Skip to main content
Plumb Intelligence

Playbook · Electrical contractors

The electrician playbook

Electrical is the highest-volume trade in Arizona’s permit record — which means more competitor noise and more upstream opportunity than any other trade. Every new home, TI, and addition needs rough-in and a panel; the solar wave needs interconnects and upgrades; and the GCs letting those contracts are named in the public record. This is the guide to working it upstream, where the contracts are still open.

Set up in a few minutes; your first digest lands the next morning at 7 AM.

The daily loop

  1. 1

    Split your view: pipeline vs. market

    Set your ZIPs, then run two saved searches from day one: new construction + commercial & TI (your open-contract pipeline), and the electrical lens (the trade’s own activity — your market mirror and competitor map). The volume is high enough that the split is what keeps your 7 AM digest callable.

  2. 2

    Find the GCs who let electrical contracts monthly

    The leaderboards rank the most active builders and GCs in your ZIPs. Production sections, TI programs, custom builds — each profile shows the pace and history that tells you who’s worth the relationship call.

  3. 3

    Ride the solar wave as a partner, not a spectator

    Hundreds of solar permits file monthly statewide, and each one touches a panel, an interconnect, often a service upgrade. Search the solar lens to see which installers dominate your ZIPs — the busiest are subbing electrical work or referring what they can’t hold.

    TipThe solar lens is separate from the electrical lens on purpose — so you can read each market cleanly.

  4. 4

    Vet, then book

    Check any GC’s AZ ROC status, classification, and disciplinary record before you price — then put your GCs, your solar partners, and your rivals in My Book and let it watch their pace and licenses daily.

Aim it right

Point your search at the work that needs electrical

Match the search to the electrical book you’re building.

If you want…Chase the…
New-construction rough-inNew SFR and tract sections“new single family homes in my zips”
Commercial & TITIs and commercial builds — panel and lighting packages“commercial permits over $250k in Phoenix”
Solar partnershipsThe installers dominating your ZIPs“solar permits in my zips this month”
Additions & remodelsInterior work that moves circuits“remodels and additions over $75k in my zips”
Competitive intelThe trade’s own volume“the busiest electrical contractors this year”

Searches you can paste straight in

Type it in plain English — the search bar parses the trade, the ZIPs, the dollar floor, and the date window for you.

“new single family homes in my zips”

Every new home starting in your territory — rough-in and panel work tied to a builder.

“solar permits in my zips this month”

The solar activity in your area, matched to the installer where the city names one — your partnership map.

“the busiest electrical contractors this year”

Who’s pulling the trade’s volume in your market — and whose GCs come loose when they slow down.

What to look for

The signals that separate a call from a waste of a call

Lifecycle stage
“Applied” building permits are contracts not yet let. With electrical’s volume, the applied window is where you beat the shops that wait for issue.
GC velocity
A climbing permit count means more electrical contracts to let. The leaderboard finds the GCs worth the relationship.
Work class
New construction, TI, addition, solar — four different scopes, four different bids. The class sorts your pipeline before you price.
Who pulls solar in your ZIPs
The dominant installers are your best partner targets — they generate panel and service-upgrade work at a pace no service book matches.

Power moves

Once you’re past the basics

Two digests, two jobs

The pipeline search feeds your estimator; the electrical-lens search feeds your market read. Merging them buries the callable leads in competitor noise.

Partner with the top two solar shops

Search the solar lens, rank the installers in your ZIPs, and pitch the top two on being their licensed electrical partner. One yes is a monthly work stream.

Bid the applied stage

Estimated issue dates on applied permits tell you exactly how long the contract window stays open.

Book your rivals

When a competing shop’s pace drops, their GCs need a new number. My Book tells you the week it happens.

Vet every GC

License active, classification right, record clean — thirty seconds on the profile before your crew is on their job.

What you’ll see on every lead

The permit

Type, work class, lifecycle stage, and declared value — or a clearly-labeled estimate when the city doesn’t report one.

The GC/builder

AZ ROC license, status, classification, disciplinary flags, recent volume — on a match-confidence badge.

The property

Parcel-matched address and owner of record.

Freshness

Refreshed daily from each city’s feed.

Straight about the data

What we won’t oversell

  • The honest limit: an electrical permit is usually pulled by the shop that won the job — it’s your market mirror, not your lead list. The open contracts live in building permits and partnerships.
  • Some cities publish permits without a contractor field — Gilbert, Goodyear, Chandler, and Queen Creek name no contractor — so competitor tracking is thinner there.
  • A contractor is resolved on about 39% of all permits and about 61% of the ones that name a contractor — every link shows its confidence.

Ready to see your territory?

Start a 14-day trial — full product, no card up front. Your first list lands tomorrow morning.

Start free trial

$199/seat/mo after trial · cancel anytime