An electrical estimate is not a guess — it is a takeoff. The bids that win without a race to the bottom, and that still make money once the job starts, price the panel, the devices, and the labor separately instead of quoting a round number off a gut feel. Here is exactly how to build one that a homeowner or GC can trust and that protects your margin.

What every electrical estimate needs

Leave one of these off and you either lose the bid to a clearer one or eat the difference mid-job:

• Client name, job address, and a dated scope of work — specific enough that a change order is obvious later.
• Per-device pricing: a unit price for each receptacle, switch, fixture, and smoke detector, multiplied by a counted quantity — not a lump-sum guess.
• A separate material takeoff for wire, boxes, panel, breakers, and miscellaneous hardware, priced at your supply-house cost.
• Labor hours at your real crew size and hourly shop rate, not a flat day-rate that hides under- or over-staffing.
• A permit allowance for any job that will pull one.
• Markup for overhead and profit, shown as its own line so the client sees it is not padding the labor rate.
• A contingency line (5–10%) for hidden conditions — undersized existing wiring, an aluminum feed, an attic that turns out to be foam-insulated.
• A validity date, usually 30 days, since material prices move.

A real electrical estimate, line by line (new-construction rough-in)

Here is how a 1,800 sq ft, 3-bed/2-bath new-construction rough-in prices out at the device level:

Pricing the devices, materials, and labor as separate lines means the client can see exactly what the $14,492 buys, and it gives you a clean audit trail if the scope changes — add three receptacles mid-job and the change order is $84 plus labor, not a renegotiation of the whole bid.

Per-device pricing vs. a flat bid

Per-device pricing (a set price per receptacle, switch, or fixture) is faster to build for repeatable residential work and easy for a GC to sanity-check against a plan set. A flat bid — one number for the whole rough-in — reads cleaner on a one-page proposal but hides your assumptions; if the plan changes, you have no line to point to. Most electricians price commercial and custom work per-device internally, then present the client a flat total with the device breakdown available on request.

Markup, contingency, and where bids leave money on the table

Most electricians run 10–20% markup on a rough-in bid to cover overhead and profit — too thin and a single callback erases it, too high and you lose bids you should win. Layer a separate 5–10% contingency on top for the things a walkthrough cannot catch: an underspec’d panel, framing that is not square, or an inspector who wants an extra AFCI breaker. Quote the contingency as its own line rather than folding it into markup — it is easier to defend to a client and easier to track against actual cost once the job closes.

Load calcs and permits belong in the bid, not after it

On a service change or new panel, a quick load calculation confirming the panel size is adequate for the home’s square footage and appliance load should be a line item, not an assumption — it is the difference between a bid that survives inspection and a change order mid-rough-in. Same with the permit: price it as its own line at your jurisdiction’s actual fee schedule, not a round-number guess, so the client is not surprised when the number matches the receipt.

Once the job’s done, the bid becomes the invoice: send an itemized electrical invoice that mirrors the same device counts and line items the client already approved — nothing to re-explain, nothing to argue.

Frequently asked questions