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Electrical service shops mark up materials anywhere from 1.5× (a common reference) to 6× on small devices. Most land on a sliding scale by part cost: two and a half to three times cost on outlets, switches and breakers, about 1.6× on EV chargers, and as little as 1.3× on a standby generator. Wire and conduit are usually priced by the run, not the foot.
Every chart on this page on two printable pages, for the truck or the office: download the electrical markup chart PDF. No email needed.
Markup vs margin: markup is what you add to cost; margin is the share of the price you keep. A 50% markup is a 33% margin, a 100% markup is a 50% margin. Every table here shows both.
The sliding scale and the part costs are from the price book we researched for electrical shops in October 2026: 107 parts priced from retail and distributor listings, and published guidance from the trade sources linked below. No electrician has reviewed it yet, so treat every number as a starting point for your own costs and market.
Electrical parts markup by part cost. The cheaper the part, the higher the multiplier.
A tamper-resistant outlet costs a couple of dollars and a standby generator costs thousands; no single percentage prices both. This is the sliding scale the EstimateKit electrical book uses, with a real part at each step.
Between the steps the multiplier slides smoothly, so parts don't jump from one price band to the next.
Run cable through the scale by the foot and 14/2 at 45 cents a foot comes out at three times cost. Most shops don't sell wire that way: they build it into the task price (a new circuit, a panel swap) or price it by the run. Forum posters report 15–30% on conduit for the same reason: it's bought by the length and easy to check.
Electrical markup by category. What the sliding scale gives each kind of part.
The same scale applied to the 107 parts in the electrical book, grouped the way a supply house groups them. The range is the cheapest to the most expensive part in each group.
Pass through, don't mark up
A permit fee is a public number; a homeowner who checks it should find yours matches.
What electrical pricing guides recommend. From 1.5× as a reference to 6× on small devices.
A flat 50% is the conservative end. It works on chargers, panels and generators, where homeowners compare prices, and leaves most of the margin behind on the devices and breakers that make up a service call.
Try it on your own job. Cost in, selling price out.
Enter the equipment and materials cost of a job, the labor hours and what an hour costs you, then pick a target margin. The calculator gives the price, the profit and the markup that margin needs.
Selling price
$6,000
Profit
$2,400
Markup on cost
66.7%
Set your markup scale once in EstimateKit and every part on every quote is priced from it, starting from a electrical price book you can edit. $49 a month for your whole team, 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Electrician labor rates in 2026. Published billed rates run about $75 to $165 an hour.
Labor isn't marked up like parts. You build a billed rate from what an hour costs you (wages, burden, truck, insurance, licensing, office) and the margin you need, then check it against your market. Here's what published 2026 sources say residential electricians bill:
Rates in the EstimateKit electrical book (change them to yours)
To build your own rate from your costs, use the labor rate calculator; the math is the same for any trade.
Worked example: a 200-amp panel upgrade. The panel at 76%, breakers and fittings near 3×.
The standard tier of the panel upgrade every new electrical account starts with, line by line, with the sliding scale applied to each part.
Before the permit
The panel itself is marked up 76%. The breakers, connectors and consumables carry the rest of the parts margin, and they're the lines a homeowner never prices against a store shelf.
Published guidance runs from 1.5 times cost as a service-trade reference to 2 to 6 times on materials overall. Most service shops use a sliding scale: around 2.5 to 3 times on devices and breakers under $25, about 2 times near $100, and 1.3 to 1.6 times on panels, chargers and generators.
On the sliding scale in this guide, a $550 Level 2 charger comes out at about 1.6 times cost, a 59% markup. Chargers are easy for homeowners to price online, so most shops keep the markup on the unit modest and earn on the circuit and installation.
Build it into the task price, or price it by the run. Marked up by the foot on a sliding scale, cheap cable comes out at three times cost, and forum posters report 15 to 30% on conduit because it's easy to check.
Markup is what you add to cost; margin is the share of the selling price you keep. A 50% markup is a 33% margin, a 100% markup is a 50% margin, and a 200% markup is a 67% margin.
Pass permits, inspections and utility fees through at cost, or as a clearly labeled fee. They're public numbers a homeowner can check.
Published sources put residential billed rates at about $75 to $150 for most independents, up to $165 in metro areas, and $50 to $130 on homeowner cost sites. In Canada, HomeStars reports C$80 to $150.