electrical_contractor_paperwork v1.0.0

name: "electrical_contractor_paperwork" description: "Run the paperwork of an electrical contracting job before leaving the site: build a quote from a dated price list, get changes signed before the work, fill in the electrical safety forms on site, and check the final invoice against the quote with a script. Use when quoting or invoicing electrical work, writing a change order, completing a job briefing, lockout or energized work form, updating a panel directory, or closing out a job packet for a panel change, service call, or circuit addition."

Electrical Contractor Paperwork

Purpose

Finish the paperwork while the job is still in front of you. A quote built from a dated price list, a change signed before the work changes, safety forms filled in on site, and a final invoice that matches the quote line for line. Any item with no price, no source, or no signature stays visible as a flag. A flagged packet can be fixed the same day. A packet with a guessed fee, an unsigned add on, or a briefing form filled in later reads as complete and fails later, with the customer, the inspector, or after an incident.

This is process guidance, not electrical design, not code interpretation for a specific site, and not legal or tax advice. Licensed work, permits, and inspections follow the rules of the state and the local authority having jurisdiction for that job. Safety decisions belong to the qualified persons doing the work, under their employer written procedures.

Workflow

1. Start the packet at the quote, not at the invoice. One packet per job, named by job number, holding the quote, the price list page used, change orders, permit and inspection records, safety forms, test notes and photos, and the final invoice. A document that lives in a truck, a phone photo roll, or an email thread is not in the packet until it is filed under the job number.

1. Build the price list before quoting anyone. One row per billable code in a CSV in the form of assets/price-list.csv: code, description, unit, unit price, and the source and date for that price, such as a supplier quote or a rate sheet dated on the file. Labour codes carry the hourly rate and its rate sheet date. Pass through items such as permit fees carry a note to verify the real fee for the job instead of treating the example figure as current. Retire old price lists by date. A quote may only cite the list that was current on the quote date.

1. Write the quote as countable lines, priced only from the list. Each line: code, description a customer can follow, quantity, unit, unit price from the price list, and source. Scope that cannot be counted yet gets a site visit, an allowance with a written true up rule, or a flag. Work references/checklists.md for inclusions and exclusions, permit path, deposit terms, and approval. The quote total comes from adding the CSV lines, never from a hand typed total.

1. Flag unpriced work instead of guessing it. If a material has no price list entry and no supplier quote, the line ships with a blank price and a flag that names what would settle it. That rule is the centre of this skill. A blank with a flag costs a phone call. A plausible number typed from memory costs a dispute, a margin loss, or a customer who was quoted one fee and billed another.

1. Get approval in a form you can file. Signature on the quote, or a written approval filed in the packet with its date. Confirm scope, payment terms, permitting path, materials, and site conditions before scheduling, because an approved quote is the execution plan for the crew, not just a price.

1. Brief the crew before work, on the form, on site. Use Form 1 in references/safety-forms.md. The subject list comes from OSHA 29 CFR 1926.952(b): hazards associated with the job, work procedures involved, special precautions, energy source controls, and personal protective equipment requirements. The employer gives the employee in charge the available information first, the employee in charge briefs the crew, and every crew member signs. Hold a second briefing and log it when a significant change happens during the work. Generic wording with no site specific hazard named fails the form.

1. Deenergize by default, and log the verification. Live parts a worker may be exposed to are deenergized before work on or near them, unless deenergizing adds a greater hazard or is infeasible for design or operational reasons, under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.333(a)(1). Where parts are deenergized, use Form 2 in references/safety-forms.md and follow the order in 1910.333(b)(2): disconnect from all energy sources, release stored electric energy, block or relieve stored energy that could reenergize parts, place a lock and a tag on each disconnecting means, and have a qualified person verify with test equipment, checking for induced voltage and backfeed. For circuits over 600 volts nominal, the tester is checked for proper operation immediately before and immediately after the test. Parts that were deenergized but not locked, tagged, and verified under this procedure are treated as energized.

1. Paper energized work as an exception, with a permit. If energized work is truly required, use Form 3 in references/safety-forms.md, built on the elements NFPA 70E Section 130.2(B) lists: circuit and equipment with location, work description, justification for energized work, safe work practices, shock risk assessment with voltage and the limited and restricted approach boundaries, arc flash risk assessment with the boundary and PPE, how unqualified persons are kept out, evidence of a job briefing, and approval signatures. Testing, troubleshooting, and voltage measurement, and inspections that do not cross the restricted approach boundary, are common permit exemptions. They are not exemptions from risk assessment, boundaries, or PPE, and the exemption reason goes on the briefing form.

1. Use the short hazard check for small service calls. Form 4 in references/safety-forms.md covers a one person diagnostic or device swap: panel and circuit identified, circuit tested before touch, site hazards present or not present, PPE and insulated tools, stop work triggers written out, and the customer contact told about any shutoff. Small job never means no paper. It means paper in proportion.

1. Change work on paper before you change it in the field. One numbered change order per change, priced from the price list, with the new job total, the schedule effect, and the permit effect, signed by the customer before the changed work is done. Describe the change in words on the change order and again on the invoice. An extra explained in words, such as an added dedicated circuit following customer approval with its price, survives a customer question months later. A bare extra line does not.

1. Close the physical paperwork before leaving the site. Update the panel circuit directory for every circuit added, moved, or relabelled. NEC 408.4(A), in the summary recorded in the sources file, calls for identification that is clear, evident, and specific, with enough detail to tell each circuit apart, and not based on who uses a room right now. Mark feeder supplied panelboards and disconnecting means as NEC 408.4(B) and 110.22(A) call for, as summarised in references/checklists.md. Record test results, inspection status, photos of concealed work before cover, and the power state agreed with the customer.

1. Build the invoice from the quote file, then run the match check. Start from the quote CSV, apply signed change orders as their own lines with CO numbers, show deposits and progress payments as dated credits, and run python3 scripts/match_check.py <quote.csv> <invoice.csv> --price-list <price-list.csv> on the final pair. A clean run prints MATCH OK and exits 0. Any flag exits with code 2 and blocks the invoice until it is settled from a document. In the worked packet in assets/worked-job-packet.md, the quote totals 1552.00, the invoice totals 1610.00, and the 58.00 variance is signed change order CO-1, so flags are 0. In assets/bad-invoice.csv, the same job billed badly produces six flags: an unpriced line, a permit price change, a labour quantity change, a price list difference, a line not in the quote, and a quoted line never invoiced.

1. Fix flags from sources, never from memory. A price flag is settled by the price list, a supplier quote, or a signed change order. A quantity flag is settled by the signed change order or by correcting the invoice back to the quote. A missing line flag is settled by invoicing the work, recording its removal, or setting a follow up to schedule it. Editing the CSV until the checker stops complaining, without the document behind the edit, is falsifying the packet. Do not do it.

1. Close out and file the packet the same day. Run the closeout section of references/checklists.md: packet order, flag list reviewed, inspection and payment status recorded, follow up dates set for open items. File under the job number with the records the business keeps for tax and contract purposes. Retention floors from summaries of IRS guidance are in the checklist. Set the office period from current IRS guidance plus any stricter state, contract, or insurer rule, and record which rule the office chose.

Output Contract

• Price list: dated CSV with code, description, unit, unit price, and a source for every price, plus verify notes on pass through fees.
• Quote: countable lines priced from the price list with sources, inclusions and exclusions stated, permit path named, deposit and payment terms stated, total from the line math, and a filed customer approval.
• Safety form set for the day: signed job briefing record, lock and verify log where work was deenergized, energized work permit or a recorded exemption reason where energized work happened, and the short hazard check for small service calls.
• Change orders: numbered, priced from a named source, with new job total, schedule and permit effects, and customer signature dated before the changed work.
• Site closeout record: updated panel directory, disconnect and source markings done, test results, inspection status, photos filed by number, and the agreed power state told to the named customer contact.
• Final invoice: built from the quote, change order lines described in words with CO numbers, deposits and progress payments shown as dated credits, balance due last, and the match check output for the final CSV pair.
• Match check output: quote total, invoice total, variance, and flag count. Zero flags, or every flag settled in the packet with its source written next to it.
• Flag list: every unresolved item in the packet, what source would settle it, and where the flag appears on the customer facing document if the packet ships with it open.

Operating Rules

• No price without a source. Every price traces to the dated price list, a dated rate sheet, a supplier quote, or a receipt. A price from memory is a flag, not a price.
• No change without a signature before the work. If work was done first in a genuine emergency, the packet says so, names who directed it, and flags the change order as signed late.
• No sharpening rough notes. If the field note says about 40 feet, the quote says about 40 feet with a flag, or the measurement gets taken again. Quantities, dates, and fees do not gain precision while being typed.
• Safety forms are filled in where the work happens, at the time it happens. A briefing form or a verify log completed later from memory is marked as a late entry, with the reason, and counted as a flag in the packet review.
• Deenergized is a verified state, not an assumption. No verification row, no deenergized claim, and the parts are treated as energized with the permit and PPE that status requires.
• Local rules are checked, not copied. Permit triggers, inspection practice, deposit caps, tax treatment, and lien deadlines differ by state and by local office. The packet names the office or rule checked and the date. A value copied from another job in another place is a flag.
• Customer facing documents stay plain. Lines are described in words a customer can follow, totals add up on the page, and every extra can be traced to a quote line or a change order number in one step.
• Privacy and records discipline are part of the job. Packets hold customer names, addresses, and payment records. File them in the business record system, share them only with the parties to the job, and keep them for the retention period the office set in step 14.