What is the best way for an electrician to get more work?
Decide which jobs you want more of, then market each one where its customers look. Landlord EICRs and urgent faults come from Google searches and a strong Google Business Profile. Planned upgrades such as EV chargers and rewires suit Facebook and Instagram. Show your registration and reviews everywhere, because trust wins electrical work.
Most electricians we talk to market themselves as "electrician, all work considered". It's understandable, but it's also why so many end up busy without being particularly profitable. An urgent fault, a landlord who needs a certificate, a homeowner planning a rewire and someone buying an EV charger are four different customers. They search differently, they decide differently, and they're worth very different amounts to you.
So the first job isn't picking an advertising platform. It's deciding which work you want more of.
Landlord certificates: steady, repeatable work
Landlords have to get the electrics in their rented properties checked at least every five years, and that now covers social housing as well as private lets. That makes Electrical Installation Condition Reports one of the most dependable sources of work an electrician can have: predictable demand, a clear price, and a customer who will need you again.
To win more of it:
- Target the searches landlords actually use, such as "EICR [your town]", "landlord electrical certificate" and "electrical safety certificate for rental".
- Make booking easy. A clear price or price range and a simple way to book a slot beats "call for a quote".
- Talk to letting agents. One good relationship with a local agent can be worth dozens of individual landlords, and it's a far cheaper lead than any ad.
- Remind past customers. Five years is a long time, but a note in the diary to get in touch before a certificate expires turns a one-off job into a repeat one.
Faults and urgent call-outs
When the power's off or something's sparking, people search and ring. This is Google Ads territory, with the same rules as any emergency trade: your phone number in the ad, ads running only when someone will answer, and a realistic travel area. It's well-paid work, but it's unpredictable, so it works best alongside steadier jobs rather than instead of them.
Planned upgrades: rewires, consumer units and EV chargers
These are bigger tickets and slower decisions. People research, compare a couple of quotes and often wait for the right moment. Two things help:
- Google Ads for people who've decided, such as "consumer unit replacement [town]", "house rewire cost" or "EV charger installation".
- Facebook and Instagram for people who haven't yet. A short video of a neat consumer unit swap or a finished EV charger install, shown to homeowners in your area, plants the idea before they start searching. This kind of visual, considered work is where Meta ads earn their keep. We go into when Meta beats Google in do Facebook ads actually work for local businesses.
Commercial work
Smaller shops, offices and landlords with several properties can be excellent long-term customers, but there are fewer of them, and they rarely come from a single ad. LinkedIn, local business groups and a good portfolio page often do more here than paid search.
Trust wins electrical work
Nobody can judge the quality of electrical work by looking at it, so customers judge you on everything else. Make sure the signals are everywhere: your registration with a competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, your insurance, your reviews and real photos of tidy installations.
Your Google Business Profile matters more than most electricians realise. For "electrician near me" searches, the map listing often gets the call before anyone reaches a website. Pick a specific category, keep the service area realistic, add photos regularly and ask every happy customer for a review.
Keep the wrong searches out
Electrician searches attract a lot of people who will never pay you: apprentices, job seekers and DIYers. Block searches like "electrician jobs", "electrician course", "electrician salary" and "how to wire a plug" from the start, and check the search terms report regularly to add more.
Know what a customer is worth
Before setting a budget, work out what a typical customer is worth to you, including repeat work and referrals. A landlord with five properties who books every EICR with you is worth far more than one fault call. We show how to work it out in what a customer is really worth.
Want help deciding which work to chase first? We run Google and Meta ads for electricians across the Midlands. Book a free chat and we'll go through it with you.