For electrical contractors
Panel upgrades, EV chargers and troubleshooting, billed as cleanly as you wire them.
Residential service, EV charger installs, 100 to 200 amp upgrades that need the utility and the inspector, and tenant fit-outs for commercial clients. Fee-Lion keeps the estimate, the permit, the materials and the hours on the job, and the final invoice gets paid by card.
Explore the live demo See the client portal
No signup, no password: walk around Brightwire Electric’s workspace. Or start your free trial.
Sound familiar?
The paperwork side of the job.
- Troubleshooting a dead circuit takes three hours, and the customer expected the price you quoted for "just a breaker".
- Panel upgrades depend on the utility disconnect and the inspector, and the deposit you need to buy the panel arrives after you already bought it.
- Wire, breakers and boxes come off the supply-house account with no tie back to the job that used them.
- Commercial GCs pay on net-30 at best, and you find out they are at 75 days when you need the cash.
- An EV charger quote turns into a panel upgrade conversation, and the second estimate never gets sent.
A real example
What an estimate looks like.
Line by line, the way you’d actually quote it: quantity times rate, tax worked out for you, and the deposit collected the moment the client approves.
- Your client opens one link and approves it, paying the deposit by card.
- Approved estimates turn into invoices in one click.
- Your logo, your terms, and your line items saved for next time.
Prepared for Priya Raman — 88 Westbrook Ln.
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200A main breaker panel, 40-space, with breakers 1 ea × $1,450.00 | 1 ea | $1,450.00 | $1,450.00 |
| 200A meter base, utility-approved 1 ea × $950.00 | 1 ea | $950.00 | $950.00 |
| Service entrance cable, mast and weatherhead 1 ea × $620.00 | 1 ea | $620.00 | $620.00 |
| Grounding electrode system: 2 rods, water and gas bonding 1 ea × $325.00 | 1 ea | $325.00 | $325.00 |
| Whole-home surge protective device 1 ea × $285.00 | 1 ea | $285.00 | $285.00 |
| AFCI/GFCI breakers where required by code 8 ea × $58.00 | 8 ea | $58.00 | $464.00 |
| Labor: licensed electrician and apprentice 12 hr × $135.00 | 12 hr | $135.00 | $1,620.00 |
| Electrical permit and inspection 1 ea × $225.00 | 1 ea | $225.00 | $225.00 |
| Utility disconnect and reconnect coordination 1 ea × $150.00 | 1 ea | $150.00 | $150.00 |
Power will be off for most of one day. We schedule the utility and the inspector. Two-year workmanship warranty. Adding a Level 2 EV charger circuit later is quoted separately.
Sent with Fee-Lion · example document, fictional client
How Fee-Lion fits
The parts that do the heavy lifting.
Itemized estimates customers understand
Panel, meter base, grounding, AFCI and GFCI breakers, surge protection, permit, labor: each on its own line, so "why is a panel $6,000?" answers itself.
More on estimates & proposalsHourly troubleshooting on the Job Clock
Tiles for Troubleshooting at $135/hr, Rough-in, Trim-out and Travel. Tap as you switch tasks and the hours bill at the right rate, with the log to back it up.
More on time trackingDeposits before you order the panel
Set 30% due at approval and the customer pays it by card on the same link, so the gear is paid for before it hits your truck.
More on online paymentsMaterials and permits on the job
Supply-house receipts, permit and inspection fees go on the job as expenses with photos attached, so you see which jobs actually made money.
More on expense tracking & bookkeepingProgress billing for fit-outs
A tenant improvement gets several invoices on one project as phases finish: rough-in, inspection, trim-out. Partial payments by check or transfer post against each one.
More on project managementAging that names the GC
Current, 30, 60 and 90+ buckets list the actual invoices inside, with reminders going out on schedule and late fees if your terms say so.
More on reports & insightsRequests that create the customer
A quote request form on your website asks for the address, the panel size and a photo, and puts the lead in your Requests inbox with the customer already created.
More on request formsA day with Fee-Lion
How it actually plays out.
- 8:00 a.m., a homeowner wants a Level 2 EV charger, but the 100A panel is full. Send two estimates from the garage: the charger circuit alone, and the 200A upgrade with the charger.
- She approves the upgrade that night and pays the 30% deposit by card. Order the panel and meter base; the supply-house receipt goes on the job.
- Late morning, a restaurant has a tripping kitchen circuit. Tap Troubleshooting on the Job Clock; 2.5 hours later it's a failing GFCI downstream of a wet box. Bill the time with parts the same afternoon.
- Upgrade day: the utility pulls the meter at 8, the crew swaps the service, the inspector signs off at 2. Hours land on the Job Clock as you switch from demo to rough-in to trim.
- Convert the estimate to the final invoice with the deposit already credited. She pays the balance from the link before the truck is loaded.
- Thursday, invoice the GC for rough-in on the tenant fit-out as its own progress invoice on the project. Their check gets recorded as a partial payment when it arrives.
Live demo
Click around Brightwire Electric.
A residential and light-commercial electrical contractor with a 200A panel upgrade on deposit, EV charger installs, hourly troubleshooting and a tenant fit-out billed in phases.
A real Fee-Lion workspace set up as Brightwire Electric, with sample clients, jobs, estimates and invoices. No signup, no password. Changes are switched off, so click anything.
Questions
What people ask before they switch.
How much does an electrician charge for a 200 amp panel upgrade?
Across much of the US a 100A to 200A service upgrade commonly runs somewhere between about $2,500 and $6,500, and more when the meter base, service entrance, grounding or utility work is involved. Permit fees, local code (AFCI and GFCI requirements) and whether the service is overhead or underground move the number a lot, which is why itemizing it matters.
What should an electrical estimate include?
Scope in plain words, equipment and materials by line (panel, breakers, wire, devices), labor hours or a flat price, permit and inspection fees, who coordinates with the utility, what is excluded (drywall patching, painting, trenching), warranty, deposit and how long the price holds. Fee-Lion's estimates handle all of that, with your default terms filled in.
How do I bill hourly troubleshooting fairly?
Tell the customer the hourly rate and any minimum before you start, then log the actual time. The Job Clock records each switch between tasks with timestamps, so the invoice shows real hours instead of a rounded guess, and the customer can see the log behind the number.
How do electricians handle progress billing on commercial jobs?
Usually by phase or percentage complete: mobilization, rough-in, after inspection, trim-out and final, sometimes with retainage held back until the end. In Fee-Lion you create a separate invoice on the project for each phase and record each payment as it comes in. Fee-Lion does not produce AIA G702/G703 pay applications, so if your GC requires that form you will still fill it in separately.
Can customers pay an electrician by card on site?
Yes. Send the invoice from your phone when the work is done and the customer pays by card from the link, without creating an account. Checks and cash are recorded on the invoice as payments, so the balance is always right.
Your next estimate could go out tonight.
Start a 14-day free trial, no card needed, or look around Brightwire Electric first.