What is revenue per job and why does it matter for electricians?

Revenue per job is total job revenue divided by number of jobs completed in a period, and it's most useful when broken down by job type, service calls, small installs, larger fit-outs. Tracking it separately by type reveals whether your business is spending too much time on low-value callouts relative to higher-margin installation work, which affects both profitability and how you should be allocating your team's time.

What's a healthy materials-to-revenue ratio for an electrical business?

This varies significantly by job type, a service call with minimal parts might run 5-10% materials, while a full switchboard upgrade or solar install could run 40% or more. The useful KPI isn't a single target percentage but tracking the ratio consistently by job type over time, so a sudden increase (supplier price rises not passed through, wastage, or underquoting) gets caught early rather than discovered at tax time.

How is a callback rate calculated and why should electricians track it?

Callback rate is the percentage of completed jobs that require a follow-up visit to fix the original work, typically unbilled. A rising callback rate signals quality control issues that cost money twice, once for the original job and again for the free fix, and it's an early warning sign worth catching before it affects reputation and referral business.

What are debtor days and what's a reasonable target for electrical businesses?

Debtor days measure the average time between invoicing and payment being received. For electrical businesses with a mix of residential (fast-paying) and commercial or builder clients (slower-paying), a blended target of 15-25 days is common, though this depends heavily on client mix. Tracking it monthly, and by client type, shows whether slow payers are being chased effectively or simply absorbed as a cost of doing business.

Should KPIs be tracked per electrician/team or just business-wide?

Per-team or per-electrician tracking, where the business has multiple crews or employees, reveals productivity and quality differences that a business-wide average hides. A single underperforming crew (low revenue per job, high callback rate) can be masked by strong performers in a blended average, delaying the conversation that needs to happen with that specific team.

KPIs & Revenue Per Job for Melbourne Electricians

Published July 2026By True Tally Bookkeeping7 min read

A Full Diary Doesn't Mean a Profitable Business

Plenty of Melbourne electrical businesses run flat out, diary booked solid weeks in advance, phone ringing constantly, and still struggle with cash flow or can't work out why profit doesn't match the effort going in. The reason is usually that "busy" isn't being measured against the numbers that actually determine profitability: revenue per job, materials cost as a proportion of that revenue, how much rework is happening for free, and how long it takes to actually get paid. Without these tracked, a business can be genuinely busy and genuinely unprofitable at the same time.

Revenue Per Job, By Job Type, Not as One Blended Number

Revenue per job is simple to calculate but only useful when segmented. A blended average across service calls, small installs and larger commercial fit-outs hides the actual picture. Track it separately for:

Service and repair callouts, typically lower revenue, quick turnaround
Residential installs and upgrades, switchboard upgrades, EV charger installs, lighting fit-outs
Commercial and larger projects, higher revenue, longer timelines, different cash flow profile

If a business is spending most of its week on low-value callouts because that's what's filling the diary, while higher-margin install work goes to competitors, revenue-per-job data by category is what surfaces that pattern, a single blended number won't.

Most electrical businesses have the data, it's just not organised to answer the right question

We set up Xero tracking categories and monthly reporting so you can see revenue, materials and margin by job type, not just a single P&L number at the end of the quarter.

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Materials as a Percentage of Revenue

This ratio varies enormously by job type, a callout with a handful of parts might sit at 5-10%, while a switchboard upgrade or solar install could run 40% or higher. There's no single healthy target; the value is in tracking it consistently by job type so a sudden shift (a supplier price increase not passed on in quotes, materials wastage, or a pattern of underquoting) gets caught within a month or two, not discovered as a nasty surprise at tax time.

Callback Rate

Callback rate, the percentage of jobs requiring an unbilled follow-up visit to fix the original work, is a quality and cost signal in one number. Every callback is effectively a job done twice for the price of one, and a rising callback rate usually flags a specific cause: a particular electrician, a particular type of job, or a training gap. Left untracked, it quietly erodes margin and, over time, referral reputation.

Debtor Days

The average time between invoicing and payment received. Electrical businesses with a mixed client base, fast-paying residential customers alongside slower commercial or builder clients, should track this by client type as well as in aggregate. A blended target of 15-25 days is reasonable for most, but the number that matters most is the trend: is it improving as payment terms and reminder systems get tightened, or drifting out as slow payers get absorbed as background noise?

Per-Crew or Per-Electrician Breakdown

For any electrical business with more than one electrician or crew, the same KPIs broken down by team reveal what a business-wide average conceals. A strong-performing senior electrician can mask a struggling apprentice-led crew in a blended number, delaying a conversation about training, supervision or workload that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

True Tally Bookkeeping, Melbourne

We help Melbourne electrical businesses build monthly reporting around the KPIs that actually predict profitability, not just a P&L that arrives too late to act on.