How to Price Electrical Jobs: A Practical Guide

Why this matters

Electrical work has a pricing trap other trades don’t: customers can’t see what they’re paying for. A rewire looks like “some cables in the wall” until you explain the design, testing, and certification behind it. If you price like a labourer with a drill, you’ll be treated like one. Price like the professional you are, the one whose work keeps buildings safe and legal.

Price from your real costs, not your gut

Work out what a billable hour truly costs you: wages, van, fuel, insurance, test equipment and its calibration, scheme membership fees, tools, phone, holidays, and all the unpaid hours spent quoting, driving, and doing paperwork. Divide by realistic billable hours, 25 to 30 a week, not 40. Electricians who skip this exercise almost always undercharge, because they forget how much of their week earns nothing directly.

Call-out and minimum charges

Always charge a call-out fee, and set a minimum charge, typically one hour, for small jobs. Driving across town to replace a faulty socket is not a £20 job once travel, diagnosis, and paperwork are counted. A minimum charge protects you from the economics of tiny jobs, and most customers accept it without blinking when it’s stated upfront. Emergency call-outs command a premium; agree it before you attend, not after you’ve fixed the fault at 11pm.

Hourly vs fixed price

Fault-finding, diagnostics, and “the lights keep tripping and nobody knows why” go on an hourly rate, you’re selling investigation, and nobody can price the unknown. Defined installations, consumer unit replacement, a rewire of a known property, EV charger installs, get fixed prices, quoted after a proper site survey. Never give a fixed price for a rewire you haven’t walked through in person; what’s behind those walls determines your week.

Quotes vs estimates, use the right word

A quote is a fixed commitment to a defined scope. An estimate is an educated guess that can move. For electrical work this distinction carries extra weight, because hidden conditions, no earth on the lighting circuit, borrowed neutrals, asbestos in the ceiling void, regularly change the job. Quote what you’ve surveyed; estimate anything priced from descriptions or photos. And write the exclusions explicitly: making good, decorating, lifting floorboards that turn out to be glued, if it’s not in the quote, say so.

Mark up materials properly

A 20–30% markup on materials is standard. It covers sourcing, delivery, warranty handling, and the stock of breakers, cable, and accessories you carry so jobs don’t stall. Don’t apologise for it and don’t hide it, itemise materials on the quote. Customers comparing your “expensive” materials against a retail website are forgetting that you collected them, guaranteed them, and will come back if one fails.

Price certification and testing as real work

Testing, inspection, and certification take real time, sometimes a full day on a rewire, and customers need to understand it’s part of the job, not an optional extra. Build it into the price visibly: “includes full testing and certification.” The electrician who buries testing in the labour line invites the customer to ask for it to be removed; the one who lists it as a line item sells professionalism.

Common mistakes

• Fixed-pricing fault-finding. Quoting £150 to “find and fix the fault” when the fault is a nail through a cable buried in a wall is how you work Saturday for free. Diagnostics are hourly, always.
• Forgetting scheme and calibration costs. Membership fees, calibrated test gear, and ongoing training are real annual costs. If they’re not in your hourly rate, you’re paying to stay qualified.
• No minimum charge. Three “quick” socket replacements in three different postcodes can eat a whole day for £90. A one-hour minimum stops the diary bleeding out.
• Underpricing rewires to win them. A rewire quoted too cheap doesn’t just lose money, it forces rushed work on the highest-risk job you do. Walk away before you cut corners on safety.

When to walk away from a quote

Walk away when the customer wants the certificate without the testing, or asks you to “just connect it up” to work someone else did. Walk away when they refuse a site survey for a fixed-price rewire. Walk away when the price has been haggled below your costs, the customer who squeezed the quote will squeeze the snagging list too. And walk away from anything that asks you to sign off work you didn’t do or can’t verify. Your registration and reputation are worth more than any single job.

Templates that help

• Electrician Quote Template, written quotes with scope, exclusions, and testing listed as a line item
• Electrician Job Sheet Template, record circuit references, test results, and variations on site
• Electrician Materials List Template, track cable, accessories, and boards per job with consistent markup
• Electrician Invoice Template, invoice labour, materials, call-out, and certification as separate lines
• Electrician Timesheet Template, log real hours, including testing time, to sharpen future quotes

Bottom line

Know your true hourly cost, charge a call-out and a minimum, keep fault-finding hourly, and price testing as the professional service it is. The cheapest electrician in town is usually the one who hasn’t done the maths yet.

Download the free templates for electricians.