Last updated October 28, 2026

How to bid electrical jobs

What an electrical bid has to say, a worked panel upgrade price, the permit and inspection lines that keep you covered, and the deposit terms electricians use.

Electrical customers shop your number against two or three other electricians, and they rarely understand what they are comparing. One bid says "panel upgrade $3,200," another says "200A service, new meter base, permit and inspection, $3,850." The second one wins more often, because it reads like the electrician knows what is behind the wall. The job of your bid is to be that second one.

What an electrical bid has to answer

The amperage, the breaker count, and the brand or grade of panel. "100A to 200A, 40-space panel" tells the customer what they are getting.
The wire run: length, how it is routed, and whether it is inside walls or surface. A 60-foot EV circuit through a finished basement is not the same job as 20 feet along a garage wall.
Whether drywall patching and paint are included. Usually they are not, and the bid should say so before the holes are made.
Who schedules the utility disconnect and reconnect, who pulls the permit, and when the inspection happens.

How to price it

Example numbers for a 100A to 200A panel upgrade with a new meter base in a typical market. Yours will differ.

Labor: 8 hours for one electrician at $140 an hour, $1,120. Add a helper for the heavy part of the day if you use one.
Materials: panel, breakers, meter base, service entrance cable, grounding, fittings. Say $1,400 at cost.
Markup on materials: 25 to 35 percent. At 30 percent, $420.
Permit and inspection: $250, on its own line.
Utility coordination: half an hour of phone calls that you should bill for somewhere. Fold it into labor.
Total: about $3,190, which rounds to $3,850 once you add the margin a service upgrade carries for the risk of what you find in the old panel. The <a href="/tools/job-price-calculator">job price calculator</a> lays this out for any job.

Smaller jobs, like a ceiling fan circuit or a dedicated 20A line, often go on a flat price you know by heart. Still write the scope. "Add one 20A circuit, 30-foot run, garage to kitchen" prevents the conversation where the customer thought it included moving the fridge.

Where electrical bids go wrong

The inspection timing was never written, and the customer was surprised the power was off twice.
Drywall repair was assumed by the customer because nobody said it was excluded.
A price was given for "a panel" without saying how many spaces. The customer compared it to a 20-space panel from someone else.
The bid came out of a notebook a week later. By then another electrician had emailed one from the truck.

A finished electrical bid, line by line

Four sample electrical estimates: panel upgrade, EV charger circuit, recessed lighting, and generator inlet and interlock. Each shows the scope lines, the price, and what to spell out on that job. The electrician proposal template is the blank version.

Deposit and payment terms

Half at signing is the common split on panel and service work because the panel and the cable are bought before the visit. On small circuit jobs many electricians take nothing down and collect on completion. If a job waits on a permit, say that the schedule starts when the permit is approved, so the deposit date and the start date are not confused. The deposit calculator turns a percent into a dollar figure for the bid.

Getting more electrical jobs

Electrical customers are often comparing bids by how confident the electrician sounded. A written bid with the amperage, the permit, and the inspection on it does that sounding for you. Send it the same day by text. Follow up once at three days and once at a week; most electrical jobs are signed on the follow-up, not the first read. Keep your license number on every bid, since it is the first thing a careful homeowner looks for.

BidWriter Pro writes the bid from your notes, puts your license on every one, and lets the customer sign and pay the deposit from their phone. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Questions contractors ask

How much should I charge for a panel upgrade?

Build it from labor hours at your rate, the panel and cable at cost plus markup, and the permit on its own line. In many markets a 100A to 200A upgrade with a new meter base runs $2,500 to $4,500 installed. Your local permit and utility fees move it.

Should drywall repair be in an electrical bid?

Only if you do it. Most electricians exclude it and say so in one line. The line is what prevents the argument.

Do I need to mention the inspection?

Yes. Say who schedules it and that the final payment is due after it passes, if that is your practice. The customer plans their week around it.

Write a electrical bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

Only what you type goes on the estimate. Nothing gets added.

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Free, no account: estimate checker, job price calculator, markup vs margin, hourly rate, and 84 sample estimates.