Guides
Wages and labour costs for an electrical contractor business
Electrical contractor pay starts with the work you sell: service calls, panel upgrades and tenant fit-ups each carry a different labour cost.
What to take away
- Wages and labor costs for an electrical contractor business follow the work you sell. A service van, a panel crew and a tenant fit-up crew carry different labor costs per hour.
- Budget fully burdened cost, not the offer wageadd payroll taxes, workers' compensation, FICA, vacation, vehicle, tools and insurance.
- For 2027, escalate base wages by a typical 3% to 4% a year, then rebuild the burdened rate on the new figure.
- Apprentice ratios are set by the regulator, not by the wage you want to pay.
- Review pay twice a year against local postings and the published wage tables, never against one national average.
This article covers electrical-contracting business operations. It does not cover code, licensing, permit or arc-flash advice. It also does not cover lockout, employment, tax or legal advice. Requirements vary by province, state and municipality. Confirm them with the authority having jurisdiction, your accountant and your insurer.
Crew types and typical labor rates
Electrical work splits into crews that price differently. Service and maintenance runs short calls with a van, a stocked truck and one or two people. Residential rough-in runs volume, so speed and apprentice ratio decide the margin. Commercial fit-up runs on drawings, inspections and holdback. Industrial and utility work runs on tickets, shutdown windows and travel.
Each crew has a different break-even. A service call pays for the drive and the diagnostic hour before any repair. A fit-up pays on the schedule, so a crew that finishes early is worth more per hour than a cheaper crew that runs late.
Typical billed labor rates in most US markets run $95 to $150 an hour for a service van. Residential rough-in runs $45 to $75 an hour per person, commercial fit-up runs $60 to $95 an hour per journeyperson, and industrial shutdowns run $80 to $150 an hour. Those rates include burden, not just the wage.
Regional spread is wide. Metro markets on the West Coast and in the Northeast sit at the top of those ranges. Rural and small-metro markets in the South sit at the bottom. Check the state and metro rows in the published wage tables before you set a price.
Roles, typical pay and what moves each rate
| Role | Typical pay | What drives the rate | Where the cost hides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed journeyperson | about $30/hr median (BLS OES, May 2024) | State license, specialty endorsements | Overtime in outage season |
| Apprentice | 30% to 50% of journeyperson wage | Year of schooling, ratio allowed on site | Supervision time by a journeyperson |
| Helper or laborer | about $19/hr median (BLS OES, May 2024) | Physical work, no ticket | Rework when sent alone |
| Estimator | $30/hr to $45/hr typical | Takeoff accuracy, software skill | Lost jobs from padded bids |
| Project manager | $35/hr to $55/hr typical | Schedule, holdback, change orders | Unbilled extras |
| Service coordinator | $22/hr to $30/hr typical | Dispatch, callbacks, parts | Windshield time |
| Administrator | $20/hr to $28/hr typical | Payroll, IRS filings, permits | Filing errors |
Build the burdened rate
Take the offer wage and add every cost the employer carries:
- Payroll taxesFICA and FUTA. FICA is 7.65% employer; FUTA is 0.6% on the first $7,000.
- Workers' compensation premiums, rated by trade and claims history. Electricians typically pay $2 to $8 per $100 of payroll.
- Vacation, statutory holiday and sick entitlement. Budget 4% to 10% of wages.
- Vehicle, fuel, tools, PPE and phone. The IRS business mileage rate is 70 cents a mile as of 2025; check the current rate for the year you are pricing. Tools and PPE run $1,500 to $3,000 per tech a year.
- Liability and commercial auto insurance riders. Small contractors typically pay $1,000 to $5,000 a year.
- Training, tickets and code-update courses. Budget $500 to $2,000 per person a year.
Divide the annual total by billable hours, not paid hours. A technician paid for 2,080 hours and billable for 1,500 has a real cost per billable hour of the annual total divided by 1,500. That number, not the wage, is what your labor line carries.
Example: a $30 an hour journeyperson with 12% payroll taxes, workers' comp at $5 per $100, 4% vacation, and $8 an hour for vehicle and tools costs $44.30 per paid hour. At 1,500 billable hours, the burdened rate is $61.50 per billable hour.
Where the figures come from
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables publish wage estimates by occupation, industry, state and metro area. Use the electrician and electrical helper lines as a floor for your market, then adjust for ticket, shift and travel.
The U.S. Department of Labor small business compliance guide sets out the wage, overtime, timekeeping and recordkeeping duties a new employer takes on. State unemployment insurance, workers' compensation and new-hire reporting sit on top of those federal duties, and every state sets its own deadlines and forms.
The EEOC small business resource centre covers hiring records, accommodations and workplace notices. Keep job ads and interview notes for the retention period your jurisdiction sets.
For 2027 budgets, escalate base wages rather than bill rates. A typical planning figure is 3% to 4% a year, compounded from your current local rate to the year you are pricing. Recheck it each spring against the newest OES release and your own postings.
Canada as a second market
These items apply in Canada only. US readers can skip them.
- Payroll taxesCPP and EI are employer costs on top of the offer wage. Rates change each year, so use the CRA payroll tables for the year you are budgeting.
- Workers' compensationprovincial boards such as WSIB in Ontario rate premiums by trade and claims history.
- Employment standardsprovincial rules set minimum wage, overtime and vacation entitlement.
- Ticketsthe Red Seal endorsement for electricians is recognized across provinces.
- Wage tablesCanada's Job Bank lists electricians at a median of about $32 an hour, with a range from roughly $20 to $48. Statistics Canada and provincial apprenticeship authorities publish apprentice wage progressions. Apprentices in Canada typically start at 50% to 70% of the journeyperson rate.
Confirm all of it with your accountant and the provincial authority before you set a rate.
Seasonal demand and turnaround swings
Cooling load drives summer service demand. Condenser and rooftop unit calls stack up in July, and a crew that is short then loses the season. Winter slows new construction in the northern US and Canada and pushes work indoors, which changes travel and site conditions.
Industrial demand swings harder. Turnaround maintenance in oilfields and refineries runs on fixed schedules, so a contractor with one industrial client hires and lays off by the quarter. Price those jobs with the layoff cost built in, or the good months pay for the bad ones.
Turnaround electricians often earn a 10% to 25% shift premium, plus per diem of $50 to $150 a day. Those premiums belong in the bid, not in the base wage.
Pay for a working trial
Define the role around what one person must do alone. Then set a paid trial task using testers on a real or realistic job: terminate a small panel, trace a circuit, or produce a takeoff from a drawing. Pay for the trial at the normal rate for two to four hours.
Log those hours to the job, not to overhead.
Hold the first-quarter review against the written role, and check the step-by-step hiring process for the sequence.
Common questions
Should I pay above the local average?
Pay above only where the rate buys something: a ticket you cannot hire otherwise, a shift nobody wants, or retention in a tight market. Otherwise the extra dollar goes into the labor line and out of the bid.
The BLS OES median for May 2024 is about $30 an hour. A $35 offer is about 17% above that median before burden, and at 1,500 billable hours it adds roughly $7 per billable hour.
How often should I review pay?
Twice a year, and after any large job where the crew ran long. Compare your rates with current local postings and the published tables, then check whether your burdened cost per billable hour moved. Reset the 2027 escalation figure at the same time.
