Free Texas Electrical Labor Cost Calculator

Texas Electrical Labor Cost Calculator

Price electrical labor by job, cost code, crew mix, and Texas market.

A bid-grade labor model for Texas electrical contractors, service teams, estimators, builders, and project managers who need the labor math behind a job, not a generic hourly rate.

$28.50 Texas mean hourly wage

76,770 Texas electrician employment

2025 BLS OEWS benchmark year

Build the labor estimate

Defaults use public Texas wage benchmarks. Every rate, burden, overhead, and margin input is editable.

Texas market

Job type

Cost code

Job quantity

Commercial tenant improvement default: labor hours per 1,000 square feet.

Base labor hours per unit

Site complexity

Overtime share

8% of labor hours at 1.5x wage premium.

Productivity factor

100% of base hours. Higher means more hours.

Labor burden

Includes employer taxes, insurance, benefits, PPE, and small tools.

Office and field overhead

Target gross margin

Travel, staging, misc. hours

Apprentice

Hourly wage

Journeyman

Hourly wage

Lead

Hourly wage

Foreman

Hourly wage

Estimate output

Commercial tenant improvement in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land

Job bid mode

Recommended labor bid $22,414 Labor only, with burden, overhead, and target margin.

Total labor hours 462.0 Includes travel, staging, complexity, and productivity factors.

Cost per unit $1,868 Per 1,000 sf

Loaded hourly cost $45.47 Weighted wage plus selected burden and overhead.

Blended bill rate $64.54 Labor bid divided by total labor hours.

Wages

$13,870

Burden

$3,537

Overhead

$2,437

Estimate copied.

Texas market wage curve

May 2025 OEWS mean hourly wage for Electricians, SOC 47-2111. Metro values drive the editable default rates.

BLS OEWS

Market	Mean hourly wage	Index vs Texas	Default journey rate

Cost code labor schedule

A job-level allocation that converts the estimate into a labor budget by common electrical cost code.

Division 26

Cost code	Work package	Labor share	Hours	Loaded labor cost	Suggested labor bid	Estimator note

These cost codes are practical estimating buckets based on common Division 26/27/28 electrical work categories. Replace them with your accounting system's exact cost code names before importing into payroll, job costing, or project controls.

Burden and compliance assumptions

The calculator separates wage, burden, overhead, and margin so the bid price is not confused with the electrician's base wage.

Editable assumptions

Employer FICA Uses 7.65% as the combined employer Social Security and Medicare rate before wage-base details.

Texas unemployment tax Uses 2026 Texas average tax context as a burden input, with the rate itself editable for each employer.

FUTA Uses a practical 0.6% net federal unemployment assumption after the standard credit; actual Form 940 handling can vary.

Insurance and benefits Workers compensation, GL, benefits, PTO, training, small tools, phones, trucks, and PPE are contractor-specific.

Texas electrical work can require appropriate TDLR licensing and local permitting. This tool estimates labor economics; it is not legal, tax, prevailing-wage, Davis-Bacon, or safety advice.

Estimator questions

Short answers for turning the calculator output into a cleaner Texas electrical labor budget.

Why is the labor bid higher than the electrician wage?

The wage is only the base pay rate. A contractor's labor cost also includes employer payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, nonproductive time, supervision, field overhead, office overhead, and margin.

Should I use statewide or metro wage defaults?

Use the metro default when the crew is hired and dispatched in that market. Use the statewide default for early budgeting or mixed-market work across several Texas regions.

How should I treat overtime?

Use overtime only for hours that will actually be worked over the regular threshold. The calculator models wage premium at 1.5x, then applies the selected burden, overhead, and margin to the resulting labor cost.

Can this replace a full estimating database?

No. It is a fast labor cost model. For final bids, reconcile the result against drawings, takeoff quantities, supervision plans, local permit requirements, project schedule, material handling, and actual company production history.

Public sources used for defaults

Rates are starting assumptions, not a promise of what a specific contractor, union agreement, public project, or prevailing-wage determination will require.

Source	Default used	Link
BLS OEWS May 2025, Electricians SOC 47-2111	Texas mean $28.50/hr, median $28.16/hr, 10th $18.23/hr, 25th $22.44/hr, 75th $34.20/hr, 90th $38.61/hr, employment 76,770.	BLS OEWS tables
BLS Public Data API	Series IDs including OEUS480000000000047211103 for Texas mean hourly wage.	BLS API documentation
Texas Workforce Commission	2026 taxable wage base $9,000, 2026 average tax rate 1.20%, entry-level rate 2.70%.	TWC unemployment tax rates
IRS Social Security and Medicare rates	Employer Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%.	IRS Topic 751
IRS FUTA guidance	Standard FUTA 6.0% on the first $7,000, with potential 5.4% credit producing 0.6% net.	IRS FUTA credit reduction
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation	Electrical work in Texas generally requires proper licensing and work through a licensed electrical contractor unless exempt.	TDLR electricians

Disclaimer: The Texas Electrical Labor Cost Calculator is an economic modeling tool intended for preliminary budgeting and informational purposes only; its outputs are based on generalized regional averages, public wage benchmarks, and customizable user inputs that may not reflect your actual project costs, union agreements, local code complexities, or specific business overhead. Use of this calculator does not constitute legal, tax, safety, licensing, or professional estimating advice, and all final bids should be thoroughly reconciled against complete project drawings, local material availability, current Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) guidelines, and certified payroll or prevailing-wage requirements where applicable.