FREE ELECTRICAL WORK ORDER TEMPLATE
Free electrical work order template — the sheet the electrician takes to the job
An electrical work order in Word and PDF, filled in for a 200 A panel upgrade: permit and inspection first, the panel named, parts and labor on their own lines, the power-off window and the utility booking, a completion block — every line explained, with the invoice it turns into.
Word and PDF · Free · No email, no sign-up
The short answer
An electrical work order is the instruction to do one job: who it's for, where, when, exactly what work and what parts, by whom — with the permit, the power-off window and the utility booking on it. It needs a work order number and date, the quote number, the customer and the job site with the existing and new panel named, the schedule and the electrician, the permit number, every task and part on its own line, what's not included, and a completion block: who did it, when, time on site, every circuit labeled, the inspection result, photos.
It sits between the quote and the invoice. On a panel upgrade the three carry the same lines — the permit, the labor, the panel, the breakers and grounding, the surge protector — so when the work order is the accepted quote written for the electrician, the invoice bills exactly what was quoted and done.
Write it for the electrician who didn't do the site visit. “Panel and meter on the north garage wall, 100 A, 24-space, aluminum service conductors, utility disconnect booked 7:30, customer clearing the freezer” gets the job done the way it was sold. “Panel upgrade” gets a phone call from the driveway.
FREE TEMPLATE · WORD AND PDF
The electrical work order template, filled in
Below is the template filled in for Current Electric LLC, a fictional electrical business — the same one whose invoice our electrical invoice template draws, so you can see the invoice is written from this work order, line for line. The download is the same work order with [bracketed] lines to replace — free, no email address, no sign-up.
Example · fictional business
Current Electric LLC Phoenix, AZ (602) 555-0184 · office@currentelectric.example License # ROC 000000 (example) | WORK ORDER |
Customer Tomás Herrera 4218 E Cactus Rd Phoenix, AZ (602) 555-0199 · home both days | Job site / panel Same address · panel and meter on the north wall of the garage Existing: 100 A panel, 24-space, no main-breaker label · aluminum service conductors New: 200 A, 40-space panel with main breaker and a new meter base — per quote 3088 Utility: APS disconnect booked 7:30 am Oct 7, reconnect after the rough inspection call Driveway parking. Customer will move the freezer contents before 7 am. |
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permit and inspection City of Phoenix electrical permit, final inspection passed | 1 | $185.00 | $185.00 |
| Labor — panel and meter base replacement Flat rate: disconnect, new base and panel, re-land circuits, label, test | 1 | $1,450.00 | $1,450.00 |
| 200 A panel, 40-space, with main breaker Model and serial on the panel label | 1 | $395.00 | $395.00 |
| Breakers, grounding electrode and wire 22 breakers, two AFCI, ground rods, service conductors | 1 | $310.00 | $310.00 |
| Surge protector — whole-home Customer option, added at the panel | 1 | $165.00 | $165.00 |
| Subtotal | $2,505.00 | ||
| Sales tax, 8% on parts (example) | $69.60 | ||
| Total | $2,574.60 | ||
| Deposit received, Oct 1 | −$800.00 | ||
| Balance to collect on completion | $1,774.60 | ||
Work requested
Replace the 100 A panel and meter base with 200 A; re-land and label every circuit; new grounding electrode system; add the whole-home surge protector the customer chose on quote 3088; coordinate the utility disconnect and reconnect; call for the final inspection. Power is off for about five hours on day one.
Not included — quote separately
Repairs to existing branch wiring found not to code once the panel is open, drywall patching where the old panel comes out, new circuits beyond the quote. Show the customer, quote it, then continue.
Materials to load
200 A 40-space panel and main breaker (model on the quote), 22 breakers including two AFCI, meter base, service conductors, two ground rods and the grounding electrode conductor, surge protector, circuit labels, connectors.
Power-off window and utility
APS disconnect 7:30 am Oct 7; reconnect after the rough inspection call. Tell the customer the night before; fridge and freezer stay closed. Note the actual off and on times here: ______ / ______
Completion
Completed by ____________ Date ______ · Time on site ______ · Every circuit labeled ☐ · Panel photos before and after ☐ · Inspection result ______ · Permit card on the panel door ☐
Every figure on the example is an example, not a price guide. The Word file is a standard .docx you can edit in Word, Google Docs or any app that opens Word documents; the PDF prints as-is for a clipboard. Prices are optional on a work order — leave the money columns blank on an internal one.
The quote before, the invoice after
Start your electrical website — quotes and invoices are built in
Add your business name and your town, and Zarla builds your electrical website from this one line. The same dashboard sends the quote this work order comes from and the invoice it turns into — Zarla doesn't make work orders, so the template above fills the gap between them.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
LINE BY LINE
What goes on an electrical work order
Every line on the template, in order, and what to write on it.
| The line | What to put there |
|---|---|
| The words Work Order | At the top, so nobody files it as a quote or pays it as an invoice. |
| Your business details and license | Business name, phone, email and your electrical license number — most states want it on the paperwork, the inspector reads it, and the customer keeps this sheet. |
| Work order number, date, and the quote it comes from | A number that never repeats, the date you wrote it, and the quote the customer said yes to. Matching numbers across the quote, the work order and the invoice is what makes a job findable when the next electrician asks what was done. |
| Scheduled, assigned to, and the permit | The date, the start time and how long the power is off; the electrician; and the permit number with the inspection date — a panel change, a new circuit or a service upgrade needs both almost everywhere in the US. |
| Customer, and the job site with the panel | Who it's for and how to reach them on the day; where the panel and the meter are; the existing panel — size, spaces, conductors — and the new one by make, model and rating; the utility booking if the meter is pulled; parking, access, pets. |
| One line per task or part | The labor, the panel, the breakers and grounding, each device on its own line, in the same words as the quote, with quantities and gauges. Keep the prices if the customer gets a copy; blank them on an internal sheet. |
| Totals, deposit and the balance to collect | Subtotal, tax where it applies, the total, the deposit received when the quote was accepted, and what's left to collect when the inspection passes. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU show consumers prices that include the GST or VAT, and show the tax on the invoice the same way. Confirm the details with your accountant. |
| Work requested, and what's not included | The job in the customer's words, and the list of things that aren't part of it — existing wiring found not to code, drywall, extra circuits — so the electrician shows the customer and quotes it instead of doing a $400 favor. |
| Power-off window, and completion | When the power goes off and for how long, the utility's disconnect and reconnect times, who tells the customer; then who completed it, when, the time on site, every circuit labeled, the before-and-after photos and the inspection result. |
STEP BY STEP
How to write an electrical work order
Five minutes once the quote is accepted, before you pull the permit.
Start from the accepted quote
Copy its number, the customer and every line — the permit, the labor, the panel, the breakers and grounding, any option the customer ticked. If there was no quote, write the job in the customer's words first.
Pull the permit, book the utility, schedule it
The next work order number, today's date, the permit number as soon as you have it, the utility disconnect time if the meter is pulled, the work date and start time, the electrician's name.
Name the panel, old and new
What's there now — amperage, spaces, conductor type — and what's going in by make, model and rating. The electrician who knows the service conductors are aluminum brings the right lugs.
List parts and materials with quantities and gauges
Breakers by count and type, wire by gauge and length, ground rods, labels. Add the not-included list — wiring not to code, drywall, extra circuits — to quote separately if the electrician finds it.
Tell the customer about the power-off window
The date, the start time, who's coming and how long the power is off, in one message the night before, with a copy of the work order if they'd like one. Fridge and freezer stay closed.
Close it out, then invoice from it
The electrician labels every circuit, notes the time on site and the inspection result, photographs the panel before and after. The invoice is written from the completed work order the same day.
What an electrical work order carries that a generic one doesn't
The permit and the inspection, first. In the US most states and many cities license electricians and electrical businesses, and a panel change, a new circuit or a service upgrade needs a permit and an inspection almost everywhere. The permit number goes on the work order the day it's pulled; the inspection result goes in the completion block. The work order that shows both is the one a home inspector, an insurer and the next buyer trust. Check your state licensing board and your city's permit office.
The power-off window and the utility booking. A panel change means the meter comes out, and that's the utility's appointment, not yours. The time it's booked, how long the house is dark and who tells the customer go on the sheet — it's the line that stops the 7:15 call about the freezer.
The panel, named twice. What's there now — amperage, spaces, conductor type, what's unlabeled — and what's going in by make, model and rating. The existing conductors decide what the electrician loads; the new panel's model is what the next electrician works from.
Every circuit labeled is a line on the sheet. It's the part of a panel job customers notice for twenty years, and the part that gets skipped at 4 pm if it isn't written down. The completion block has a box for it.
The not-included list is where the margin lives. Branch wiring that isn't to code once the panel is open, a bonding jumper that's missing, drywall where the old panel came out. Written down before the job, they're extras the electrician shows the customer and quotes on the spot; discovered on the day with nothing written, they're a free afternoon.
One sheet for a service call too. A troubleshooting call's work order is the service call line, the hourly line with the minimum, the parts, and what the electrician found — written up on site. The same template with fewer rows, and it's what makes the hourly invoice easy to read.
Know your tax rules. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU show consumers prices that include the GST or VAT, and show the tax on the invoice the same way. Confirm the details with your accountant.
Quote it and bill it from Zarla; the electrical work order is the template above
Zarla doesn't make work orders. It makes the two documents either side of one — and if you send those from Zarla, the electrical work order is a two-minute job.
If your electrical website is on Zarla, the quoting tool sends the quote as a link: your customer picks an option, ticks any extras and accepts it online by typing their name, and Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for. Print or open the accepted quote and you have the work order's scope, line for line — copy it into the template above, add the schedule, the site notes and the crew, and that's the sheet for the day. When the work is done, the invoice is already drafted from the same lines; add anything the customer added on the day, and send it. On a paid plan, with your Stripe account connected, the invoice carries a pay-now button, so the customer can pay by card the day the work is done.
Want to see the website first? Browse electrical website templates or see how Zarla builds electrical websites. Still setting up? Read how to start an electrical business and write your electrical business plan; for the going rates, see how much an electrician charges per hour; to fill the calendar, SEO for electricians.
The whole paper trail for an electrical job: the electrical price list template → the electrical estimate template, then how to write a quote → this work order → the electrical invoice template → how to write a receipt. For any other trade, the free work order template has the same sheet with a painting job as the example, plus a maintenance work order for property and facilities work.
Electrical work orders: common questions
A document that describes one electrical job to be done: who it's for, where, when, exactly what work and what parts, and who's doing it — written the day the customer accepts the quote and taken to the job by the electrician, with the permit number and the power-off window on it. The invoice is written from the completed work order. Electricians also call it a job sheet or a service order.
The words Work Order; your business details and license number; a work order number and date, and the quote number; the schedule with the power-off window, the electrician and the permit number; the customer and the job site with the existing and new panel named and the utility booking; the labor and every part on its own line with quantities and gauges (and prices, if the customer gets a copy); what's not included; and a completion block — who did it, when, time on site, every circuit labeled, photos, the inspection result.
A work order says what work is to be done and is written before the job; an invoice says what was done and what's owed, and is written after. On a panel upgrade they carry the same lines — the invoice on our electrician invoice template is written from the work order on this page, with the dates of the work, the deposit taken off and anything added on the day.
An estimate or quote is the offer, written to win the customer — the job, the lines, the prices, how long it holds. A work order is the instruction, written once the customer says yes — the same lines plus the permit, the schedule, the power-off window, the electrician and what to load. Our electrical estimate template covers the first; this page covers the second.
If the job needs a permit, yes — write it on the work order the day you pull it, and the inspection result in the completion block. In the US a panel change, a new circuit or a service upgrade needs a permit and an inspection almost everywhere; the sheet the electrician carries is where the inspector and the customer expect to see it. Check your city's permit office.
Yes — job sheet, service order and work order are the same document in different shops. Job sheet is the common name for a one-electrician business writing it up on site; work order for a shop that writes it in the office and hands it over. The template on this page works as either.
If the customer gets a copy, yes — the same lines and prices as the quote, with any deposit taken off and the balance to collect, so everyone is reading the same numbers, and the electrical invoice is written from it line for line. If it's an internal sheet for the crew and the customer already has the quote, leave the money columns blank: the crew needs the scope, not the margin.
Yes. The electrical work order template downloads free as a Word document and a PDF — no email address, no sign-up. Edit the Word file in Word, Google Docs or any app that opens Word documents, or print the PDF and fill it in by hand. There's no Excel version; a work order is mostly words, and Word keeps the lines readable on a phone.
No. Zarla sends the quote before the job and the invoice after it, from the same dashboard as your electrical website: your customer accepts the quote online, Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for, and you send it when the work is done. The work order in between is this template — copy the accepted quote's lines into it, add the schedule and the site notes, and it's ready for the crew.
Quote it, do it, bill it — from your own electrical website
Add your business name and your town, and Zarla builds your electrical website from that one line — with quotes, invoices and receipts in the same dashboard. The work order in between is the free template above.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.