Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
Accelerate your electrical service business to six-figure months and seven-figure success in record time. Hosted by Clay Neumeyer and Joseph Lucanie, this podcast breaks down the proven frameworks, sales systems, and high-performance strategies used by top electricians and service teams, worldwide.
Each episode delivers real-world scripts, elite communication tools, option-building tactics, and premium homeowner experience frameworks that help contractors grow fast, close confidently, and dominate their market ethically.
If you're ready to shorten the path to consistent $100K+ Service months, build a recognizable premium brand, and step into the next level of leadership and income, this is the place. Plug in, level up, and get ready to scale with speed.
Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
S3 EP15 Why $150/hr for electricians is keeping you broke (And What to Do About It)
Still charging $150/hr as an electrician? This is why that rate is silently draining your profits and how to break free.
In this episode, we expose the real math behind electrician hourly rates, why $150/hr isn’t cutting it anymore, and how to calculate a service rate that actually makes your business money. Whether you're just starting out or scaling a shop, this is the real reason electricians stay broke and how to finally shift from undercharging to earning what you’re worth.
💡 What You’ll Learn:
- The myth of “what the market will bear”
- Why your mentor’s prices are not your model
- How your $150/hour is actually costing you the business
- The turning point: doing the math and finding your price power
- Why “service” is what justifies your price (and how to make it undeniable)
This isn’t just a pricing episode. It’s a mindset reset.
⚡️Learn how to present service options that increase average ticket, reduce price objections, and put customers in control, without sounding salesy.
Mastering the Art of Options. Pre-registration link here!
⚡️Join our free weekly Q&A sessions in the SLE Pro App!
⚡️Podcast Powered by Duromax Generators.
Making turnkey power solutions easy.
📧 Email: jesse@duromaxpower.com
🌐 Website: www.duromaxpower.com
📞 Call: 909-490-5789
⚡️Jump into the Million Dollar Electrician Community and connect with real business-minded sparkies!
⚡️Learn more about electrical service pricing, flat-rate vs. hourly, and how to lead your market through service. Contact us, we’d love to help!
#ElectricianBusiness #PricingForProfit #ElectricalContractor #TradeBusiness #FlatRatePricing
Some people are worried about, well, if I raise my rate, certain people will drop me. I had the exact same fear. But the thing is, is that you have to consider who's hiring you. If you're the cheapest guy in town and they're hiring you because you're the cheapest guy in town, then they're not gonna want to stay with you because they're not here for the service. But there are gonna be people who are like, you know what? I trust you and I think you do good work, and I think you're gonna come back when you say you will. And I'm gonna pay for that level of peace of mind because I think it's worth not hiring stand in a man. I want to work with you. Those people will stay with you. And the fact that you charge more gives you more availability to treat those people better so that you can continue raising your rate and serving everyone at a higher level.
SPEAKER_03:Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.
SPEAKER_00:I'm Joseph Witchani, and together with my co-host Clay New Meyer, we're here to share the secrets that have helped electricians sell over a million dollars in a single service band.
SPEAKER_02:Now it's time for sales. It's time for scale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.
SPEAKER_03:Hello and welcome back, guys. Another great episode, another great year. At least we're trying to make 2026 your best year yet. You committed to that, Joe? Oh, yeah, 100%. Dial in. Me too, man. And that's why this episode is so important. We've been talking about pricing, we've been talking about profit. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time. And the reason why is because this might be one of the most important topics and one of the biggest and simplest. And I want to say like easiest, but it's not really easy. It's simple. We just have to work hard at it to build value, build our rates up. This is another episode about pricing. This one, though, is centered on why$150 an hour will keep you broke and exactly how you can pull away from that. We've got a great tool. In fact, a totally updated, refreshed 2026 simple pricing tool for you guys today. Joe, tell us why is the price shock such a big problem? Why are we stuck in this and how is it keeping us stuck, man? In your humble opinion.
SPEAKER_01:It's one of those things where I reflect back on how I felt when I was told to change my price. We were at$165 an hour and thought we were super expensive because all my competitors were a hundred or under a hundred dollars an hour. And I remember working with a sales coach, and he pretty much said, when I asked, Hey, how do I do my number? It's like raise it. I was like, uh to what? He's like, uh 300. And I remember like just feeling like I swallowed a brick because I was like, Why? How? Like, why? Is this what you got to do? And we really thought that people were gonna come and burn our shop down with like pitchforks and torches. Because the main problem is that we as electricians believe we can only charge what the market can bear. And what we mean what it can bear is what we believe it can bear, not at all based on numbers or stats or anything, just gut check and insecurity. And that's the main driving force why people keep themselves the way they are.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, let's be honest, most of us are not coming to business with our own plan, or maybe we brought someone else's plan. And to me, this really brings up kind of like four stages of pricing and value awareness, if I could. I think there's kind of a stage one, and these tend to be even below 150 an hour, even in 2026, if you can believe this, running a service call, like first hours 150, then it goes down to 125 or 100 after that, or we charge by the quarter hour. I mean, all of this, that old dog won't hunt. So, stage one, I believe, is like I came to this business, this organization, or to this market, even with someone else's plan, which was that's what we used to sell at my old job. That's what we used to do at XYZ electrical companies. So I'll just start by doing that. Flawed plan, would you say?
SPEAKER_01:Right off the jump, because it seems like it's the crazy thing. I remember when I started as a green electrician, I genuinely thought that anyone who held a master's license was a genuine master. They knew business, they knew organization, they knew pricing, they knew codes, they were like wizards and they could just make magic happen. But as we grew up, it's almost like when you're a kid, you think all adults are smart. And then when you grow up, you're like, wow, we're all a bunch of idiots. So the funny thing is, is that you're going by someone else's price who was going off someone else's price, who is going off someone else's price, and none of them knew what the right price was.
SPEAKER_03:Did anyone hit the sheet in that whole lineage, right? Did anyone actually go to a Google Sheet or a spreadsheet and do a calculation just once, please? That brings us to stage two. I feel like stage two of this pricing is really it's a little bit better. It's well, I know what they charged and I don't want to end up like them. So I'll do just a little bit more and I'll charge just a little bit more. We'll we'll use better uh quality uh technology or equipment.
SPEAKER_01:That's a common one. I I remember it was with devices. We thought that if we put in 20 amp devices and higher quality, more like the better grade, the five dollar one, not the 99 cent one, the customer will see the valve, they'll feel the click of the switch and they'll go, Yes, this is a quality installation. I'm gonna call them again.
SPEAKER_03:Didn't work. I feel like we're cutting some people deep right now. And I apologize if you're relating to this, but that's kind of the point, too, right? Is we want you to be better off than we were. So if you're at that stage two, we mean no harm, don't mean to uh draw a foul here. It's just that we could still do better. Stage three to me is we start to maybe you listen to a podcast like this, you start to get this idea, like Joe, you said, like, oh, maybe someone told me I should be at 300 an hour. It's still kind of not quite your plan, but maybe you start to do calculations, you start to understand and you start to look at the bigger community, not just the chucks in a truck in your market, but the bigger community, like in our SLE Pro app, of people that are actually starting to charge and value their time at what they're actually worth, which is a whole other conversation. We should do a podcast on what your actual worth is, because man, is that a real mind buster, I find. So that to me is stage three. Would you agree with that, Joe? Like you start to come around and realize, uh, okay, I could be a lot more here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I guess at stage three, my personal opinion is you've realized what you're doing isn't working and you've tried making it work so far. So, like in my context, it was we were broke. We thought we were charging a lot, but we weren't making any money despite how hard we were working. So it was like, you know what? I don't think I could charge$300 an hour. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. But I'm pretty sure I can't stay in business for what I'm charging. So there's got to be something in between that I can work with. So it's like acceptance yet denial, still hand in hand.
SPEAKER_03:100%. Really good way to put that. I like that. Acceptance but denial hand in hand. It's like, oh yeah, we could do this, but then you get to the door and really you're shivering with your price.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. It's like I'm gonna charge, I'm gonna, I'm gonna undercut this where I'll charge a higher rate, but I'm gonna quote the job as doing it as fast as I can. That way, yeah, I am charging a higher rate. I'm just not making any more money.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And so if that's stage three, then I feel stage four is okay, we did the sheet, we did the exercise. That's the one included down below this podcast, guys. You can grab that for free. Join us. There's a whole little presentation on how this works: a bunch of uh one spreadsheet with a series of tabs that walks you through this so simply. That's why we call it the SSR. That's why we call it the simple service rate. This is stage four. You're actually taking your numbers. And by the way, we took some of the legwork out by including a bunch of numbers that are already common across your industry if you're in service. So we made this as easy as possible. You just get to add and adapt and change a few of the numbers to make it personally your own based on where you are located. Because let's be honest, uh, where I am in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and where you are, Joe, in New York State, the costs are going to be different. Naturally.
SPEAKER_01:Different country, different part of the country, different part of the different part of the hemisphere. I mean, like we're all different at this point.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. It's not just Canada, US, it's probably New York versus Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It doesn't matter where you are. I mean, I've even noticed differences county to county because in New York, they don't have a statewise license. You have a county license. So if I were to go further north into like Sullivan County or any of those areas, they're very different. And the people who are providing in that area are very different because the clientele are different. So you'll find people charging less there, and then somehow they try to sneak down to where we are and be like, oh, well, they got a little more money. Let's maybe I'll make more there.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Even the fact, I mean, some of you people that are listening, some of you guys, electricians like us, might be rural. Like Bailey was. Bailey was rural. I mean, some of the supply shops that he would need to go to or order parts from weren't next door. They weren't a five or 10-minute drive, it might have been an hour. And if that's the case for you, then we have to account for these things and make sure that we're billing in a way that is conducive to us succeeding. It's the casino principle. The house has to win, Joe. Otherwise, you guys can feel like you're doing favors for a homeowner, and that homeowner might love you to death for that. But if there's no business to love with it because you couldn't afford to pay your bills, does it even matter who appreciates you as a person?
SPEAKER_01:Even better. I agree with that, but that's taking it one day, make it hurt a little bit more. You offer these amazing warranties and you believe in your work and your craftsmanship is top tier, but they'll never be able to appreciate that warranty because you'd be out of business before you can honor it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's a big one. Step further, half the electricians, I mean, we're speaking to on average right now, about a dozen different electricians every single day of the week. They're talking to our team, they're in our classes, talking to us, they're coming to these calls and podcasts, engaging with us in the pro app. And so commonly, I mean, you you probably hear this every day too, Joe, is like there's no electrician's dire. If you're priced right and have a shop that's proud of and could be the electrician's pride to work for in town, if you're the known person to work for, that whole thing flips. But unfortunately, you need money, you need stability, you need security, you need some spiffs to really keep people engaged and seeing you as the top dog in town. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like the thought of saying, I want to create a business that's different than the business I came up with, but I need to charge more than that business to treat my employees better. If I'm gonna give them the year-end bonuses that they're like, wow, thanks, boss, or I'm gonna pay them enough that they're like, you know what, I'm not taking the sick day. I'm coming in and getting this thing done. It's gonna require an investment on your part. And in order to come up with that investment and not sweat every week saying, How the heck am I gonna make payroll? You got to have money in the bank. And you can't do that without being priced properly.
SPEAKER_03:And this full circle back is stage four. Stage four is actually doing the math, actually realizing, oh wow, there is a bigger play here, and I can win even at these higher and often, like we had people at the uh pricing and profit workshop. If you guys missed that, you could still join the app and get the replay, by the way, at service loopelectric uh electrical.com forward slash pro-app, also linked below. You can just join and see the replay, and that would be a huge boost for you to make 2026 the best year yet. But there was a number of people who are fairly new to the concept of service pricing at this level. And of course, they're blown away by what they should be charging that they're not. And the beautiful thing is that your first instinct is price shock, and it's oh my gosh, we can't do that. That wouldn't work in my town. People would shoot me. But the truth is they don't. And they won't. It's like you said, Joe, they weren't coming with the pitchforks. There was just the customers who are willing to work with us at our level and the customers who weren't, weren't. And I'd rather focus on those who are willing participants, want the additional value, want that, you know, that certainty that they're going to be taken care of. Like you said, the warranty, all of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know something cool on top of that is you know some people are worried about, well, if I raise my rate, certain people will drop me. I had the exact same fear. But the thing is, is that you have to consider who's hiring you. If you're the cheapest guy in town and they're hiring you because you're the cheapest guy in town, then they're not gonna want to stay with you because they're not here for the service. But there are gonna be people who are like, you know what? I trust you and I think you do good work, and I think you're gonna come back when you say you will. And I'm gonna pay for that level of peace of mind because I think it's worth not hiring stand in a van. I want to work with you. Those people will stay with you, and the fact that you charge more gives you more availability to treat those people better so that you can continue raising your rate and serving everyone at a higher level.
SPEAKER_03:I agree. We don't call it service loop for nothing. It's that little bit extra for future serviceability. The question is, we don't break this down often enough. It's like extra what? Extra care, extra attention, extra listening, active listening. Extra, I repeat your words back to you because I care about how you feel, and I understand that communication is a big piece of this. So it's extra communication. It's extra attention to your time and valuing your time. It's extra attention to your efforts and valuing that you don't have to take so many when you work with us. At least have an option for it. And all of those extras create more value and they create a drastic difference between you and the other person quoting this job. Like an insane difference. I mean, Joe, you know. I mean, sometimes it feels like I'm preaching to the choir because it's you and I chatting here, right? We know this stuff so well, and we've seen it work for so many, even the ones who said that won't work in my area. Yes. In fact, some of our best clients put that same intention into their decision making too. And you know what? It works there too, because we don't work on communities, we work on people. And the one-to-one psychology of these things, these principles that are built into this service loop, that's a that's a manoimano. That's one-to-one.
SPEAKER_01:I agree. You know, the one thing that stands out that I want to add is the extra, because we're talking about the attention, is we're willing to explore what is emotionally attached to their logical request. Someone calling and saying, I can't make money on a ring doorbell. It's a BS call. It's$50 in and out. But why do they want the ring doorbell? They want it because they're concerned because there was a break in two blocks down three weeks ago. So now you knowing that can be like, hey, now we'll change all your sconces and your floods to backup ring security cameras. We'll change your door locks, we'll sync it to the alarm system. And now they're thanking you and saying, shut up and take my money. So that BS call became an amazing client because you were willing to explore the why they wanted it in the first place. And you can't do that when you're rushing in and out.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely not. And guys, I actually have great news for you again. Uh, there's another webinar coming. We had so much fun at the pricing and profit webinar, and we decided, you know what? We got to have Joe do one specifically for one of the key principles, which is how do we serve more? How do we sell more stuff? How do we scale that service? And so, Joe, you're going to be lining these guys up and teaching them some of the very principles you were just talking about, right?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. I'm so, so excited about it. I mean, really at the end of the day, there are so many emotional and psychological factors that you can tug on. But at the end of the day, it's if you can present more choices that make sense in a way that is relevant and can seem relevant to what they're talking about, and you're unapologetic about the price, you will find you're winning far more often than you're losing. And they're thanking you for the thoughtfulness that you put into it. Where do you lose?
SPEAKER_03:No, it's a win-win man. And Tony's gonna be working hard in the background. That's our podcast producer, should be working hard to make sure that the link you could do a pre-registration for that webinar at the time of the release of this podcast as well. So you can find that link down below. We got a number of great things for you guys, tons of value here. Joe, as we're talking, I'm realizing there's a stage five that we missed in this. And I think this one wraps it up perfectly. And this is the journey that we want you guys to be on. You ready for stage five? I'm down. Let's make it happen. Stage four comes with a projection. It's that first time we really do the math and we learn that, hey, we have some price control here, and that means we have profit control, we have future control. Suddenly we can budget and plan for a business that we want to build. But stage five is where we actually come back, and it's our multi-year clients that hit stage five, and then they get to use historical data instead of just projections. What does this mean? It means, well, maybe we plan to spend 10K on marketing this year, but what we actually spent was 15. It means that maybe we plan to finance a van. This came up with one of our great clients and future podcast guests, Eric, just the other day. Maybe we planned to finance a van, but in the end, even following the smart guy's van guide, another tool you could grab in the app, guys. Even following that, he said to me, you know, I just didn't see the right financing deal. So we bought cash. It's like, okay, was that cash in your growth amounts in your calculator, though? If it wasn't, do you perceive doing this again next year? And he goes, Yeah, I think we will. So it's like, okay, well, if you're going to buy cash again, why don't we just budget for that? So that the money's adding up instead of having to deplete profit to pay for that van. That is what I call stage five, Joe. We're past the fear, we're past the price shock, and we're now in control, like driving an automobile, but now we have power steering. We have actual control to keep this thing on the road. What are your thoughts on stage five, brother?
SPEAKER_01:Stay five, emotionally, I think, is confidence because you've seen it work in your area with your clients. Like I remember when we went from 165, we didn't believe it. So we went to 200 and I was shakingly giving the number and people were buying. So then we went to 250 and then they were buying, and then 300, and then they were buying. So by the time we got to 385, it was like, I don't care if we have to raise it to 450, we're still gonna have clients who want to do it. So the confidence that came attached to the voice when we were asking for the sale was so much higher because at stage five, you believe it because you've seen it. And seeing is believing for a lot of people. Not everyone has faith. So sometimes you gotta get to stage five in order to actually do it.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, I would agree. Wholeheartedly, man. You guys watching this, let us know by commenting down below. Are you in stage one, two, three, four, or five? What do you think? Stage fibers, high five. Everyone looking to get there, we're here for you. Grab those tools, give them a run through, put your numbers in, see what it comes out as. And if you have any price shock, if you have any concerns, then just join us in the app. We're doing a Monday QA every single week. Joe and I, you have access to us. You can come drop into that weekly little QA and actually ask questions, get help, and we'll help you overcome it personally. Please take advantage of this stuff, guys. We're here to serve you at the highest level. Just helping electricians who want to succeed in business, do so through service. This can be as simple as just upping your value and doing some math. After all, success is just good math where we follow the formula and show the work. Joe, any closing thoughts today?
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, just I want to say thank you to everyone who's listening because by you being here at this point of the podcast, it means that you also have faith. And I want to reward you for that. And just say if you continue investing it in a proving process, it is going to lead you to a better place. And I am incredibly honored to help guide you there. Love it. Cheers, guys. We'll see you in the loop next week.
