How much does one paid electrical crew-hour contribute?

Use one denominator throughout the estimate

One two-person clock hour is two person-hours. A two-hour service package therefore uses four productive person-hours before travel and other time; the model never multiplies that same job count by two again. An eight-hour installation uses sixteen productive person-hours. The service labor equivalent is $235 per clock hour; installation uses $210. They are internal estimate assumptions, not verified market rates.

Job estimates combine productive labor, tax-inclusive material acquisition, markup, scope-specific permit allowance and the expected nonbillable burden. The public customer contract is assumed to be lump-sum residential real-property work. Texas tax guidance distinguishes that arrangement from separately invoiced material resale and commercial repair.

Trace the two representative jobs

Service invoice: two productive hours at $235, materials budgeted at $40 per productive hour with 25.0% markup, and $10 blended permit cost. Installation uses eight hours at $210, $100 materials per productive hour and $150 permit allowance. Permit recovery is at cost; it earns no direct margin.

Variable cost includes job materials, permit payments, fuel, consumables, card fees and credit loss. Payroll allocation divides productive time plus callbacks by the share of paid time left after travel/admin. It is an explanatory allocation only: the monthly model pays the fixed roster once and does not also charge this allocated payroll as a variable expense. The after-payroll amount still has to support fixed overhead and financing.

A 25.0% markup on material cost is a 20.0% material revenue margin before transaction/collection costs. Calling markup and margin the same thing overstates profitability. Reconcile purchase tax, freight, waste and returns before multiplying the material bill.

Travel and callbacks use hours without creating another invoice

The crew cannot book 160 productive hours and then add travel afterward. Base callback hours equal billed hours times 4.0%; sales are limited so billed work and callbacks fit the usable time. During the ramp the remaining hours are idle, but their wages remain due.

A single-driver test raises travel from 20.0% to 30.0% and lowers capacity to 92.3 billed hours. A second crew, overtime or a solo-service arrangement could change the ceiling, but needs its own people, wage, license, vehicle and insurance inputs. It cannot be inferred from inbound enquiries.

Choose metrics that reveal the actual leak

Track billed hours divided by paid crew-clock hours, invoice revenue per billed hour, realized contribution per paid hour, callback hours divided by billed hours, and days from completion to collected cash. Each solves a different problem. High price per billed hour can coexist with weak utilization; high sales can coexist with uncollected receivables.

The base operating threshold is 75.1 billed hours. Adding the $1,309 monthly debt payment raises the steady cash threshold to 80.9. This algebra holds Year 1 prices, mix and costs constant and assumes no additional working-capital movement. It is not a monthly ramp guarantee. Use actual collections and stock purchases to test the cash account.

For whole job scheduling, convert the billed-hour requirement into an integer set of actual job durations; rounding each mixed equivalent separately does not create a rigorous break-even count. Keep raw precision for contribution, then apply a feasible schedule rather than a decorative rounded headline.

Close the estimate before opening the wall

Record the existing condition, accessible route, desired fixtures, allowed access hours, testing/inspection steps and excluded concealed defects in the estimate. Confirm permit and inspection responsibility with the relevant local authority. TDLR’s guide describes local inspection authority and contractor identification on proposals, invoices and vehicles; it does not give a universal fee per job.

Use a written change-order rule when actual material or scope differs. A free second trip still consumes paid time even if the customer sees no additional charge. Compare estimated and actual hours/material by job type each week so the next estimate can reflect what changed. This is the operating record needed to validate the assumptions above.