How to Quote an Electrical Job That Wins the Work

What an electrical quote needs to include

Because the work is regulated, the quote needs to double as evidence the job was done properly. Nine things, every time:

1. 1Your business details — name, logo, contact details, and your registration body (NICEIC, NAPIT, or similar competent person scheme).
2. 2The customer's name and the site address — access, property age and existing wiring type all affect price.
3. 3A quote number and date.
4. 4Itemised line items — never one lump sum for “electrical work”.
5. 5What's not included — making good plasterwork beyond a first-fix patch, decorating, external cabling unless specified.
6. 6Certification and notification — whether the work is notifiable under Part P, and which certificate will be issued (EIC or Minor Works Certificate).
7. 7Subtotal, VAT (if applicable), and the total.
8. 8A valid-until date — 14–30 days is standard; cable and consumer unit prices move with component costs.
9. 9Payment terms and how to accept — deposit for materials, balance on completion and certification, one clear next step.

Most quotes that lose jobs on price alone are missing the certification line — customers assume it's included, and when it isn't, that's where a "cheap" job turns into a dispute.

How to price electrical work before you send a number

The document is the easy half. Pricing is where the job stays profitable — or quietly stops being worth doing.

Break the job into what it actually costs

List every stage separately: consultation and pre-work testing, first fix (chasing, cabling), second fix (fitting sockets, switches, the consumer unit), testing, certification and notification, and making good. Itemised quotes get accepted more readily, and let a customer trim a line instead of rejecting the whole quote.

Three things electricians routinely forget to charge for

• Testing and certification time — inspecting, testing and completing paperwork for a consumer unit change or new circuit easily takes an hour or more that isn't “installation” time.
• Part P notification fees — where the work is notifiable and you're self-certifying through a competent person scheme, there's a registration fee per job.
• Protecting the property and making good — dust sheets, floor protection and a patch-up after chasing a wall are real costs on an occupied property.

Then add 15–20% margin on top of your costs to cover call-outs that don't convert, van and tool costs, and the CPD that keeps your registration current.

A worked example

Here's a consumer unit upgrade with a new kitchen circuit, quoted the right way:

Certified to BS 7671 and notified under Part P via [scheme name]. Excludes decorating and plasterwork beyond a first-fix patch. Quote valid for 21 days. 30% deposit for materials, balance on completion and handover of certificate. To accept, reply to this email or tap Accept on the quote.

That's the whole thing — itemised, certified, and nothing left for the customer to assume.

Five details that get electrical quotes accepted faster

• Send it within 24 hours. Homeowners comparing electricians are often comparing certification and reputation as much as price — a fast, professional quote reads as the safer choice.
• Make it look like a document, not a text message. A branded PDF with your registration body's logo does more to justify the price than a number in a WhatsApp message ever will.
• Name the certificate you'll issue. “Electrical Installation Certificate on completion” is a specific, reassuring line that a vague “all certified” isn't.
• Make accepting effortless. A customer weighing up three quotes will pick the one that's easiest to say yes to — one tap or one reply beats print, sign, scan every time.
• Follow up once, professionally. A short “happy to answer any questions on the quote or talk through the consumer unit options” a few days later recovers jobs that got buried under three other quotes.

The fastest way to do all of this

Building the document above from scratch — line items, certification wording, VAT, a valid-until date — takes 30–45 minutes in a Word template each time. Fine for the odd job; a real cost once you're quoting several jobs a week between call-outs.

This is exactly why QuoteRocket exists. You describe the job in plain English — "consumer unit upgrade, 10-way RCBO board, new kitchen ring main, full test and certificate" — and it turns that into a branded, itemised PDF quote in under a minute: line items, prices you can adjust, VAT, valid-until date, the lot. Your customer accepts it with one tap on their phone, and an accepted quote becomes an invoice in one click. It's free to try, and while it started life quoting landscaping jobs, tradespeople across electrical, plumbing and building work have been adopting it fast since.

Whatever tool you use to produce it, the principles hold: itemise everything, price your testing and certification honestly, be explicit about what's notifiable, and make saying yes effortless.

Frequently asked questions

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