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Minimum Service Call Calculator for Electricians

Free tool 04 · Takes about 1 minute

"How much should I charge for a small job?" Start with what it costs you to show up. Enter your rate, drive time and truck costs to get the smallest ticket worth rolling a truck for.

1. Your rate

Don't know your hourly rate? Find it with the hourly rate calculator →

2. Time per call (minutes)

Office time is booking the call, ordering, invoicing and chasing payment. Even a tiny job takes 10 to 20 minutes.

3. Trip costs

Truck cost covers fuel, wear, tires and insurance. About $0.70 per mile (US) or per km (Canada) is a fair starting point.

Why "quick" jobs lose money

A customer asks you to swap one outlet. It's 15 minutes of work, so $75 feels fair. But that call also took 40 minutes of driving, 15 minutes of booking and invoicing, and fuel for the truck. Counted properly, that $75 job paid you about $52 an hour, well under your rate.

A minimum charge fixes that. It's the smallest bill you'll write, and it makes sure every call pays for the time it really takes.

How to use the calculator

  1. Enter your hourly rate. Use your full billing rate, not your wage. Add what you charge now for a small job to see what it really pays.
  2. Enter your time per call. Round-trip drive time, the work you'll include in the minimum, and the office time every call takes.
  3. Enter your trip costs. Your typical round-trip distance and what the truck costs you per mile or km, plus any shop supplies used on every call.

You'll get two numbers: your minimum charge, and your service call fee.

The minimum charge formula

Minimum charge = (drive + on-site + office minutes) ÷ 60 × hourly rate + truck cost + shop supplies

Leave out the on-site minutes and you have your service call fee: what it costs you to show up before any work starts.

Worked example: a 30-minute call

  • Hourly rate: $125
  • Time: 40 min drive + 30 min on site + 15 min office = 85 minutes, or $177.08
  • Truck: 20 miles × $0.70 = $14
  • Total: $177.08 + $14 = $191.08, rounded up to a $195 minimum
  • Service call fee without the on-site time: $128.58, rounded up to $130

If this electrician charges $99 for small jobs, they're really making $60 an hour once the drive, the office time and the truck are paid for.

Service call fee vs. minimum charge

A service call fee (or trip charge) pays for getting there. A minimum charge pays for getting there plus a short block of work. Most shops use one or the other:

  • Minimum charge: easiest for customers. "Any job is at least $195, and that includes the first 30 minutes."
  • Service call fee + flat rate: charge the trip fee to show up and diagnose, then quote the fix at a flat rate. Works well for troubleshooting. Use the flat rate calculator to price the fix.

How to make small jobs worth the trip

The minimum charge protects you. Filling the visit is where you make money. Before you leave, walk the customer through anything else on their list: a dead outlet in the garage, a fan they want installed, smoke detectors past their date. Three small jobs on one trip pay far better than three trips.

Small job pricing questions

How much should an electrician charge for a small job?

Never less than your cost to show up plus a short block of work. Add your round-trip drive time, the time on site and the office time for booking and invoicing, multiply by your hourly rate, then add your truck cost. At $125/hr with a 40-minute round trip, 30 minutes on site, 15 minutes of office time and 20 miles of driving, that's $191.08, so a $195 minimum.

What's the difference between a service call fee and a minimum charge?

A service call fee (or trip charge) covers getting to the job: drive time, office time and the truck, before any work starts. A minimum charge is the smallest bill you'll write, and it includes the trip plus a set amount of work, usually 30 minutes to an hour.

Should I waive the service call fee if the customer books the work?

Only if the fee is already built into your price for the work. If you waive it, the trip still cost you money, so make sure your flat rate prices cover drive and office time. Many electricians keep the fee and credit it toward the repair instead.

How much work should my minimum charge include?

Most electricians include 30 minutes to an hour on site. That covers small jobs like swapping a receptacle, resetting a GFCI or replacing a switch. Bill anything longer on top of the minimum, or quote it at a flat rate.

What hourly rate should I enter?

Enter your full billing rate, not your wage. It needs to cover wages, payroll costs, insurance, unbilled time and profit. If you're not sure what that number is, use the free electrician hourly rate calculator first.