Overview
Industrial electrical work runs at higher voltage, longer hours, and bigger compliance, and the quote has to look like it
Industrial electricians work where domestic electricians don't: factories, processing plants, manufacturing lines, warehouses, data centres, water treatment, food production. The voltage is often three-phase or high-voltage (415V, 11kV), the load is large machinery and motor control centres, and the work is regulated under codes that domestic sparks don't deal with daily. Shutdowns are scheduled around production windows that can't slip, and a failed re-commissioning costs the customer a shift of lost output. A flat 'industrial electrical, $4,800' quote that doesn't show the shutdown plan, the qualified operators, and the testing regime doesn't survive a facilities-manager review.
QuoteGenio gives industrial electricians a quoting shape built for industrial environments. Survey and method statement as the first line, shutdown plan with the customer's production manager, qualified electricians by HV or LV competence, motor control work and drive servicing, panel build or modification, cabling at industrial spec, testing and commissioning with the certificates named, and out-of-hours premium for night and weekend shutdowns. Send via email or WhatsApp to the facilities or maintenance contact, take a deposit on bigger installs, raise progress invoices through phases, and the final invoice closes with the test certificates filed against the maintenance log.
Who it is for
Who uses QuoteGenio
Built for every type of industrial electrical contractor working on plant, process, and production sites.
The problem
The quoting problems every industrial electrician knows
Production downtime is expensive and procurement teams move on paperwork, not promises. Slow quotes cost you the job before the meeting ends.
Procurement waits days for a quote
Plant managers need numbers fast. If your quote sits in your inbox overnight, the PO goes to the contractor who replied within the hour.
Quotes don't match procurement formats
Industrial buyers want itemised labour, materials, panel work, and commissioning broken out cleanly. Bundled quotes get rejected and rewritten.
Shutdown windows shrink your margin
Quoting a 36-hour shutdown is a different game to a domestic job. Miss a line and you're absorbing standby crew costs out of your own pocket.
The fix
QuoteGenio fixes that
A structured quoting workflow that handles shutdown premiums, panel work, PLC labour, and commissioning in the format industrial procurement actually expects.
The payoff
What you get with QuoteGenio
The everyday wins that add up across a year of quoting and invoicing.
Built for industrial electrical work
Line items for standard labour, shutdown premium, PLC specialist time, panel build, commissioning, and consumables. Structured the way buyers expect.
Handles shutdown pricing
Layer standard, after-hours, and shutdown rates on the same quote. Standby and call-out lines never get forgotten.
Works from your phone on site
No laptop on the plant floor. Build and send a procurement-ready PDF from your phone before you walk back to the gate.
Professional every time
Your logo, your terms, your VAT line. Every quote looks like it came from a contractor who handles million-rand projects.
Built for your trade
Quoting calibrated to how industrial electricians actually work
Pick your trade in Settings and the entire quote flow switches to fit. Line item presets, compliance fields, on-the-quote calculators, and per-m² / after-hours pricing all change to match your industry.
Trade-specific line items
Quick add picker pre-fills the common items your trade quotes. Skip the blank rows.
Brand-specific catalogues
Pylontech, Hikvision, Canadian Solar, Sunsynk and others pre-named. Pick the brand, the description writes itself.
Compliance fields built in
IOPSA, ECASA, PIRB, PSIRA, NHBRC, SAQCC. Set once. Every quote prints them under FROM.
Registration expiry alerts
Dashboard notification 60 days before your PSIRA, CoC or any dated registration lapses.
Per-m² / hour / day billing
Unit selector on every line item: m², hr, linear m, days. Stop doing the maths externally.
After-hours and emergency
1.5× and 2× multipliers as a one-tap toggle. Customer sees the breakdown on the quote.
Quote-flow calculators
Solar size, battery backup, cable run cost. Compute on the spot, drop straight onto the quote.
Staged payments
Deposit on acceptance + balance on completion as two separate amounts on the quote PDF.
Scope-of-work checklist
Structured Included / Not included lists. Client acceptance = signing the scope.
Site-survey mode
Log a location per line item: camera positions, fixtures by room, sensors by zone.
Regional rate hints
Pricing ranges per item per currency shown as you quote.
Free on every plan
All of the above included on the free plan. Premium is for capacity, not the trade tooling.
Why QuoteGenio
Why Industrial Electricians choose QuoteGenio
The tools that matter most when you are quoting on-site, under pressure, and between jobs.
Quote from your phone
Most Industrial Electricians build and send quotes directly from the job site. No laptop, no office, no delays.
Win more jobs, faster
The first professional quote a client receives usually wins. Respond in minutes, not hours.
Quote to invoice in one click
When the job is accepted, convert to an invoice instantly. No retyping, no double entry.
Pricing guide
Typical Industrial Electricians job pricing
A rough guide to what industrial electrical contractors charge for common scopes. Pricing shifts by region, plant access, voltage, and shutdown timing. Use these as a sanity check when you build your own rate card, not as fixed numbers.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Standard industrial electrical labour (per hour) | R1,240 - R2,479 |
| Shutdown / after-hours premium labour (per hour) | R2,314 - R4,297 |
| PLC specialist time (per hour) | R2,644 - R5,289 |
| Motor install and termination (up to 22kW) | R14,048 - R39,665 |
| VSD installation and configuration | R19,832 - R62,803 |
| MCC panel modification (per starter) | R15,701 - R42,970 |
| Planned shutdown crew (8 hour window, 4 techs) | R107,426 - R231,378 |
Pricing converted from USD to ZAR at indicative rates. Rates vary significantly by country, region, currency, and market.
Call-out fees
Industrial call-outs typically run R1,240 to R2,479 per hour during normal hours, with a 1.75x to 2x premium for shutdowns and after-hours. Add a separate standby line so procurement sees that crew time on site is paid time, even when production is still running.
Hourly vs fixed pricing
Use hourly rates (R1,240 to R2,479) for fault-finding, breakdown work, and unscoped labour. Use fixed pricing for known scopes like motor swaps, VSD installs, and panel modifications. PLC and instrumentation specialist time should always carry its own premium hourly line.
See it in action
Example quote breakdown
Here's what a clean shutdown quote looks like for a motor and drive upgrade. Every cost is broken out: mobilisation, hardware, shutdown labour, PLC integration, and consumables. Procurement teams accept quotes faster when the structure matches the way they cost projects.
Try it yourself
Job size
Region
Sample quote
Planned shutdown: motor swap and VSD upgrade, 22kW
Mobilisation and site induction
22kW motor (premium efficiency, IE3)
VSD (22kW, IP54) and configuration
Shutdown labour (4 techs x 8 hrs)
PLC integration and commissioning
Cable, glands, marshalling and consumables
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobilisation and site induction | 1 | R4,628 | R4,628 |
| 22kW motor (premium efficiency, IE3) | 1 | R30,575 | R30,575 |
| VSD (22kW, IP54) and configuration | 1 | R39,665 | R39,665 |
| Shutdown labour (4 techs x 8 hrs) | 32 | R2,727 / hr | R87,263 |
| PLC integration and commissioning | 4 | R3,966 / hr | R15,866 |
| Cable, glands, marshalling and consumables | 1 | R10,247 | R10,247 |
| Subtotal | R188,243 | ||
| Tax (10%) | R18,824 | ||
| Total incl. tax | R207,067 | ||
Totals recalculate as you change the controls above. Tax rate inferred from the sample quote.
Items often forgotten
Site induction time, lockout tags, megger and earth-loop testing, scaffolding or MEWP hire, second-trip commissioning, as-built drawing updates, and the standby technician for the first production run. Add these to your shutdown template once and they will never fall off a quote again.
Peer snapshot
How Industrial Electricians actually use QuoteGenio
Indicative activity for Industrial Electricians on the platform. Use it as a benchmark for how often to quote and how fast to respond.
16
Quotes sent per month
48%
Average quote acceptance
4 min
Median time to send quote
R207,067
Typical quote value
Figures are indicative platform averages for this trade segment.
Start quoting Industrial Electrician jobs like this, free
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Avoid these
Common quoting mistakes
We talk to a lot of industrial electricians. The same shutdown and pricing mistakes come up again and again. Fix these and you will protect your margin on every plant job.
Mistake: Quoting shutdown labour at standard rates
Better: Build a separate shutdown rate (1.75x to 2x) into your template. Production windows are a different product to daytime maintenance, and procurement expects to see a premium line.
Mistake: Bundling PLC time into general labour
Better: List PLC and instrumentation hours as their own line at a specialist rate. It justifies the cost and stops a buyer querying why your hourly rate looks high.
Mistake: Forgetting mobilisation on remote sites
Better: Add a fixed mobilisation line for travel, induction, and tool transport. On a plant 200km away that single line can cover an entire day of crew time.
Mistake: No standby line for production runs
Better: After commissioning you usually stay for the first production run. Quote it as a separate standby line by the hour so you are not absorbing it.
Mistake: Ignoring as-built and documentation time
Better: Schematic mark-ups, panel labels, and updated drawings take real hours. List 'documentation and handover' as its own line, even if it's only 4 hours.
Mistake: Verbal scope changes during a shutdown
Better: Issue a variation quote on your phone before doing extra scope. QuoteGenio's online accept link gives you written approval in minutes, even at 2am on the plant floor.
Mistake: No expiry on heavy-equipment quotes
Better: Set a 14 day validity. Drives, motors, and switchgear pricing moves with import costs and exchange rates, and an open-ended quote can wipe out your margin.
Mistake: No follow-up after sending the quote
Better: Most quotes that don't close, don't close because nobody followed up. Send a polite check-in 48 hours after the quote lands, and a second nudge at day 7. Two of every three accepted quotes get there because someone followed up.
Step by step
How to quote industrial electrical jobs
Walk the plant with the maintenance manager and the PLC engineer before you put a number on paper. Identify the motor kW rating, the existing starter or VSD make and model, the MCC panel layout, and the PLC platform (Siemens S7, Allen-Bradley, Schneider) because each carries a different specialist labour rate. Check cable routes, containment, earthing paths, and the available isolation points, because a motor swap on a 22 kW drive that shares a common bus with other loads needs a full shutdown rather than a local isolation. Photograph the existing drawings and panel schedules on site because as-found rarely matches the latest record drawing, and a mismatch on commissioning day is what turns a clean 8-hour shutdown into a 36-hour overrun.
Itemise labour by rate tier, not as a single 'electrical labour' line. Show standard industrial labour at $ 75 to $ 150 per hour, shutdown and after-hours labour at 1.75x to 2x standard, and PLC specialist time at $ 160 to $ 320 per hour as its own line because PLC, SCADA, and instrumentation work carries higher skill and higher risk. Quote mobilisation and site induction as a fixed line (covering crew travel, induction, LOTO tag setup, and tool transport), list the motor or VSD as a priced hardware line with the specific model (IE3 efficiency, IP54 rating), add PLC integration and commissioning hours, a cable, glands and marshalling consumables line, and a standby line for the first production run. Add an as-built drawing update and documentation line because schematic mark-ups take real hours.
Set a 14 day validity on every shutdown quote because drives, motors, switchgear, and imported panel components move with the exchange rate and supplier lead times, and an open-ended quote can wipe out the margin overnight. Procurement expects a written PO before any mobilisation, so state your payment terms clearly: typically 30 percent deposit on accepted PO to cover hardware ordering, balance net 30 days from commissioning sign-off. Call out that shutdown labour assumes the agreed production window and that overrun beyond the window triggers a variation at shutdown rates. Include a warranty line stating the labour warranty period (12 months on electrical work, pass-through on manufacturer hardware warranties) so procurement closes out the job without chasing you on nuisance recalls.
Email the branded PDF to procurement within the same working day as the scoping meeting, because plant managers need numbers to raise a PO and a quote sitting in your inbox overnight loses to the contractor who replied within the hour. Send it to procurement and the maintenance manager on the same thread, then follow up after two working days with a short call offering to walk the commissioning scope through in person, because buyers accept shutdown quotes faster when they have been through the LOTO plan and the hot-run sequence in conversation. On scope changes during a live shutdown at 2am, build the variation quote on your phone, get the plant manager to accept it through the online link before you do the extra work, and convert the accepted quote to an invoice the moment the PO lands.
FAQ
Common questions from industrial electricians
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Yes. Add separate line items for standard labour, shutdown labour, and PLC specialist time. You can layer as many rate tiers on a single quote as the job needs.
Yes. Send the PDF as an email attachment or share the unique quote link. Procurement teams can open it on any device and forward it internally without needing an account.
Each line item has its own description, quantity, and rate. Group labour, panel materials, hardware, and commissioning however the buyer wants to see it.
Yes. Every quote has a unique public link. Procurement can accept it on their device, which gives you written approval before you mobilise.
Yes. Convert any accepted quote to an invoice with one click. All line items carry across, so there is no double entry once the PO lands.
Yes. The free plan gives you 5 quotes and 2 invoices per month with no credit card required. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited quotes, invoices, statements, and reports.
Planned shutdowns are quoted as a fixed package: mobilisation, crew hours at shutdown rate, materials, commissioning, and standby. Breakdown call-outs are quoted hourly at a premium rate plus a fixed call-out fee. Keep two templates ready so you can respond in minutes either way.
Yes. PLC, SCADA, and instrumentation work needs a specialist rate (often 1.5x to 2x standard electrical labour) because the skill set is rarer and the risk is higher. List it as its own line so procurement understands what they are paying for.
Issue a variation quote on the spot using QuoteGenio on your phone. Get the plant manager or buyer to accept it via the online link before you do the extra work. This protects you when the invoice goes back to head office.
Travel time for the crew, induction, tool and equipment transport, accommodation if applicable, and a small contingency for delays at the gate. On a remote site this can easily run to a full crew day, so quote it visibly rather than hiding it in labour.
Still have questions? We would rather answer them now than after you have signed up.
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Guides
Guides for Industrial Electricians
Practical advice to help you quote better, get paid faster, and grow your business.
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