8 Electrician side hustles for extra income

Here are some ideas on how to make extra money as an electrician.

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Extra income is always welcome even if you earn well as an electrician — especially if you have spare time on weekends or after you finish your workday. Side hustles can help you make ends meet when your main business is slow. What’s more, side gigs can go towards your savings or hone new skills.

You may ask, what are good side hustles for electricians and what are different ways to use your electrical skills for extra income. Find some electrician side hustle ideas in this guide.

Lighting installation

Female electrician installing light fitting on ceiling

This is one in-demand and lucrative side job for electricians. Nowadays, homeowners like to have their homes renovated and have new kitchens, bathrooms, or bedrooms built or rebuilt. Some homeowners also opt to make outdoor living spaces in their backyard or patio, so they’ll need an expert to install new lighting.  

Smart home setup

More and more appliances are becoming “smart” and able to connect to the internet. And many homeowners want to synchronise their devices and shift to cost-efficient solutions.Woman connecting smart home application, Smart home setup side job for electricians

To offer this service, you’ll need to know how to set up and integrate smart devices like smart thermostats, smart TVs, smart refrigerators, and smart LED lights. Smart home setups usually involve pairing these devices with apps like Google, Siri, or Alexa.

The Internet of Things is predicted to become the next big thing. So, there’s much potential for this electrical side work to become a lucrative career! 

Small appliance repair

Young man electrician repairing microwave oven on kitchen counter

Some homeowners can be nostalgic, frugal, want to avoid creating more electronic waste, or all three. That’s why there can be a demand for experts who can fix small appliances.

With this service, you can spare customers the hassle and cost of buying new electronics. With your working knowledge, fixing small appliances like toasters, fans, and mixers can be an easy side hustle.

Electrical supervisor

Another profitable (and not to mention interesting!) electrical gig is that of an electrical foreman. Note that you should have the requisite experience apart from your electrician’s certifications to get this job.

Electrical supervisor testing electronics, electrical installation system

This is a supervisory job where you can be tasked to inspect and test light fixtures, circuit breakers, electrical wiring, fire alarms, smoke detectors and other vital electrical features in a home or commercial establishment. This can also include scheduling tasks, advising workers, and making sure that the project stays within budget and is on schedule.

Depending on the scope of the job, this can even be a part-time electrical side job you can do from home!  

Electrical maintenance technician 

As an electrician who does maintenance tasks part-time, you can hire out your services to property managers or owners of commercial buildings. This electrician side hustle entails routine maintenance checks of electrical wiring, maintenance, and repairing any damaged wiring or electrical components.  

Installing cables

You can do cable installation, whether it’s installing cables for a CCTV security system, cable TV and high-speed internet, hooking up sound and video for a home entertainment centre, or even setting up a home network.

Electrician installing CCTV camera on wall outside a house

This can be a lucrative gig that won’t lack demand since most internet and cable companies outsource installation work to third parties.You can offer your services to install cables directly to homeowners or business owners. Or, apply to local internet companies as a third-party supplier to hook their subscribers up. 

You may find a gig like this easier since you’re already familiar with most of the safety standards for installing electrical wiring. 

DIY store partnership

Another profitable side gig for electricians is to partner with your neighbourhood DIY centre. These specialty stores keep a list of independent contractors to help their customers with their DIY projects – you can be on that list and make extra income! 

Journeyman electrician 

As a journeyman electrician, you can work as an independent contractor that tackles a variety of complex side jobs for electricians. While you work your way to the rank of master electrician, you can work on residential or commercial projects.

If you go the residential route, your side jobs can include repairing or replacing faulty wiring and electrical components and installing the wiring in home construction or renovation. 

For commercial work, you can be called upon to install, repair and maintain electrical systems in buildings or other commercial/industrial structures like oil rigs, shipyards, mines, power plants or manufacturing facilities. 

Earn extra income as an electrician on Airtasker.

Finding clients is one of your biggest challenges as an electrician looking for profitable side gigs. But don’t sweat it; Airtasker can help! You can use our platform to connect with homeowners, property managers, or basically anyone else in need of your electrical services. Sign up on Airtasker now to start finding side hustles near you!

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FAQs on electrical jobs

Yes, electricians can make a lot of money, especially master electricians. But it can take at least 7 years to reach that level. Depending on your state, you may need a lot of experience and training under another master electrician and then pass a series of examinations before you can call yourself a master. To maximise your income, you can also do side gigs apart from your regular electrician job.

Electrical side job pricing depends on the complexity of the job, the time it takes to do the job and your level of skill and experience. If you have to buy any of the materials like wiring, plugs, switches or outlets, you can add a 20% markup to cover your labour, travel time, and travel expenses. Note that the average rate for electricians is $33 per hour, according to Payscale.com.

Electrical rewiring costs range from $2,000 to $12,000. Rates may vary depending on the house size, how complex it is to rewire the house, and if your client wants it done quickly. The price increases if the house is larger and wires are more complex to install. That is if you have to drill through many walls and install a lot of outlets, switches, and junction boxes. 

Yes, in fact, there is a massive shortage of electricians in Australia. By 2026, the demand for electricians is projected to grow by 10%, resulting in 156,700 skilled workers. Much of the demand for new electricians comes as a result of workers shifting to other occupations, not many people wanting to choose this as a career, and some electricians reaching retirement age. So if you want to become an electrician, there’s plenty of room!

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