Should you switch electrical companies for $3 more an hour?

$3 more an hour is $6,240 a year at 40 hours a week, or $8,580 at 50 hours with OT, before taxes. Switch electrical companies for it when you aren't leaving an unvested match, a pile of PTO or a steady backlog behind. In our example, those three ate the whole raise in year one and left the hand $8,520 behind.

So the answer is yes sometimes, and the way to know is to put a number on what you'd give up.

01What $3 an hour is really worth

$3 an hour adds up to real money over a year, and more with overtime. Here's the math on a full year of work, before taxes.

OT is time and a half over 40 hours a week under federal law, per DOL Fact Sheet #23, so $3 more on the rate is $4.50 more on every OT hour.

That's the top line. Now take out what the move costs you. If you're weighing two whole offers and not just a raise, the whole-check way to compare offers adds per diem, hours and job length.

02What you might give up

Most of what you leave behind doesn't show on the pay stub. Price each one before you decide.

• An unvested match. Under the IRS vesting rules, your own 401k money is always yours, but the shop's match can sit on a schedule, like nothing until year 3. Leave at year 2.5 and the match stays with the shop.
• Paid time off. Years at one shop often build PTO. A new shop may start you at the bottom.
• A health waiting period. Some plans don't start until day 31, 61 or 91. You pay for coverage on your own in the gap, or go without.
• Seniority when layoffs come. When the work slows down, the newest hand on the crew is often the first one sent home.
• A steady backlog. A shop with two years of work lined up is worth more than one that's between jobs.
• A foreman who knows you. The one who gives you the good work and backs you with the PM.

Union hands mostly don't face this choice the same way, since the rate is set by the agreement. This post is about moving between open shops.

03The math on one move

Here's a worked example, every number made up for it. You make $45 an hour, 40 hours a week, 2.5 years in. A new shop offers $48.

What you'd give up:

• Match: your shop matches 4% with a 3-year cliff. That's 4% of $93,600 a year ($45 x 2,080), or $3,744 a year. Over 2.5 years, $9,360 in match, none of it vested yet.
• PTO: you have 15 days, the new shop starts you at 5. Ten days x 8 hours x $45 is $3,600.
• Health wait: 90 days on your own at $600 a month more than you pay now. $1,800.

Now change one thing: stay six more months until the match vests, then move. The $9,360 comes with you, and year one is $840 to $3,180 ahead instead of $6,180 to $8,520 behind. After year one, the PTO and health costs mostly go away, and the $3 keeps paying.

Then add the risk of being the new guy. If the new shop sends you home for three weeks over the winter, that's 3 x 40 x $48, or $5,760. Almost the whole year's raise at 40 hours.

04How often moving is normal

Changing companies every few years is normal in construction. The median construction worker had 3.9 years with their current employer in January 2026, the same as the private sector overall, per the BLS employee tenure table. That's down from 4.2 years in January 2024.

Construction hands don't quit more often than other workers, either. In August 2026 the construction quits rate was 1.8% of workers a month, against 2.1% for all private industry (preliminary, BLS JOLTS).

So one move every few years won't stand out. What a foreman notices is a string of short stays.

05When changing companies starts to hurt

Changing companies starts to cost you when the moves get short and the reasons get thin. Three shops in ten years reads fine to a contractor. Four shops in eighteen months reads like risk.

One national electrical contractor told us they needed hands "for at least three months" on one job, and that their real worry was crews leaving partway through. A contractor reading your history is asking one thing: will this guy stay until the job's done?

What makes a move look fine:

• You stayed through the end of a job or a phase.
• You can say why in one sentence: more money, steadier work, closer to home, a better foreman.
• You left on decent terms. How to quit an electrical job without burning bridges covers notice, tools and the last check.

What makes it look bad: leaving mid-job for a dollar, no-call no-shows, or a reason that changes each time you're asked.

06Why shops are recruiting good journeymen hard

Good journeymen are in demand right now, and shops know it. That puts you in a strong spot, whether you move or not.

From the contractor side, one national electrical contractor told us the decent hands an agency had sent them "keep getting called to other jobs for more money," and that it "puts us in a bind" because they have to replace them. They also said "everybody's just going to these data centers right now." The same contractor said they'd been raising their rates to stay competitive.

That cuts two ways for you:

1. Other shops will pay to get you. A $3 offer may not be the best one out there.
2. Your shop may pay to keep you. Before you move for $3, ask for it where you are. How to ask for a raise as a journeyman shows how to make the case with market numbers.

07Decision checklist

Run through this before you take $3 more. If you can't answer one, find out first.

1. Is $3 the market, or the bottom of it? Find out what electricians with your license make in your area. What your electrician license is worth shows where to look.
2. When does my match vest? If it's within six months, the math may say wait.
3. How much PTO do I lose, and when does health start?
4. How many hours is the new crew really running? OT moves the raise from $6,240 to $10,920.
5. What's the new shop's backlog, and who goes home first when it slows?
6. Who's the foreman?
7. Will my shop match it if I ask?
8. Am I leaving mid-job? If so, can I finish the phase first?

For the full side-by-side on two offers, including per diem and job length, use how to compare two electrician job offers. For the benefits side, what benefits an open-shop electrician should expect puts a dollar number on each one.

Run your Pay Check to see what electricians with your license make near you before you decide whether $3 is enough. Takes about a minute and your boss never hears about it.

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