Develop estimates knowing all your labor and material costs, adding an accurate overhead percent and a healthy profit margin to arrive at a "bid price".

It is imperative that you know your exact cost of labor, materials, and expenses to complete a given project.Use all available tools to achieve this objective, including good electrical estimating software. Once you have established an exact project cost, you add your overhead cost and profit.

But how do you do this? There are over 87,000 electrical contractors in the US. That's a lot of competition and many of them are successful. Success means different things to different people. The success that I am referring to is having an electrical contracting company that is very profitable that satisfies YOUR personal "success" requirements. Success leaves footprints. By following specific steps used by successful contractors you can reproduce successful results. Let's face it. Unless you are a non-profit organization, you have a profit motive and are in the electrical contracting business to make M-O-N-E-Y!

The best way to ensure profitable money-making success as an electrical contractor is to have a thorough understanding of the estimating process and apply this knowledge. The systematic methods that I am going to teach you have been honed and refined by hundreds of very successful electrical estimators and contractors who have bid literally millions of dollars worth of electrical projects.

Electrical estimating is not rocket science, but it requires methods and business tools, including electrical estimating software. Once you understand the fundamentals of the estimating process, expand your knowledge, and learn to use available business tools, you're building the foundation to becoming a successful contractor. Like anything, when you use a proven systematic approach, you can achieve outstanding results. You can successfully bid more profitable jobs, which make you more money.

Learn-Electrical-Estimating.com exists to provide you with information so that you can be a more profitable and successful contractor. Statistically, (like me) over 94% of electrical estimators (and contractors) started in the field wearing their tool belts and twisting wire nuts. This site was created so you do not have to learn everything by trial and error, and can benefit from the many years of experience of other accomplished contractors.

This is my disclaimer. I will assume that my audience is comprised of electricians who have experienced installing electrical materials. And, I also assume that my audience knows how to read blueprints and how to do a "material take off". Now without further assumptions you are ready to learn from this site! Learn how to remove the guesswork from electrical estimating and replace it with accuracy and confidence!

John Kelsey
Senior Electrical Contracting Consultant