Going Out on Your Own

Getting the license

In California, a C 10 electrical contractor license requires four years of journeyman level experience within the last ten, verified by someone who can attest to it. Then two exams, one on law and business and one on the trade.

You also post a contractor bond, and if you have employees you carry workers compensation. Without workers compensation on payroll you are one injury away from losing everything you own.

Know your real cost per hour

Take everything you spend in a year that is not materials. Truck, fuel, insurance, bond, license, phone, software, tools, accounting, advertising, and the hours you spend quoting and driving that nobody pays for. Divide it by the hours you can actually bill.

That number is your overhead per billable hour and it shocks most people the first time. Your rate has to cover that before it pays you anything. Read Pricing Electrical Work So You Keep the Money for how the rest of the number is built.

The first year

Work comes from people who already know you. Former employers with overflow, general contractors, property managers, real estate agents and plumbers and HVAC techs who see panels all day. Tell every one of them you are open.

Keep a day job or keep the overhead tiny while the pipeline fills. The classic failure is buying a wrapped truck and a full crew in month two against work that has not arrived yet.

Getting paid

Written proposals with a scope. A deposit within what the law allows, which in California on home improvement work is capped. Progress payments on longer jobs. An invoice the same day the work finishes, not on the weekend when you catch up.

Know your mechanics lien rights and the preliminary notice deadlines before you need them. On commercial work that paperwork is the difference between a slow payment and a lost one.

Where the time actually goes

Answering the phone, quoting, ordering, driving, invoicing, chasing money and scheduling. Field work is maybe half of a working week in the first year.

Decide early whether you want to stay a one truck operation that earns well, or build a company with employees, which is a different job with different skills. Both are fine. Drifting between them is what burns people out.