Electrician hourly rate calculator: what to charge per hour
Your hourly rate as an electrician is your yearly cost divided by the hours you actually bill, then divided by one minus your profit margin. With the example inputs below, $119,000 a year of pay, overhead, truck and insurance over 1,500 billable hours is a $79.33 break-even, and $93.33 an hour at a 15 percent margin. Replace every example with your own numbers and the rate updates as you type.
Worked example at the example inputs
Six numbers, all yearly except the margin. The rate is per billable hour, for one licensed electrician billing their own time. The numbers already in the boxes are example inputs we picked to show the math, not market data or a survey of what electricians earn or charge. Type over every one of them.
| Input | Example value |
|---|---|
| Your pay or wages | $80,000 |
| Billable hours | 1,500 hours |
| Overhead | $18,000 |
| Truck or van | $12,000 |
| Business insurance | $9,000 |
| Profit margin | 15% |
| Break-even rate | $79.33 an hour |
| Recommended rate at a 15% margin | $93.33 an hour |
The formula
($80,000 pay + $18,000 overhead + $12,000 vehicle + $9,000 insurance) = $119,000 a year. $119,000 / 1,500 billable hours = $79.33 break-even. $79.33 / (1 - 0.15) = $93.33 an hour, with $14.00 profit in every billed hour. The interactive calculator on this page recomputes the rate as you type your own numbers.
Turn the hourly rate into a bid
Most electrical work is quoted flat, not by the hour, and this rate is what the flat price is built from. Estimate the hours, multiply by the recommended rate, add materials with their markup and the permit, and the bid already carries your overhead and profit. Do not divide by a margin a second time on top of this rate, or you charge the profit twice.
How to find each input
Your pay or wages
What you want to take home as the owner, or the wages of the electrician whose hours this rate bills. Put payroll taxes in here too if you run payroll, since they move with the wage.
Billable hours
Hours that end up on an invoice, not hours worked. Walkthroughs, supply house runs, permit pickups, inspections that slip and the drive between calls all come out of the 2,080 hour year first.
Overhead
License renewals and continuing education, tools and testers, phone, software, accounting, advertising, and the shop or storage unit. Add up last year from the bank statement rather than from memory.
Truck or van
Payment or lease, fuel, tires, maintenance, registration and the commercial auto policy. The ladder rack and shelving count too if you are still paying them off.
Business insurance
General liability, workers comp if you carry it, and any license or permit bond your jurisdiction requires. Your agent can give you the yearly premium total in one email.
Profit margin
The share of every dollar billed you keep after all the costs above. Profit is what pays for a new truck, a slow January and the next hire without borrowing.
Where the hours go
Why 2,080 hours never bills
A 40 hour week is 2,080 hours a year. Take out vacation, holidays and sick days, then the estimate visits that do not close, the second trip for a part, and the hour waiting on an inspector, and what is left is the number this calculator needs.
Count drive time honestly
On service work, three calls a day across town can cost an hour and a half behind the wheel. Either that time is unbilled and the rate has to carry it, or you charge a trip fee and count those hours as billable.
Track it for one quarter
Add up the hours on your invoices for the last three months and multiply by four. That is a better billable hours number than any rule of thumb, including the 1,500 we used as an example.
Rate factors for electricians
Journeyman, apprentice, or both
A two-person crew bills two sets of hours. Run the calculator once per person, or put both wages and both sets of billable hours in, and you get a blended crew rate per person-hour instead of one rate that undersells the journeyman.
Service work versus new construction
Service calls burn more unbilled time per billed hour than a rough-in that keeps you in one building all week, so service rates usually need fewer billable hours in the math and land higher.
After-hours and emergency calls
A no-heat or no-power call at night costs you more than the hours on the ticket. Set it as its own rate, a multiple of the base, so it never prices at the daytime number.
Materials are not in this rate
This is labor only. Wire, devices and gear go on the estimate as their own lines with your material markup, and permits pass through at cost. Folding them into the hourly rate hides them from the customer and from you.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge per hour as an electrician?
Work it from your own costs, not from what the shop down the road charges. Add your pay, overhead, truck and insurance for a year, divide by the hours you actually bill, then divide by one minus your profit margin. With this page's example inputs that is $79.33 to break even and $93.33 at a 15 percent margin.
What is the difference between my break-even rate and my billing rate?
Break-even is the hourly number where every cost is covered and nothing is left. The billing rate adds profit on top. Billing at break-even means one slow month, one callback or one bad debt puts you behind for the year.
Should a journeyman and an apprentice bill the same rate?
Not if their costs differ. Either run the calculator for each of them and bill two rates, or put both wages and both sets of billable hours in and bill one blended crew rate per person-hour. What breaks shops is billing the apprentice at the journeyman's rate on the invoice and then pricing the bid as if both cost the apprentice wage.
Do I add markup on top of this hourly rate when I bid a job?
Not on the labor. The recommended rate already carries overhead and profit, so labor on a bid is hours times this rate. Materials are different: price them at your cost plus your material markup as separate lines.
How much does Staxen cost for electricians?
Staxen is $59 per month per AI employee, or $149 per month for all three. Save your hourly rate in Staxen and Eddie the Estimator prices labor from it on any job your own past prices do not already cover, so a job you describe out loud comes back priced from your number instead of a guess.