Electrician Hourly Rate Calculator

By Trade Business Guide Research Desk

Account for hours you cannot invoice

Target annual income is the owner income the operation must support. Annual overhead holds recurring business expense other than the separate Truck and tool overhead per year field. Enter truck and tool cost only once. Annual working hours are total hours worked, not just customer-facing hours. Billable hours (%) is the portion of that time you expect to invoice. The form presets working hours and billable percentage; replace them with your own workload assumptions. Profit target (%) is a share of the selling rate, not a markup on costs.

The calculator returns Billable hours and Hourly rate. Admin time, estimates, travel that cannot be billed, ordering supplies, and training can all reduce the billable share. The form does not ask for crew size or payroll burden, so include any relevant staffing costs in a suitable overhead entry rather than treating the output as a fully loaded team quote. If the rate is later used for a flat-price job, multiply it by realistic billable time and add materials and other direct job costs separately.

How the calculation works

billable hours = annual working hours × billable hours (%) / 100. The calculator then adds Target annual income, Annual overhead, and Truck and tool overhead per year. It divides that sum by 1 − profit target / 100, then divides again by billable hours. Profit target must be below 100%, and billable hours must be positive. The code does not otherwise police percentage ranges, so use meaningful inputs.

Example assumptions — not benchmarks: income $90,000, annual overhead $50,000, truck and tool overhead $10,000, working hours 2,000, billable share 60%, and profit target 25%. Billable hours equal 2,000 × 0.60 = 1,200. Annual amounts total $150,000. Dividing by 0.75 gives $200,000 of revenue required at the selected profit target. Dividing by 1,200 billable hours gives $166.666… per hour before display rounding. This is an illustrative rate, not a published market price.

Compare wage context with a selling rate

The calculator displays the sourced BLS electrician wage beside the inputs: $30.38 OFFICIAL FEE Source. That employee wage is context, not a contractor selling rate and not an instruction to match it. A business rate has to cover the costs and unbillable hours entered above. If a wage is used to build the target income or staffing expense, avoid adding it twice. The employee true cost calculator can help build an employer budget; its result and this owner’s income target answer different questions.

Test sensitivity to billable share. A lower share spreads the same annual cost over fewer invoiced hours, raising the required rate even when wages and overhead stay fixed. Compare your schedule and invoices with the assumed share before changing the profit target to make the answer look competitive. For individual electrical projects, use job pricing. Track recurring expenses with monthly expense and compare a generic rate with contractor hourly rate.

Electrical-rate questions

Last updated: September 24, 2026