Electrical flat rate pricing quotes one price for a task before the work starts and keeps it whatever the hours turn out to be. The customer hears a number they can approve at the door; the shop carries the efficiency risk and earns the efficiency reward. The book that holds the prices is built from four inputs, and the price book and cost calculator tools on this site build it from yours.
Four inputs, one price
The loaded cost of the hour, the overhead recovered per billable hour, the material markup and the margin. Multiply the loaded, overheaded hour by the task's standard time, add the material at markup, put the margin on the whole and the task has a price. Every task in the book is that calculation with a different time and material list.
Standard times are the sensitive input
The book is only right if the times are right, and they come from the shop's own job records. Software that records actual time per task and reports it against the book is calibrating the prices for you; a book that never learns from the jobs drifts.
Publish it to every phone
The whole point is one price whoever turns up. The book lives on every electrician's phone, the estimate is built by tapping tasks, and the approved estimate becomes the work order and the invoice with the number unchanged.
Re-price when an input moves
A wage rise, an insurance renewal, a material price move or a change in billable hours each changes every price in the book. Flat rate software re-prices from the inputs in one edit; a spreadsheet does the same until a formula is overwritten.
Questions people ask about electrical flat rate pricing
Is flat rate better than hourly?
For service work with a known scope, yes: the customer approves a price before the work and the argument about hours goes away. For open-ended troubleshooting, time and material is honest.
Can I build a flat rate book for free?
Yes. The cost calculator prices a task from your inputs and the price book tool lays tasks out; the residential price list is the customer-facing version. Keeping the book current on every phone is the paid product.
How often should the book be re-priced?
Whenever an input changes, and at least when the wage or the insurance does.