How to Price an Electrical Service Call: Trip Fee, First Hour and Flat Repairs
An electrical service call costs you money before you touch a wire: the drive, the setup, finding the problem, writing it up and getting paid. Price the call so that cost is covered every time, then price the repair on top of it, flat when you know the fix and by the hour when you do not. Every number below starts from one place, your own hourly rate, and this guide works an example from start to finish.
What a service call costs you before any work
Walk through a normal call and count the time you cannot bill as repair:
- Driving there and back
- Parking, finding the panel, setting up
- Diagnosing the problem
- Writing up the work, taking payment, packing up
None of that is optional, and on a short repair it can be more time than the repair itself. If the price only covers the minutes spent fixing, the rest comes out of your pay.
Step 1: know your hourly rate
Your rate is your yearly cost divided by your billable hours, divided by one minus your profit margin. Our electrician hourly rate calculator does the math from your own pay, overhead, truck, insurance and billable hours. With its example inputs, $119,000 a year over 1,500 billable hours is a $79.33 break-even, and $93.33 an hour at a 15 percent margin. The rest of this guide uses $93.33 as the example rate. Swap in yours.
Step 2: price the trip and the first look
Pick what the service call fee covers and say it out loud on the phone. A common structure is a fee that covers the trip plus the first block of diagnosis. With example times:
- Round-trip drive: 30 minutes
- Setup, write-up and taking payment: 15 minutes
- First half hour of diagnosis: 30 minutes
That is 1.25 hours. At $93.33 an hour, 0.75 hours of trip and setup is $70.00 and the half hour of diagnosis is $46.67, so the service call fee is $116.67. Round up, not down: call it $120.
Two rules make the fee hold up:
- Say what it includes. "The service call is $120. That covers the trip and the first half hour of finding the problem. Anything past that is $93.33 an hour, and I will tell you before I go past it."
- Decide once whether it is credited toward the repair, and do it the same way every time. Crediting it reads as friendly but means the repair price has to carry the trip. Not crediting it is simpler and honest, as long as you said so up front.
Step 3: price the repair flat when you know the fix
Once you know what is wrong, most service repairs are tasks you have done many times. Price those flat:
Repair price = (task hours x hourly rate) + (part cost x (1 + material markup))
Say diagnosis finds a failed GFCI receptacle in a bathroom. With example numbers:
- Labor: half an hour to replace and test it, 0.5 x $93.33 = $46.67
- Part: a GFCI receptacle at about $22, the national average in Staxen's price data, with a 30 percent material markup is $28.60
- Repair: $46.67 + $28.60 = $75.27, call it $76
The customer's total is the $120 service call plus the $76 repair, $196. Time your ten most common repairs once and you have a flat price list: receptacle and switch replacements, a fixture swap, a breaker replacement, a fan on a rated box. When your costs change, rerun the rate and every price moves with it.
Step 4: switch to hourly, with a cap, when you cannot see the fix
If the first half hour ends without an answer, keep going by the hour, but write the limit down before you do: "Continue troubleshooting at $93.33 an hour, up to 1.5 more hours ($140.00) without further approval. Parts extra." The customer knows the worst case. You have a natural point to stop, explain, and price the rest.
If the call turns into a project, say a new circuit or a panel change, stop pricing it as a service call. Write a real estimate. How to price and estimate electrical work walks through openings, labor units and margin, and the electrical estimate and bid calculator gives you a range to check against.
After-hours and emergency calls
A no-power call at 10 p.m. costs you more than the same hours on a Tuesday morning, so it should never be priced at the daytime rate. Pick a multiplier and print it. At an example 1.5 times the base rate:
- After-hours rate: 1.5 x $93.33 = $140.00 an hour
- After-hours service call (the same 1.25 hours): 1.25 x $140.00 = $175.00
Whatever multiplier you choose, say it when the customer calls, and put it on the invoice line so the higher number is never a surprise.
Put the numbers in writing before you leave
Most service call disputes are about what was agreed out loud. Text the price before the work, get it approved, and invoice from the truck when you finish. Staxen does that part for you: describe the repair out loud, it drafts the estimate from your own prices and rate, the customer approves it from a text link, and the invoice goes out with a card or ACH pay link when you are done. If you are deciding how to price the rest of your work, hourly vs flat rate pricing covers when each one fits.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should an electrician charge for a service call?
Enough to cover the trip, setup and first look at your own hourly rate, every time. With an example rate of $93.33, half an hour of round-trip drive, 15 minutes of setup and write-up, and a half hour of diagnosis come to $116.67, rounded up to $120. Your drive times and your rate will give a different number, so build it from yours rather than from what someone else charges.
Should the service call fee include the first hour?
It can include whatever you choose, as long as you say it up front. Many electricians include the first half hour or first hour of diagnosis, then bill by the hour or price the repair flat after that. Including more time raises the fee; including less makes the fee lower but means more calls run into hourly billing.
Do I credit the service call fee toward the repair?
Either way works if you are consistent and say so on the phone. Crediting it means your repair prices have to carry the trip cost. Not crediting it keeps the math simple, because the fee covers the trip and the repair price covers the repair.
How do I price after-hours electrical calls?
Choose a multiplier on your base rate and use it every time. At 1.5 times an example $93.33 rate, after-hours work is $140.00 an hour and the same service call is $175.00. State the after-hours rate when the customer calls, before you get in the truck.
What does Staxen cost for an electrician?
Staxen is $59 per month per AI employee, or $149 per month for all three. Eddie the Estimator drafts estimates from what you say on site, priced from your own prices and saved hourly rate, and Ivy the Invoicer sends the invoice with a pay link and follows up until it is paid. The first 7 days are free in the app.