How Do Electricians Send Estimates? From Truck Text to Panel Bid

Short answer: Electricians send estimates in two forms. Small work is priced on the spot from a flat-rate book — per receptacle, per switch, per fixture, per circuit — and signed on the work order. Panel upgrades, rewires, EV chargers, and generator installs go out as a written PDF within 24 to 72 hours, because the price waits on a utility call and a permit fee. Every version names the access assumption, the amperage, and an expiry date, usually 15 to 30 days.

The mistake is sending both kinds the same way. Formal proposals for two outlets slow you down and lose work to whoever answered at the curb; a texted number for a service upgrade invites a fight later about what “upgrade the panel” included. The way to tell them apart is what happens when the wall opens. When the disputes do arrive, they land where an electrical customer won’t pay picks up.

When does an electrical job need a written estimate at all?

Not as often as you would think, and always when the scope depends on something nobody has looked at yet.

Job	How it is priced	Turnaround	How it goes out
Service call, diagnostic	trip fee quoted on the phone, repair priced on site	immediate	verbal, then written on the work order
Add a receptacle or a switch	flat rate per device from your book	immediate	text with the price, or the work order
Fixture or fan swap, dimmer, smart switch	per device, plus access	immediate	text
Two to six new circuits	per circuit, wire size and run length named	same day to 24 hours	PDF by text or email
100A to 200A service upgrade	per service class, plus permit and utility coordination	24 to 72 hours	PDF, plus a printed copy if the customer wants one
EV charger or generator with transfer switch	per install, panel capacity and run length driven	24 to 72 hours	PDF
Whole-house rewire	per device count and circuit count, phased	several days	PDF proposal with phases and payment schedule
GC or commercial bid	takeoff against drawings	on the bid date	email in the format the bid invitation demands

The dividing line is not the dollar amount. It is whether the price survives contact with the structure. A $900 fixture package in a finished ceiling deserves a written scope more than a $2,000 rough-in in open framing does, because the ceiling has surprises in it and the framing does not.

How fast does the quote go out, and in what form?

Small work: before you leave. Homeowners treat an electrician standing in their hallway as a decision they can make right now, and a flat-rate number given in ten seconds converts at a rate no emailed proposal will match. Keep the per-device prices on your phone so the answer never requires a callback.

Service upgrades and anything permitted: 24 to 72 hours, because you have real work to do first. You may need the utility’s requirements for the meter and service point, the current permit fee schedule from the building department, and a supply house price on a load center and breakers that has moved since your last job. Name the delivery time when you leave and hit it — in a trade where homeowners routinely collect three bids, the second bid to arrive usually loses to the first that arrived when promised.

Channel matters less than the trail it leaves. Homeowners read texts, so send a text with the PDF attached or linked, then follow with the email so a searchable copy exists. General contractors want email in whatever format the bid invitation names. What no scope should ever be is a number spoken in a driveway with nothing written down.

Why does the access assumption have to be in the sentence with the price?

Because access is the single largest multiplier in residential electrical, and it is the variable customers cannot see.

The same 20A circuit is a fast pull through open framing on a house under construction and a different job entirely fished behind finished, insulated drywall with no attic above — where the price now includes locating, drilling, fishing, cutting access openings, patching, and paint that is usually not yours to promise. That is not a small premium. It is why a homeowner who read a per-outlet price online thinks your quote is high.

So write the assumption into the line, not into a footnote: which walls are open, whether there is attic or crawl access above or below, who patches, who paints, and what happens if the wall turns out to be blocked, insulated, or full of fire blocking. Then price the cut-and-patch as its own visible line so the customer can see what the wall cost them, separate from what the electricity cost them.

Two more assumptions worth stating on every quote of any size: the existing wiring method the new work ties into, and the condition of the panel it lands in. A quote to add three circuits assumes there are three spaces available and a bus that can take them.

How many options belong on an electrical quote?

Two, most of the time. This trade does not do good-better-best the way equipment trades do, because the scope is driven by code and by the condition of the house rather than by a product tier.

The useful pair is: what the job requires, and what the job requires plus the things you would be back for anyway. Adding a subpanel while the service is already open, replacing knob-and-tube or ungrounded branch circuits you found in the same room, whole-house surge protection at the new panel, or AFCI and GFCI protection beyond the minimum. Show each add-on as a separately priced line the customer can accept or decline, rather than as a second full proposal.

Where a genuine choice exists — 200A versus 400A service, a single EV circuit versus a subpanel sized for two — present both totals with one sentence on what the larger one buys later. Then stop. An electrical quote with five packages reads as guessing.

How long is the price good for?

Fifteen to thirty days is common, and the reason is easy to state: copper moves, gear lead times move, and permit fee schedules change on the jurisdiction’s calendar. Put the expiry date on the document with that one-line reason, and the customer who accepts a four-month-old quote is a conversation instead of a confrontation.

Two things extend or break that window in this trade specifically. Panels and load centers have gone through long lead-time stretches, so an availability note next to the equipment line is not padding. And permit and inspection fees are set by the jurisdiction, so quote them at cost and say the number is subject to the fee schedule in effect when the permit is pulled.

What do you do about the unknowns you cannot price yet?

Name them, price them conditionally, and never bury them in a lump sum.

What might be behind the wall	What it does to the job	How it appears on the quote
Aluminum branch wiring	every device termination needs an approved method	conditional line, per device, quoted now
Knob-and-tube or ungrounded circuits	the circuit you tie into may not be usable	allowance with a stated hourly rate and a cap
No available panel spaces or an obsolete panel	a subpanel or a service change enters the scope	separately priced option
Fire blocking, brick veneer, or blocked bays	fishing becomes cutting	conditional per-opening price
Undersized service entrance conductors or mast	the utility side becomes part of the job	exclusion plus a “priced once inspected” note
Buried junction boxes found during work	must be made accessible or relocated	conditional line, per box

An allowance with a cap and a stated rate protects both sides: the customer is not signing a blank check, and you are not eating a discovery you had no way to see. What kills jobs is the alternative — a single number that quietly assumed the best case, then a change order on day two that reads like a bait and switch.

When do you follow up, and how does the approval get recorded?

Service and small work needs no follow-up because it closes at the truck. Panel upgrades and rewires need exactly three touches: a confirmation the same day that the PDF landed, a call two or three days later, and a note as the expiry approaches. After that, let it sit. Homeowners collecting bids for a service change often move on a timeline set by something else entirely — a kitchen remodel, an EV delivery date, an insurance letter about the panel brand.

Record the yes so it survives six months and a memory. A signature or e-signature on the proposal is best. A dated text naming the option and the total is fine. Then send a one-message confirmation containing four facts: the scope accepted, the total, the deposit and what it covers, and the start date. Take a deposit sized to actual material commitment rather than a round percentage, and check your state’s cap on up-front payments for home improvement work before you set a standard.

Whatever gets approved should carry through to the bill unchanged, with change orders appended by date. The line-level checklist for that document is in what to include on an invoice.

How do you build the per-device price instead of copying one?

Build it from a real job you already finished, in this order.

1. Time one device, honestly. Not the fastest one. Include walking to the truck, the cut, the fish, the terminate, the trim, and the cleanup.
2. Multiply by your loaded hourly cost. Wages, payroll burden, workers’ comp — which is not cheap in this trade — liability insurance, truck, tools, license renewal, and continuing education. Include the tax you owe on the profit; if you have never sized that, how much to set aside for 1099 taxes is the starting point.
3. Add the material at your real cost: device, plate, box, connectors, staples, and the cable at the gauge and length the run actually takes. Price cable per foot at your current supply house cost, not last year’s.
4. Add non-billable overhead as a share of every device: shop time, estimating time, the drive, permit runs, and the hours you spend on quotes that never sell.
5. Add profit as a margin, not a markup on cost. A 40 percent markup on a $70 cost gives $98 and keeps $28, which is a 28.6 percent margin. To keep 40 percent you divide by 0.60 and price it at $117. Nearly every underpriced device list in this trade comes from that one substitution.
6. Then build the tiers: the same device in open framing, in a finished wall with access above, and in a finished wall with no access. Three prices, one device.

Published per-outlet and per-panel numbers are a sanity check and nothing else. They vary by region, by whether a permit and inspection are included, by wire gauge and run length, by service class, and by how deep into the season your schedule already is. Your own cost decides whether the job is worth taking.

What do you keep once the quote becomes a job?

The accepted PDF with its version number and date, the approval message, the access assumptions as written, the permit number, every inspection result, the device and circuit counts as built, and the supply invoices. That file is what an argument about scope ends with, and it doubles as the tax record the IRS recordkeeping guidance describes.

Sending the estimate is not something Keel does today — that part is still in development. What it does is everything after the customer says yes. The deposit invoice and the final invoice go out from the phone in about a minute each, carrying your numbering, your logo, your brand color, and a payment link the customer scans as a QR code while you label the panel schedule. Receipts for a load center, a case of AFCI breakers, and 250 ft of 12/2 are photographed at the supply house counter and read on the device by Apple Intelligence: no account, no bank connection, no cloud, no login, and an App Store privacy label that reads Data Not Collected. Miles between the shop, the supply house, the permit office, and four service calls log as you drive. Freeboard shows cash minus tax reserve, committed invoices, and buffer, and the whole year exports as one file with a single-page summary for your accountant. Free includes unlimited invoices, receipts, and mileage; Keel Pro is a one-time $249.99 Lifetime purchase, not a subscription.

Frequently asked questions

Do electricians give estimates over the phone?

For a defined task with a known access condition, yes — a fixture swap or a dimmer replacement can be priced from your flat-rate book on the call. For anything where the answer depends on the panel, the wiring method, or what is inside a finished wall, quote the diagnostic or trip fee only and price the work on site. Phone prices for unseen conditions become disputes.

How long does an electrician take to send a written estimate?

Small jobs are quoted on the spot. Permitted work like a service upgrade, an EV charger, or a generator typically takes 24 to 72 hours, because the price depends on utility requirements, the current permit fee schedule, and supply house pricing on gear. Whole-house rewires and commercial bids take longer. Say which one applies before you leave, then meet the time you named.

Should an electrical estimate be sent by text or email?

Both. Text is what homeowners actually read, so send the PDF by text first. Email afterward creates the searchable, forwardable copy that a spouse, a lender, or a real estate agent will need later. General contractors want email only, in whatever format the bid invitation specifies. What matters is that the scope exists in writing, not which app delivered it.

Why do two electricians quote such different prices for the same outlet?

Usually because they assumed different access. A receptacle in open framing, a receptacle fished into a finished wall with attic access above, and the same receptacle in an insulated wall with no access are three different jobs. Permit inclusion, wire gauge, run length, patching, and whether painting is included account for most of the rest of the spread.

How long is an electrical quote valid?

Commonly 15 to 30 days. Copper pricing, gear availability, and jurisdiction fee schedules all move, so a short window is defensible if you state the reason on the document. Quote permit and inspection fees at cost and note that they follow the fee schedule in effect when the permit is pulled, so a fee increase does not come out of your margin.

How should a customer accept an electrical estimate?

By signing the proposal, e-signing it, or replying in writing with the option and total named. Follow it with one confirmation message that states the accepted scope, the total, the deposit and what it covers, and the start date. Keep the deposit tied to real material commitment and inside your state’s limit on up-front payments for home improvement work.

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This article is general information, not professional or tax advice.