I'm a independent electrical contractor and am in the process of looking for another electrician in my area to hire for full time/ part time work. I charge by the job and a few friends are telling me I need to pay by the hour. I have no idea what a non-union electrician charges a hour. All the other electricians I know are union scale and affilated. Would appreciate hearing from a few independents what they charge per hour for residential/commercial electrical work. I work in the Chicagoland area.

Hi Rowd,
The company I work for charges $30/hour, but it is probably time to raise that again, rural Nebraska.

As a journeyman I would not consider working for you unless you could pay hourly and provide at least 40 hours per week.

Good luck, sounds like your business is growing.

GJ

Thanks GJ. I've heard 35hr and as much as 55hr in my area. Hope to hear from a broader cross section of electricians so I can get a good estimate. I've also heard as low as 20hr.....When I was an apprentice for a private firm I think I was making 10 to 11 dollars an hr.....but that was 20 years ago.

you got to pay enough so your employees can afford titelist golf balls and play the local resort course once a month

In Long Island we charge $75.00/hr for service calls and maintenance. $65 to $70 for mechanics rate and $45 for apprentice if we are doing a time and material job.



[This message has been edited by tsolanto (edited 09-14-2002).]

"you got to pay enough so your employees can afford titelist golf balls and play the local resort course once a month "

Damn Right!

GJ
"Wiring America to support my habit"

Here around the Omaha Ne area I charge 45.00/man hour for all jobs that are not bid. If I have to pay union scale the price goes up to 65.00/man hour.
Union scale for is about 32.00/hour for a journeyman. This includes the union dues and other union contract items. Non union journeymen get around 18.00 to 25.00/ hour depending on the type of work they do. These figures are for commercial/industrial work.
Residential is about 20-30% less.
As you can see even the approxamatley 150 miles between golf junkie and me can make a difference.

I'm a one man show and I charge $55.00 hr in Arkansas. I hire another contractor to help me sometimes and he charges $30.00 hr. but he's not carrying insurance or workmans comp.

WOW! what a range so far. $30.00 to $75.00 an hr. depending on what part of the country your in. Also I'm curious as to why the commercial work is more. To me , depending on the location,....commercial or residential it's still work.The only way I can see charging more for commercial would be higher permit costs or need to hire additional manpower.

I charge more for commercial work simply because I can... Not sure why it works that way but it does.

I agree with tsolanto.
We have been squeezed out of the residential market and are now 95% commercial/industrial. The small contractors will do a house below our cost. In commercial/industrial the profit margin is fatter. I believe it's because the barriers to competition are higher. To compete in commercial/industrial you need more equipment and manpower. To compete in residential all you need is a license.

GJ

I charge $17.50 for friends, $35 hr residential/commercial here in south TX. I am a one man show, also. I add an additional $20 for a helper on bigger jobs.
this is a good question because i am about to register my business and go legit. I ahve been doing electrical "for myself" for about 9 months, and want to advertise in local yellow pages.

the company i work for charges $65 for one man and 95 for a machanic and a helper

I work north of Chicago. I know my boss charges 75.00 per man hour. I'm a third year non-union apprentice and I make 16.00 an hour.

$30 per hour residential, $35 per hour Commercial. 20% Mark-up on materials.

And I think I'm pricing myself right out of the market, I've had several customers never call back since I raised my rates.

And I'm still struggling to make ends meet.
Monday, on a $500 job, I did $1500 worth of damage to a Buick while backing out of a parking lot. I was better off staying in bed this week!

at least it was a buick, and not a lexus or beemer!

ant540,
That is a big spread between your wage and the contractors charge! Do you get any benefits? I'm about 60 miles south west of Chicago and a union 3rd year would be getting a little over $25 on the check and about $12 in benefits. The contractor would be charging between $65 and $80 per hour.
Don

Rowd, Since I live only 20 minutes North of you. And we're both in the same boat, businesswise. I'd be willing to give you a hand when I can. Since you don't list your email address, pleas email me.

Yeah, thank goodness it was a WalMart parking lot and not one of the Greenbrier parking lots... I woulda hit a $50K+ car for sure...

Massachsetts one man show $68.00 per hour for myself 35% markup on materials. No complaints on price ever. Making good money paying high taxes.

rowd,
contractors regularly compare rates/charges/markups, as a necessity in any given locale'

the mutal benifit of being in the ballpark excludes the angst of being 'low boy' or 'gold plated sparky', and a revolving customer base for all.....

Is there a law against sharing pricing info?

Doesn't it fall under "Price Fixing" or something like that?

Or is that like when all local competing parties secretly agree to raise their rates at the same time and the same amount...

No law that i know of.
Price fixing is when you and your competetors get toghter and agree what each of you will bid on a job Prior to the bid opening.
Knowing what you competetion charges allows you to be competive in the market you are in. As long as you do not discuss your price for a job ahead of a bid with your competetor you should be ok. After the bid is opened we all should be able to see where we stand.

Here in the Houston area the rates for a service call will range from $50 to $80 per hour. A union electrician will make from $21 to $26 on his check, and I couldn't tell you what his benefits will cost. A nonunion electrician will get around $18 to $23 on his check, and it is a "toss up" as to whether he gets benefits.
If you get into a plant, manufacturing environment, etc. the pay scale can go way up. If you know PLC's, instrumentation, or something that requires specialized training, you can almost write your own ticket. A good friend of mine made from $90 to $100K per year working in a plant. He's a big Allen Bradely "PLC guru". I've never seen anything that he couldn't fix. Drives, magnetic rely logic, PLC's, you name it, he could work on it. The thing about him was, he could run the conduit, pull the wire, terminate it, program it, and make it run. I would imagine that he is in the top 3 to 5 percent of the the best electricians in Houston. If you ever get your hands on an electrician like that, don't let him go. I taught him how to estimate a few years ago, and I honestly believe that there are not many things in the electrical industry that he can't do.
rowd,
I said all that to say this...the question is "How much is the electrician that you are looking for, worth?" Good Luck.

Bling, bling, or Chaching, ching,
Doc

My firm here in the northern end of West Virginia (New Martinsville) charges $30/residental, $35/commercial work. $15/$25/hour for a helper, respectively. 40% markup on parts. As to why commercial is a little cheaper, here's why I make my prices what they are... I figure that my commercial customers (local stores and restuaunts) are making money from my residental customers, so they have more money to pay me with. **grin** No, actuly, I charge more, because commercial work tends to be more demanding, and they want things done alot quicker, and on shorter notice, so I charge more. And there are also fewer specialized tools in residental work...
As to pay for an employee, I, as a licenced journyman electrician in Huntington, West Virginia, I was making $11/hour with only 3 years work under my belt when I quit to start my business. That was in the summer of 2001.

Welcome, E-wonder! Nice to have some more fellow mountaineers here on ECN!

Myself, I have never made over $10 working for another contractor (subbing not included) in WV.

Our prices look quite similar! 'Cept I need to double my markup!

The bottom line is if you want good and help and want to keep them around you have to offer competitive wages and benefits. The cost of living is different nationwide.

A rule of thumb that was mentioned to me years ago was that you should be charging out at least double what you are paying someone otherwise you will loose money in the long run by the time you get done with overtime premium pay, wage taxes, insurance, benefits, misc overhead. Its worthwhile to take the time and crunch the numbers and find out exactly how much an hour it costs you to be in business.

what goes down in the local greasy spoons, for the local politicians & bizmen, may well be short of quorum or confidentiality yet is priceless.....


niether did i......on informing my last boss that i made master he stated ;
"A master don't mean nuthin' to me"
I quit a month later....