What does an Electrical Foreman earn?

We place this role between $85,000 and $130,000 a year at mid experience, before overtime, bonus and on-call. The federal occupation this role reports under is First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (SOC 47-1011), May 2025.

What credentials should an Electrical Foreman have?

This role has no single credential that reliably moves an offer. What employers screen on is demonstrated commercial experience rather than a certificate.

COMMERCIAL ELECTRICAL - ROLE PROFILE

Electrical Foreman

We place this role between $85,000 and $130,000 a year at mid experience, before overtime, bonus and on-call.

The role

What the job actually is.

Runs the electrical crew on site: layout, material staging, manpower, daily production against the schedule, and coordination with the other trades for space in the ceiling. Owns the work in the field rather than the job commercially.

Pay

What this role pays.

That band is mid experience, built from our own engagement history. Experience and region move it - the salary calculator applies both.

The federal occupation this role reports under is First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (SOC 47-1011), May 2025. Nationally it reports a median of $79,920 , with the middle of the market between $53,280 and $128,260. BLS counts this job inside that occupation rather than publishing it separately, so the figures cover a slightly wider group than this exact title.

Where it pays most.

First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers across the metros we cover, May 2025. BLS publishes a median for 100 of them and withholds the rest, where the local sample was too small to be reliable.

Highest-paying metros - First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
Metro	Median	Employed there
San Jose	$129,700	4,770
Seattle	$121,130	11,040
San Francisco	$120,810	9,810
Portland	$112,480	5,880
Chicago	$111,260	13,420
New York	$103,990	28,220
Minneapolis	$103,290	8,310
Boston	$99,890	13,110
McAllen	$60,370	800
Little Rock	$61,060	1,720
Huntsville	$62,650	1,330

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The last three rows are the lowest-paying metros in the same set. Headcount is metro-wide across every industry, not this trade alone.

Electrical Foreman vs Commercial Electrical PM.

The foreman runs the work inside the building: manpower, sequence, material on site, and whether the job is where the schedule says it is. The project manager runs the contract around it. They are separate occupations in the federal data - first-line supervisors of construction trades here, construction managers there - so the wage table on this page is not the one on that page. Most foremen came off the tools and most project managers did not, which makes moving between the two a change of job rather than a step up the same ladder.

Commercial Electrical PM: what it pays and what the search takes

Credentials

Credentials that move an offer.

No single credential reliably moves an offer in this seat. Employers screen on demonstrated commercial experience instead, which makes the resume harder to read and the reference check worth more.

Licensing is a state question, not a national one. The Commercial Electrical hiring page carries the state-by-state position, and every market page names the authority for that state.

Screening

What separates a strong candidate.

Everyone who applies for this seat will claim the experience. These are the things that distinguish the people who have it, and the questions that find out.

What to look for

Talks about production rates and manpower loading, not just tasks completed
Coordination described from the other trades' side - ductwork and sprinkler mains win ceiling space arguments
Has run a crew through an inspection and a punch list

Questions that find out

How do you plan a floor rough-in so the mechanical trades do not strand you? A strong answer Coordination drawings before anyone installs anything, and a walk of the floor with the other foremen rather than an email. Knows the pecking order above a ceiling - gravity drainage first, then big duct, then pipe, then conduit - and plans to get the things that cannot move installed in their window. Someone who answers that they just work around the others has already lost the floor.
Your crew is three days behind at the end of week two. What do you change? A strong answer Finds out why before changing anything: manpower, material, access, rework, or a schedule that was never real. Then re-sequences into areas that are actually open, pulls work into the shop to prefabricate, and adds people only where the work can absorb them. Tells the project manager the same day rather than hoping to claw it back quietly.
How do you handle an apprentice who is fast and sloppy? A strong answer Treats the speed as raw material and the standard as the thing to add. Slows them deliberately, pairs them with someone who does it right, inspects visibly, and explains why the standard exists - the inspector, the next trade, the service technician in five years. Keeps the enthusiasm rather than crushing it.
How do you lay out a floor so two crews are not working on top of each other? A strong answer Splits by area or by system, not both at once, with boundaries everyone can see. Separate material staging, a daily plan each crew knows, and an agreed rule for what happens where they meet. A vague answer about communication usually means two crews chasing the same lift.
What do you do on Friday afternoon so Monday morning is not wasted? A strong answer Material staged where Monday work happens, tools and lifts in position, the next sequence walked and marked, prints updated, and anything that will block Monday raised with the general contractor before people go home. The crew leaves knowing what Monday looks like rather than finding out at seven.
A journeyman on your crew is fast but sloppy. How do you handle that? A strong answer Different from the apprentice, and they should say so: this is someone who knows the standard and is not holding it. Private, direct, specific examples, a short timeframe, and a performance conversation with the project manager if nothing changes rather than coaching forever. Also asks honestly whether the schedule is what is pushing them.
How do you track material on site so it does not walk or get buried? A strong answer A secure container, deliveries checked against the packing list before the driver leaves, material issued rather than piled, high-value items controlled, staging by area so it is not buried by another trade, and a count on a rhythm. Knows material found late is nearly as expensive as material stolen.
Describe how you run a daily huddle and what you actually cover. A strong answer Short, standing, same time. What finished yesterday, what each crew is doing today and where, what changed, hazards specific to today, and what they need. Two-way rather than a briefing, because the point is to hear the blockers. Can say how long it takes, which tells you whether it really happens.
How do you plan manpower for the next two weeks against the schedule? A strong answer Against the look-ahead and the actual remaining work rather than a feel for it. Knows their crew production rate well enough to turn remaining work into hours, flags a shortfall to the project manager before it bites, and plans around inspections and the other trades rather than around an ideal week.
The general contractor changes the sequence on you. What now? A strong answer Asks for it in writing, works out the labour and material impact quickly, and says so rather than absorbing it. Re-plans what can be re-planned and prices the inefficiency where it is real. Names the quiet failure mode: accepting resequencing again and again and losing the job in a hundred small pieces nobody wrote down.
How do you run a toolbox talk that people actually listen to? A strong answer About today, on this site, about a hazard the crew can see from where they are standing, with a real story rather than a laminated sheet. The crew talks. Says plainly that a signed attendance sheet with nobody listening is worse than nothing, because it teaches people that safety is paperwork.
How do you handle an apprentice who is not progressing? A strong answer Finds the cause rather than applying a label: varied work they are not being given, a learning style nobody has matched, something going on at home, or genuinely the wrong trade. Specific tasks, specific measures, the apprenticeship coordinator involved, and a timeframe. Says being honest early is kinder than carrying someone quietly for two years.
What is your process for receiving and verifying a gear delivery? A strong answer Checks against the packing list and the approved submittal rather than just the count, inspects for shipping damage before signing anything, photographs it, notes exceptions on the receipt, and stores it protected and dry with space heaters energised where the gear needs them. Knows a signature with no inspection moves the problem onto them.
How do you keep layout accurate when several crews are setting it? A strong answer One control line and one benchmark that everyone works from, established and verified by one person. Nobody measures off somebody else finished work. Re-verification against the control at intervals, and a visible mark for what has been checked. Compounding error is the thing they should be worried about out loud.
You find work installed wrong by your own crew. What happens? A strong answer Self-reports before the inspector or another trade finds it, fixes it, and tells the project manager the same day. Treats it as a cost of doing the work rather than something to bury, and takes the lesson to the crew without a public execution. Hiding it is the answer that should end the interview.
How do you close out a floor so the punch list is short? A strong answer Walks it themselves against a checklist before calling it complete, punches their own work first, coordinates with the trades who share the ceiling, photographs it, and gets the general contractor to walk it early rather than at the end. A short punch list is the sign of a walk that happened before anyone asked for one.

The mistake this seat invites

Promoting on technical skill without testing whether the person will hold other people to a standard. The quietest strong journeyman is not automatically a foreman.

Where the role goes next

Foremen progress to general foreman and superintendent, or sideways into project management if they prefer the commercial side. Candidates ask this in the first conversation, and an employer who cannot answer it loses the people who had other options.

Interview kit for this role

All interview questions for this role in the question bank.
Printable interview scorecard built from these questions and signals.
The Commercial Electrical hiring kit - every role in the trade, with credentials and offer risks.
Offer calculator starting from this role's pay band.

The search

What the search actually takes.

Across 11 closed commercial electrical searches in 2026 year to date, our median was 30 days from first contact with the candidate to hire. That is not a time-to-fill benchmark - our clock starts when we reach the candidate, not when the requisition opened. The full distribution is in the Hiring Index.