A commercial electrical project manager owns the paperwork, dates and money on a set of building jobs, from award to closeout. They get gear ordered in time, keep the utility and the engineer moving, and make sure every change is priced and billed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, electrical contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $73,110, middle half $91,490 to $144,780, 90th percentile $186,150. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Operations Manager
Department
Operations
Schedule
Weekdays, office and job site meetings · A weekly meeting at each job, longer days near deadlines, and some nights or weekends for shutdowns and cutovers
Also called
Electrical project manager · Construction project manager · Job manager
You'll run commercial electrical projects for general contractors and owners, from buyout to closeout. You manage submittals for gear and fixtures, RFIs, change orders and pay applications, coordinate with the other trades, and schedule utility service, inspections and startup testing. The Field Supervisor runs the electricians on site; you run the contract, the schedule and the money.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Buy out each job: confirm scope, set up the budget and schedule of values, and release gear, fixture and material orders.
Prepare and track submittals for switchgear, panelboards, lighting and controls, and chase ship dates on long-lead gear.
Write RFIs on design conflicts and missing information, and track the engineer's answers.
Price change orders and turn time-and-material tickets into signed change orders so all added work gets billed.
Coordinate ceiling space, sleeves and schedules with the general contractor and the mechanical, plumbing and fire protection trades.
Schedule utility service, rough-in, above-ceiling and final inspections, plus gear testing, fire alarm interface tests and lighting control checks with the commissioning agent.
Submit monthly pay applications, track retainage, and deliver closeout: as-builts, O&M manuals, test reports and warranties.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Attend the general contractor's coordination meeting and report our progress and needs.
Update the submittal, RFI and change order logs.
Review labor hours against budget with the Field Supervisor, and plan crew size for the next [two] weeks with the Operations Manager.
Walk the job to see what's ready for inspection and what's blocked by other trades.
Follow up with the distributor on gear and fixture ship dates.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Labor hours used against the labor budget: [your target].
Time-and-material tickets turned into signed change orders: [your target].
Gear and fixture submittals approved on first review: [your target].
Pay applications in by the general contractor's monthly cutoff: [your target].
Closeout packages accepted by the general contractor on first submittal: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years as a project manager or assistant project manager for a commercial electrical contractor.
Can read electrical drawings, one-line diagrams, panel schedules and specs.
Experience with submittals, RFIs, change orders, schedules of values and pay applications.
Working knowledge of the NEC and how commercial electrical inspections work in your area.
Comfortable in [your project management software] and a scheduling tool such as [your scheduling software].
6. Preferred Experience
Field background as a licensed electrician on commercial work.
NFPA 70E electrical safety training and OSHA 30.
Experience with lighting controls, generator and transfer switch startups, or fire alarm interfaces.
Experience with prevailing wage or public work and certified payroll.
7. Physical Requirements
Walk active sites, climb ladders and lifts, and check work above ceilings and in electrical rooms.
Carry plans, a laptop and testing equipment up to [25] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Office and field split, with weekly site meetings at each active job.
Regular hours: [7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday], with extra time near deadlines.
Some night or weekend work for shutdowns and utility cutovers.
Active construction sites with energized gear nearby, so PPE rules apply on every walk.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new project manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What a commercial electrical project manager keeps moving
An electrical subcontractor gets paid through the general contractor, waits on the engineer, and needs the utility for power. The project manager keeps all three moving on every job at once.
Long-lead gear goes first
Switchboards, panelboards and transformers can take months to arrive after they're ordered. The project manager counts back from the day the electrical room must be live. Those submittals go out before fixtures and devices, and the order goes in the day the engineer sends them back. Any notes the engineer marked on the approved copy go into that order, not into a drawer.
The utility runs its own review
The utility designs its side of a new service and has its own rules for the transformer pad, conduit, meter equipment and access. It often wants load figures early, too. The project manager opens that request at buyout and sends the utility's rules to the engineer and the foreman. In many places the utility connects only after the inspector releases the service, so book both early. A late utility date can leave a finished building dark.
Fixtures and controls have to match
The light fixtures and the lighting controls often come from different makers. If the drivers dim one way and the controls send another kind of signal, rooms won't dim or turn off as designed. That shows up in testing at the very end. So before ordering either, the project manager lays the fixture and control submittals side by side and asks the engineer early about any mismatch.
A missing job class needs a conformance
On a Davis-Bacon job, read the wage determination at buyout. If your crews will do work no listed class covers, raise it with the contracting agency early. The agency sends the proposed class and rate to DOL's Wage and Hour Division for a decision. Whatever rate comes back is owed from the first day anyone did that work, so a late request turns into back pay. Each affected worker gets a copy of the decision, or it's posted with the wage determination. Source: 29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(iii): Davis-Bacon conformance of added classifications (eCFR).
The ceiling is shared space
In a crowded ceiling, expect duct to get first claim because it's the biggest, then pipe that has to slope. Conduit fills what's left, and cable tray needs room to be reached. The project manager takes part in the general contractor's coordination drawings and gets routes signed off before crews hang pipe. Otherwise a finished run may have to come down when the duct arrives.
How much commercial electrical project managers make
The closest BLS group for commercial electrical project managers is construction managers. Construction managers who work for electrical contractors earned a median of $114,450 a year ($55.02 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $114,990 median for construction managers in all industries. About 21,840 of the 380,360 construction managers in that survey work for electrical contractors.
Pay a salary. If you add a bonus, one option is to base it on fade or gain: the change between a job's bid margin and its final margin, measured job by job.
Electrical contractors
$114,450$114,450 median Middle half $91,490–$144,780 10th–90th $73,110–$186,150
All industries
$114,990$114,990 median Middle half $88,550–$151,640 10th–90th $69,690–$189,440
$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k$175k$200k$225k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Electrical contractors
$73,110
$91,490
$114,450
$144,780
$186,150
All industries
$69,690
$88,550
$114,990
$151,640
$189,440
BLS reports residential and commercial electrical contractors together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has run commercial electrical jobs as a project manager or assistant project manager
Reads a lighting control diagram and fixture schedule well enough to spot a mismatch
Keeps submittal, RFI and change order logs current without reminders
Prices changes from your labor units and gets them signed
Holds a general contractor to the contract in writing without burning the relationship
Teach these on the job
Where your job cost reports come from and how often they update
Who to call at each utility, and what its service design rules ask for
The labor units your estimators use
Wage determinations and certified payroll on public jobs
What your company sends the general contractor at closeout
Commercial electrical project managers work in project software for submittals and RFIs, PDF markup for drawings, the estimating program for pricing changes, and the job cost reports from accounting. Ask finalists which estimating programs they've priced changes in, since labor units differ from one to the next.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Turning tickets into change orders
Your foreman has a stack of unsigned time-and-material tickets from the last month. What do you do?
A strong answer: Gets them signed quickly, prices them, submits change orders with backup, tracks approvals, and sets a rule that tickets get signed the same day.
Behavioral · Labor budget
Tell me about a commercial electrical job where you caught labor running over budget.
A strong answer: Caught it early with weekly reviews, found causes, pursued change orders for others' delays, adjusted the crew plan, and explains the result.
Look at these monthly while a job is open, when there's still time to act. A fair target comes from your own closed jobs, not a number from another contractor.
Labor hours used against the labor budget
Hours charged to each cost code against the hours budgeted for the work installed so far, not against the job's total. Review the codes running over with the foreman each week.
Time-and-material tickets turned into signed change orders
Tickets that became signed change orders, out of all tickets written, plus the value still waiting. Age each open ticket in weeks so old ones get chased first.
Gear and fixture submittals approved on first review
Submittals returned approved, or approved as noted, with no resubmittal, as a share of all sent. Log each rejection's reason, such as a wrong voltage or a fixture substitute.
Pay applications in by the general contractor's monthly cutoff
Count the months each job's pay application reached the general contractor complete and before the cutoff. When one misses, record whether the holdup was the progress count, a change order or a lien waiver.
Closeout packages accepted by the general contractor on first submittal
Closeout packages accepted with nothing sent back, out of all submitted. List what came back most often, like a missing test report or a warranty letter with the wrong start date.
Career path
Field supervisorRuns a crew and learns how labor budgets and schedules hold up.
Assistant project managerWrites submittals and logs RFIs on one or two jobs while learning to price changes.
Project managerOwns the contract, dates and money on several building jobs.
General managerLeads the project managers and decides which jobs to bid.
What does buying out a commercial electrical job involve?
It's the first few weeks after award, when the bid becomes orders and a plan. Release the switchgear and fixture packages first, since they take longest to build. Lock wire pricing with the distributor, sign up any low-voltage, trenching or testing subs, and open the utility's service request. Then draft the schedule of values for the general contractor to approve before the first bill.
How much does a commercial electrical project manager make?
Construction managers who work for electrical contractors earned a median of $114,450 a year ($55.02 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $91,490 and $144,780 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Who prices change orders, the project manager or the estimator?
Keep small and routine changes with the project manager, priced from the same labor units the bid used, so the numbers line up. Large ones, like a new floor of tenant space, go back to the estimator. Either way, the price shows labor, material, equipment and markup on separate lines, and it goes to the general contractor while the work is still fresh.
What does a project manager bring to the general contractor's coordination meeting?
A short list: electricians on site this week and next, work finished since the last meeting, what's blocking the crew and who can clear it, coming inspections, and any RFIs or submittals the general contractor is holding. Ask that each item land in the minutes. Those minutes become the record if a delay claim comes up later.
What goes into a cutover plan?
A cutover moves a building's loads from old gear to new, often overnight. Write it as numbered steps: each switch and breaker in order, who operates it, and how long each area stays dark. Before loads go back on, the crew checks that the new gear's phase rotation matches the old, so fans and pumps don't run backward. Name the point where you stop and put the old gear back if the night runs long. Get the general contractor's and owner's sign-off, then walk it with the crew.
