and parts?
Not on a flat rate quote. The customer buys the outcome. Keep hours and parts in your own records to fix the book, and use good, better, best options to give a choice.
How many jobs belong in the first book?
About 20 of your most common. Add more once the first set is tested against actual hours.
What if the job is bigger than the book?
Write a custom quote with the same four steps. Keep the book for repeatable work, such as outlets, fans, panels and EV chargers.
Sources
- Sera, electrical flat rate price book: cost build-up, 20% to 40% margin, 20 jobs first (Jun 10, 2026): https://sera.tech/blog/electrical-flat-rate-price-book
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians: median pay $63,190 a year, $30.38 an hour, May 2025 data (page updated Aug 27, 2026): https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm
- Housecall Pro, pricing page: Basic $59, Essentials $149, Max $299 and flat-rate pricing by plan (read Nov 3, 2026): https://www.housecallpro.com/pricing/
- Workiz, pricing page: request pricing, flat rate on Ultimate only (read Nov 3, 2026): https://www.workiz.com/pricing/