A flat rate is your cost per billable hour times the task time, loaded with overhead, divided by one minus your margin, plus marked-up parts. A $38.00 wage with 25% burden at 65% billable efficiency costs $73.08 per billable hour; with 30% overhead and a 35% margin, replacing an outlet prices at $79 and installing a ceiling fan at $219. Edit any number and the whole price book moves with it.
Updated 2026-10-21 · by Devon Davila, Founder, Krib · methodology and sources below
The interactive calculator on this page needs JavaScript. The method, constants and worked examples below are the same ones it uses.
A flat-rate price book from first principles. Your wage becomes a burdened cost; billable efficiency turns it into what an hour you can actually bill has to earn; overhead and margin load it; parts are marked up separately. Each task is minutes and parts, so the price is explainable to the customer and repeatable across techs. The starter tasks are realistic averages, not best-ever times, and every row is editable. Untick a task to leave it off the quote.
burdened = wage × (1 + burden) effective = burdened ÷ billable_efficiency (the billable hour pays for drive time, parts runs and admin) labor_price = (minutes ÷ 60 × effective × (1 + overhead)) ÷ (1 − margin) parts_price = parts_cost × (1 + parts_markup) flat_rate = labor_price + parts_price good / better / best= same task at margin −5 / 0 / +5 points
| Constant | Default | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech wage | $38/h | BLS OES 47-2111 Electricians, national median ≈ $30–38; journeymen in California, the Northeast and union markets run higher | Oct 2026 |
| Labor burden | 25% | FICA 7.65% + FUTA/SUTA ~3% + electrical workers' comp ~6–9% + general liability + benefits | Oct 2026 |
| Billable efficiency | 65% | Billable hours ÷ paid hours for a residential service tech; 55–75% is typical once drive time, parts runs, callbacks and paperwork are counted | Oct 2026 |
| Overhead | 30% of labor | Trucks, fuel, insurance, phones, software, shop, advertising, office; small residential shops run 25–40% of labor | Oct 2026 |
| Target margin | 35% | Residential electrical service commonly targets 30–45% gross margin on flat-rate work; margin, not markup | Oct 2026 |
| Parts markup | 50% | Common residential practice: 40–100% on small parts, lower on big-ticket items like panels and chargers | Oct 2026 |
| Task minutes | starter table below | Realistic averages including setup, cleanup and a parts run; replace with your own six-month averages | Oct 2026 |
Eight common residential tasks priced from a $38 wage. The total is what the whole list would quote for; untick rows on the page to build a single ticket.
| Burdened cost per hour | $47.50/h |
|---|---|
| Cost per billable hour | $73.08/h |
| Replace a standard outlet | $79.08 (Good $74 · Best $85) |
| Replace a single-pole switch | $80.58 (Good $75 · Best $87) |
| Install a dimmer switch | $139.44 (Good $132 · Best $148) |
| Install a GFCI outlet | $142.62 (Good $135 · Best $152) |
| Install a ceiling fan on an existing box | $219.23 (Good $204 · Best $238) |
| Replace a 20A breaker | $127.62 (Good $120 · Best $137) |
| Level 2 EV charger circuit, 40A, 25 ft run | $974.62 (Good $933 · Best $1,023) |
| 200A panel upgrade | $2,819.23 (Good $2,736 · Best $2,917) |
| Selected tasks | $4,582.42 · 16.7 h |
Three small tasks on one visit. Each is priced as its own flat rate; the sum is the ticket.
| Burdened cost per hour | $47.50/h |
|---|---|
| Cost per billable hour | $73.08/h |
| Replace a standard outlet | $79.08 (Good $74 · Best $85) |
| Install a dimmer switch | $139.44 (Good $132 · Best $148) |
| Install a GFCI outlet | $142.62 (Good $135 · Best $152) |
| Selected tasks | $361.14 · 1.9 h |
$50 – $130 per hour, billed — residential service, United States, 2026. Public sources, verified Oct 2026.
Public-source range for the billed hourly rate, which already carries burden, overhead and profit. Your effective cost per billable hour above should sit well under your billed rate; the gap is overhead and margin.
| Task | Minutes | Parts cost |
|---|---|---|
| Replace a standard outlet | 30 | $4 |
| Replace a single-pole switch | 30 | $5 |
| Install a dimmer switch | 40 | $28 |
| Install a GFCI outlet | 45 | $22 |
| Install a ceiling fan on an existing box | 90 | $0 |
| Replace a 20A breaker | 45 | $12 |
| Level 2 EV charger circuit, 40A, 25 ft run | 240 | $260 |
| 200A panel upgrade | 480 | $1100 |
Minutes include setup, cleanup and a parts run. Parts are contractor cost before markup. Replace both with your own averages; the calculator above is this table with your numbers in it.
One fixed price per task, quoted before the work starts, built in advance from average task time, your cost per billable hour, overhead, margin and marked-up parts. The customer approves a total, not an hourly rate, and your margin no longer depends on how fast the tech was that day.
Wage times one plus burden, divided by billable efficiency. A $38 wage with 25% burden is $47.50 per paid hour; at 65% billable that is $73.08 per hour you can actually invoice. Every flat rate starts from that number.
The share of paid hours you can bill. Drive time, parts runs, callbacks, training and paperwork are paid but not billable. Residential service techs usually land between 55 and 75%. The flat rate has to recover the unbillable hours, which is why it feels high next to the wage.
Small parts commonly carry 50 to 100%; big-ticket items like panels, chargers and fixtures 20 to 40%. The markup covers sourcing, stocking, warranty and the trip. Use one rate for the book and override it on the expensive rows.
Most residential shops do: a fixed fee to show up and diagnose, then the flat rate for the repair, often with the fee credited if the customer approves the repair. Keep it outside the book so task prices stay comparable.
Time and materials bills the hours worked plus parts; the customer carries the risk of a slow job and cannot approve a total up front. Flat rate moves the risk to you and lets the customer say yes to a number. Use time and materials for diagnostics and open-ended troubleshooting.
Start with the twenty you do most, grouped by complexity, and add rows only when a task recurs. A 400-line book nobody maintains is worse than a 40-line book that is right. This calculator keeps the formula fixed so you only maintain minutes and parts.
Yes. "Send this as a quote" opens the ticked tasks in Krib's quote builder as flat-rate lines. Krib is free for contractors, with no monthly fee, and includes a price book you can save these rows into; your customer approves online.
The ticked tasks open in Krib's quote builder as flat-rate lines. Free for contractors, no monthly fee, with a price book to keep them in.