Job costing for electrical contractors

Electrical work is labour-heavy, and it happens in phases. The risk is that rough-in quietly uses up hours that were meant for trim, and nobody notices until the last week. JobFigure puts crew hours on the job as they happen, so you can check labour at the end of each phase.

What electrical contractors track in JobFigure

• Labour against each phase. Crews clock in to the job; compare labour spent to where you are in rough-in, trim, and finish.
• Materials vs. fixtures. Wire, conduit, and gear in one category, fixtures in another, so owner-supplied fixture changes stand out.
• Permits and inspections. Small costs, but they add up across jobs if they aren’t tracked.
• Changes in the field. Added circuits and relocated devices get logged as variations before the work is done.

Set up for electrical from the first day

When you pick Electrical as your trade, JobFigure loads these cost categories for budgets, receipts, and job costs. You can rename or add your own at any time.

• Materials
• Labour
• Fixtures
• Equipment Rental
• Permits
• Fuel
• Subcontractor
• Other

Bid line items use the units electrical actually bid in: metres (m), each (EA), and lump sum (LS).

Example: what a electrical job looks like mid-way

Rough-in is complete and trim-out starts next week. Fixtures haven’t been bought yet.

Labour is 72% spent at the end of rough-in. If you planned rough-in at about 60% of your labour, trim starts 12 points behind. Now is the time to plan the crew for trim, or find the variation that explains the extra hours.

Invoices the Australian way

Set your company to Australia and every progress invoice is a GST tax invoice with your ABN and retention. Tick one box to make it a payment claim under your state’s security of payment Act, and at year end the TPAR report totals what you paid each contractor. Prices are in Australian dollars. More in our guide: Payment claims under Australia’s security of payment laws.

Guides and tools for electrical contractors