An electrician trip charge pays for the roll when the device is fine, the breaker was off, or they want to think about it. It also pays for the roll when the repair is small. A dead outlet can be a good ticket. A dead outlet priced as if you were already in the driveway is not. The generic fee is trip charges and diagnostic fees. The line-by-line service call, including a panel, is how to job cost an electrical service call.
Rates in every table here. Labor is $45 an hour unless a table says otherwise, the truck is $0.65 a mile, and overhead is $12 an hour. That $12 is a $1,920 monthly shop cost spread across 160 hours. These are the public calculator's starter numbers. On the phone, overhead is the monthly shop cost split across the hours you actually log that month, and the open month stays a draft until it closes. One labor rate covers the job. A helper's pay goes in other direct costs.
The trip by itself
Half an hour at the house, half an hour and 14 miles in the van, no material. On the phone this is a service call. The other chips are panel, EV charger, rewire, other, and callback. What they paid is the trip charge.
Trip only, $99
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| What they paid | $99.00 | |
| Onsite labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Travel labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Vehicle | 14 mi × $0.65 | $9.10 |
| Materials, your cost | $0.00 | |
| Overhead | 1 h × $12.00 | $12.00 |
| Total job cost | $66.10 | |
| Net profit | $99.00 − $66.10 | $32.90 |
| Net margin | $32.90 ÷ $99.00 | 33.2% |
| Profit per hour | $32.90 ÷ 1 h | $32.90 / h |
Open this ticket in the calculator. Change the labor rate or the miles and the fee moves with them.
The verdict is OK, not a winner. Fine if this is filler between high-margin installs. To hit 35% net with this cost stack, the invoice needed to be $101.69 (you charged $99.00). The 35% price is $101.69. A $99 trip on this radius is a fair offer and an ordinary margin. It is not a number you can stretch across the county.
When the $99 trip is waived
You told them there is no charge to look, because you wanted the relationship. You still spent the hour and the miles.
The same roll, nothing collected
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| What they paid | $0.00 | |
| Onsite labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Travel labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Vehicle | 14 mi × $0.65 | $9.10 |
| Materials, your cost | $0.00 | |
| Overhead | 1 h × $12.00 | $12.00 |
| Total job cost | $66.10 | |
| Net profit | $0.00 − $66.10 | -$66.10 |
| Net margin | No invoice | — |
| Profit per hour | -$66.10 ÷ 1 h | -$66.10 / h |
Open this ticket in the calculator. Change the labor rate or the miles and the fee moves with them.
The screen asks you to enter what the customer paid. Without revenue this is just a cost pile — useful for callbacks, not for pricing. Cost is $66.10. There is no margin to discuss. If these are rare and they turn into panels, you can see that only when both rows exist: the free look, and the panel that followed. If the free looks are the whole Tuesday, Tuesday lost $66.10 a stop.
A small repair that was supposed to include the trip
They approve a simple swap. You charge $129, parts cost you $18, and you do not add a trip on top because the ad said the trip applies. The repair has to carry the drive by itself.
$129 repair, trip included, not extra
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| What they paid | $129.00 | |
| Onsite labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Travel labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Vehicle | 14 mi × $0.65 | $9.10 |
| Materials, your cost | $18.00 | |
| Overhead | 1 h × $12.00 | $12.00 |
| Total job cost | $84.10 | |
| Net profit | $129.00 − $84.10 | $44.90 |
| Net margin | $44.90 ÷ $129.00 | 34.8% |
| Profit per hour | $44.90 ÷ 1 h | $44.90 / h |
Open this ticket in the calculator. Change the labor rate or the miles and the fee moves with them.
The verdict is OK, not a winner. Fine if this is filler between high-margin installs. To hit 35% net with this cost stack, the invoice needed to be $129.38 (you charged $129.00). This invoice is a few cents from the solid line. That is a coincidence of these starter rates, and it is the useful kind. Bump the drive, the part, or the labor rate and $129 falls into OK or thin. The outlet ticket in the electrical how-to, at $210 with a $22 device, is the version that clears 35% with room. Use that shape when the visit is a real repair. Use the trip charge when it might not be.
A $65 hour, and a long drive
Leave the $99 fee alone and change the labor rate to something closer to a burdened electrician hour.
$99 trip at $65 an hour
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| What they paid | $99.00 | |
| Onsite labor | 0.5 h × $65.00 | $32.50 |
| Travel labor | 0.5 h × $65.00 | $32.50 |
| Vehicle | 14 mi × $0.65 | $9.10 |
| Materials, your cost | $0.00 | |
| Overhead | 1 h × $12.00 | $12.00 |
| Total job cost | $86.10 | |
| Net profit | $99.00 − $86.10 | $12.90 |
| Net margin | $12.90 ÷ $99.00 | 13.0% |
| Profit per hour | $12.90 ÷ 1 h | $12.90 / h |
Open this ticket in the calculator. Change the labor rate or the miles and the fee moves with them.
The verdict is thin — under 20% net. Travel, burdened labor, or the lead fee is eating this. A busy week of these still feels broke. To hit 35% net with this cost stack, the invoice needed to be $132.46 (you charged $99.00). Then put the drive back to a $45 rate and stretch it. An hour in the van, 32 miles, half an hour on site, fee still $99.
$99 trip, an hour of driving
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| What they paid | $99.00 | |
| Onsite labor | 0.5 h × $45.00 | $22.50 |
| Travel labor | 1 h × $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Vehicle | 32 mi × $0.65 | $20.80 |
| Materials, your cost | $0.00 | |
| Overhead | 1.5 h × $12.00 | $18.00 |
| Total job cost | $106.30 | |
| Net profit | $99.00 − $106.30 | -$7.30 |
| Net margin | -$7.30 ÷ $99.00 | -7.4% |
| Profit per hour | -$7.30 ÷ 1.5 h | -$4.87 / h |
Open this ticket in the calculator. Change the labor rate or the miles and the fee moves with them.
The verdict is that this ticket lost money. Raise the price, add a trip charge, cut the drive, or stop taking this job type from expensive leads. To hit 35% net with this cost stack, the invoice needed to be $163.54 (you charged $99.00). Two different leaks in the same fee. One is the wage you typed. One is the map. Fix the one you actually have. A shop that raises the fee and keeps accepting 32-mile favors has only fixed the brochure.
When the fee should apply toward the work
- Say it when you book. "The trip is $99, and it comes off the repair if we do the work today."
- If they proceed, the invoice is the repair total. Enter that number once.
- If they decline, the invoice is $99. Enter that. Do not wait to see if they call back and then delete the row.
- A panel or an EV charger is not a trip-charge conversation. Those tickets are large enough that the fee is noise. Cost them as their own jobs. The chips exist so a service call and a panel do not share a label.
Electrical margin for the year is a different number from this trip. Electrical contractor profit margin keeps the company net and the job net apart. The electrical page is the log. The trip charge is the smallest ticket you are willing to repeat.
Frequently asked questions
What should an electrician trip charge include?
Labor for the drive and for the time at the house, miles at a truck rate, and overhead on those hours. A device they buy is materials on the repair, not part of the trip.
Should an electrical trip charge be waived if they approve the repair?
Credit it into the repair invoice if that is what you promised. Waiving it and also pricing the repair as if the truck was already paid for is how a $129 swap loses the roll.
Is a $99 electrician trip charge enough?
At $45 an hour, half an hour on site, half an hour driving, and 14 miles, $99 is in the OK band, just under 35% net. At $65 an hour that same trip is thin. An hour of driving and 32 miles on a $99 fee loses money.
How do I record a waived trip?
Enter what they paid. If the answer is zero, the result calls it a cost pile. That row is how you see the favors. A missing row hides them inside the jobs you do remember.
Open the trip-only ticket
Half an hour at the device, half an hour of driving, 14 miles, nothing sold.