Real-world revenue benchmarks

One electrician’s rule of thumb is blunt: a lead-and-helper team should bring in about $2,000 a day, a crew should not leave under $1,200, and a solo operator should aim for roughly $800. (x.com) The figures came from an X post by the account darkspark317, which framed them as working revenue targets rather than wage rates or net profit. The same post said lighting work can run at roughly 200% margins, making small fixture jobs unusually lucrative for service electricians. (x.com) Those numbers sit well above what a single electrician usually bills by the hour. Service Fusion’s 2026 pricing guide says electricians commonly charge $50 to $130 an hour, with higher rates for emergency calls, which would put an eight-hour day at about $400 to $1,040 before add-ons. (servicefusion.com) Electrical contractors use those daily targets to cover more than payroll. Housecall Pro’s pricing guide says estimates have to absorb labor, materials, permits, travel, overhead, and profit, and its margin guide says many contractors treat about 20% net profit as a high-end target. (housecallpro.com, housecallpro.com) That is why crew size changes the math. A two-person team that produces $2,000 in a day is generating about $1,000 per worker before costs, while a solo electrician at $800 is carrying the same truck, insurance, and admin burden alone. (x.com, housecallpro.com) The post also lines up with a broader push toward tighter benchmarking in the trades. The National Electrical Contractors Association sells a Financial Benchmarker report specifically so firms can compare their own profitability, efficiency, and operating ratios against industry peers. (necanet.org) The trade group says it represents more than 70,000 firms and over 500,000 electrical workers, which helps explain why contractors look for simple field benchmarks they can hand to dispatchers and foremen. A daily revenue floor is easier to track in the truck than a year-end margin target in a spreadsheet. (necanet.org, necanet.org) Lighting work gets singled out because the labor is often short, the materials are marked up, and the customer sees an immediate result. Housecall Pro says electrical material markups often run about 2x to 6x cost, which helps explain how a fast lighting job can out-earn a longer rough-in or troubleshooting call. (housecallpro.com) The post does not claim the targets fit every market, and local labor costs, permit rules, and competition can move the numbers. But it offers a concrete yardstick: if the truck is rolling all day and the invoice still misses those floors, the pricing model is probably doing the business no favors. (x.com, housecallpro.com)