Electrical Bid Calculator: Price a Job in 5 Minutes

An electrical bid price is direct cost (materials, labor hours × burdened rate, and job costs such as permits) plus overhead, divided by (1 − your target margin). A job with $5,160 of cost including overhead, bid at a 15% net margin, sells for about $6,071.

Enter your material cost, labor hours, labor rate, overhead and target margin. The calculator gives you the bid price, the net profit in dollars after overhead, and the break-even price below which the job loses money. Copy the breakdown into your own proposal template.

How the calculator builds a bid

Material cost. Your cost from the supply house, including wire, boxes, devices, fittings, fixtures you supply and consumables. Add a waste allowance (typically 5–10% on wire and small parts).
Material markup (optional). Many contractors mark up materials separately (often 10–30%). The calculator lets you apply it, or leave it at zero and carry everything in margin.
Labor. Hours × your fully burdened labor cost per hour (wage plus payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits and non-billable time).
Direct job costs. Permit, inspection fees, equipment rental, disposal, travel.
Overhead. Your share of rent, trucks, insurance, software, office staff and the owner's salary, as a percentage of direct cost or as a fixed amount per labor hour.
Profit margin. Margin is calculated on the selling price, not on cost (see the note below).

Worked example: basement finish rough-in

Line	Amount
Materials (supply house cost incl. 7% waste)	$1,850
Labor: 40 hours × $55 burdened cost	$2,200
Permit and inspection	$250
Direct cost	$4,300
Overhead at 20% of direct cost	$860
Break-even cost	$5,160
Target net margin 15% → price = 5,160 ÷ (1 − 0.15)	$6,070.59

Rounded, the bid is $6,071, with $911 of net profit (15.0%). If you'd applied a 15% markup to $5,160 instead, you'd have bid $5,934 and earned only a 13.0% margin. The difference is $137 on a single small job, and it repeats on every bid. A 15% net target is already well above the industry average of about 6%; set yours from your own books.

Overhead: working out your percentage or hourly rate

Overhead is a business number, not a job number. Take last year's (or this year's budgeted) overhead and spread it one of two ways:

As a percentage of direct cost: $180,000 overhead ÷ $900,000 of annual direct job cost = 20%, the figure used above.
Per field labor hour: four electricians × 2,000 hours = 8,000 hours; $180,000 ÷ 8,000 = $22.50 per hour. On the 40-hour example that is 40 × $22.50 = $900, close to the $860 from the percentage method.

The per-hour method recovers more overhead on labor-heavy service work and less on material-heavy jobs such as a large fixture package. Pick one, apply it consistently and check it against your books each year.

Margin vs. markup

Markup is a percentage added on top of cost: price = cost × (1 + markup).
Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin).

Markup	Equals margin of
15%	13.0%
25%	20.0%
33.3%	25.0%
50%	33.3%
100%	50.0%

Most bid mistakes come from targeting a margin and applying it as a markup. See electrical contractor profit margins for typical ranges.

Where labor hours come from

The labor figure makes or breaks a bid. Contractors typically use one of three sources:

Their own historical job costing, the most accurate if they track hours per device and per task.
Published labor units such as the NECA Manual of Labor Units, which lists hours per item under normal, difficult and very difficult conditions. See NECA labor units explained.
Per-device or per-opening pricing for residential service work.

Labor units to labor hours

Multiply each item in the takeoff by its labor unit, add the lines, then adjust for conditions. For the basement example, using illustrative per-opening units (rough-in and trim together; replace them with your own):

Item	Qty	Hours each	Hours
Receptacles	24	0.8	19.2
Switches	8	0.7	5.6
Recessed lights	12	0.9	10.8
Home runs and panel terminations	2	2.0	4.0
Total			39.6, carried as 40

Old work, finished ceilings, tight access or an occupied home all justify a condition factor on top of the base hours. The NECA labor units guide explains normal, difficult and very difficult adjustments.

What a labor overrun does to profit

Labor is the least certain line in the bid. Holding the $6,071 price and the $55 burdened rate, here is the example's profit as the hours run over:

Actual hours	Overrun	Extra labor cost	Net profit	Net margin
40	0%	$0	$911	15.0%
44	10%	$220	$691	11.4%
48	20%	$440	$471	7.8%
52	30%	$660	$251	4.1%
60	50%	$1,100	−$189	−3.1%

Every extra hour comes straight out of profit. At a 15% margin the job breaks even after about 17 extra hours, a 41% overrun, and at 60 hours it loses money; on a competitive bid at a thinner margin, the break-even overrun is far smaller. Tracking estimated against actual hours is the cheapest way to protect it.

Pricing change orders

Price a change order with the same build-up as the base bid, so the margin holds. Adding four recessed lights to the basement: 4 × 0.9 = 3.6 hours × $55 = $198 labor, plus 4 × $35 = $140 material, is $338 direct cost. Add 20% overhead ($67.60) to reach $405.60, then divide by 0.85 for a $477.18 change order. Describe the added scope in writing, state whether the price includes any schedule impact, and get it signed before the work starts. The same line-item layout as the estimate template works for change orders.

Frequently asked questions

How do electricians calculate a bid?

Materials plus labor (hours × burdened rate) plus direct job costs gives direct cost. Add overhead to get break-even, then divide by (1 − target margin) to get the price.

What is a good profit margin for an electrical contractor?

The industry average net margin is about 6% (VantaInsights analysis of IRS Statistics of Income data for NAICS 23821, 2022). Service and small residential work can support higher margins than competitive commercial bids; know your overhead before you set a target. See electrical contractor profit margins.

How do I price a change order?

Use the same materials, labor units, overhead and margin as the original bid, and get the customer's written approval before starting. Pricing changes at a lower margin than the base job is a common way to lose money on a profitable project.

Should I charge for estimates?

Many contractors provide free estimates for straightforward jobs and charge a diagnostic or design fee for complex work, often credited back if the customer hires them.

How do I avoid underbidding?

Track actual hours against estimated hours on every job, include overhead explicitly, add allowances for access and old-work conditions, and price by margin, not markup.

Doing this in a spreadsheet for every job? SparkQuote counts devices from your plans, applies your labor units and prices, and produces the proposal. Start a free trial.

Last updated: October 6, 2026. Example figures are illustrative; use your own costs.

Electrical Bid Calculator