Electrical Proposal Example: A Complete Sample You Can Copy

Plenty of advice tells you what an electrical proposal should contain. Fewer places show you a finished one. Below is a complete example for the residential job most electricians quote every month: a 100 A to 200 A service upgrade, with a few new circuits added while the power is off. Every section is filled in the way it should read when it lands in a homeowner's inbox. If you want the reasoning behind each part first, that lives in how to write an electrical proposal.

The contractor, the client, the address and the license number are fictional, and the numbers are an example, not market rates. Your prices will differ by region, utility and house. Copy the structure; swap in your own figures.

The example, section by section

Why each section is there

The summary names the reason for the size.“Sized from a load calculation” tells the homeowner the 200 A recommendation is arithmetic, not an upsell, and it lists the loads they told you about, so they can see you listened.

The scope is counted.Twenty-two circuits transferred, three new ones, each with its amperage and what it serves. When the client asks mid-job whether you could “just add” two outdoor receptacles, the list answers for you: that is a change order, not a favor.

Materials and labor are split. A panel can be priced online in a minute. Showing materials openly makes the labor line read as what it is: the licensed part of the job.

The permit has its own section. This is where you separate yourself from an unlicensed bid. Saying who pulls the permit and who attends inspections turns your higher price into the cost of doing it properly. Keep the code sentence general and true; the how-to guide explains why a clean general statement beats a list of article numbers you might get wrong.

The allowance and exclusions handle the walls. Old houses hide things. A small, stated allowance and a written change-order clause stop you from either eating the surprise or arguing about it.

Payments follow inspections. The client trusts the inspector, so tying each payment to a passed inspection makes the schedule feel fair. The three payments add up to the total exactly, which is worth checking on every proposal you send. Deposit limits and required contract wording vary by state and province, so check your local rules before you copy the percentages.

Small jobs: when one page is enough

Not every electrical job needs nine sections. A service call, a single new circuit, a few fixtures swapped, or an EV charger circuit on a panel with room to spare can go out as a one-page quote: what you will do, the price, what is excluded, the permit line if one applies, and a signature. The guide on how to make a quote for a job covers that shorter format, and the job quote generator produces it.

Small jobs are also where a fixed price is hardest, because you rarely know what is behind the first cover plate. Many electricians bill this work by the hour instead. If you do, say so on the page: the hourly rate, how materials are charged, an estimate of the hours if you can give one, and a not-to-exceed figure you will not go past without the client's written approval. Whether a not-to-exceed figure binds you, and how, depends on your contract and local rules, so treat it as common practice rather than a legal formula.

How to produce one quickly

Typing all of this for every bid is the slow part. ProposalPro builds a proposal like the one above from a short job form, or you can dictate the job and let it fill the form for you. It writes the scope, exclusions, payment schedule and warranty around the numbers you give it, and it does not invent prices, brands or warranty terms you did not enter. The electrician proposal template is the starting point for this trade, and the template gallery shows the finished designs.

For hourly work, you can now choose time and materials as the pricing: an hourly rate, with an optional materials markup, estimated hours, estimated materials and a not-to-exceed cap. The app does the arithmetic itself and labels any total as an estimate; if you give only the rate, the proposal shows the rate and no invented total. It does not recalculate the money section if you edit the document by hand afterwards.

The free plan gives you 3 proposals a month with a watermarked PDF. Sending a link the client can sign online is part of Pro. If you want to see your own panel job written up this way, start a free account and try it on the next quote you owe someone.