Electrical Foreman Job Description

Salary Range

$63,400 - $101,460

Experience

5+ years as a licensed electrician

Work Environment

Construction sites

What Does an Electrical Foreman Do?

An electrical foreman is the working lead of an electrician crew on a single job, usually a journeyman who still pulls wire and bends conduit while directing other journeymen and apprentices. The foreman takes the drawings and schedule from the project manager or general foreman, breaks them into daily tasks, and decides who roughs in which area. Material on site, the lift reserved, panels labeled, inspections called in: those details fall to the foreman, along with answering to the general contractor's superintendent when other trades need the same ceiling space.

Other Job Titles for This Work

Workers in this occupation report titles such as Coal Mine Production Foreman, Construction Foreman, Construction Supervisor, Electrical Supervisor, Field Operations Supervisor, Field Supervisor, Insulation Foreman, Roustabout Field Supervisor.

Electrical Foreman Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of an electrical foreman include:

• Break the electrical drawings into daily work, assigning rough-in, conduit runs, wire pulls and device trim-out to individual journeymen and apprentices.
• Check installed work against the drawings and the National Electrical Code before calling for rough-in and final inspections.
• Track wire, conduit, fittings, boxes and breakers against the takeoff and order from the supply house before the crew runs short.
• Work out ceiling and wall space with the plumbing, HVAC and sprinkler foremen so conduit and cable tray do not clash with duct and pipe.
• Enforce lockout/tagout, arc flash PPE, and ladder and lift safety on the crew.
• Troubleshoot dead circuits, ground faults and miswired panels with multimeters, clamp ammeters and insulation testers.
• Mark changes on the drawings as the job goes so the as-built set is accurate at closeout.
• Spend most days on the tools alongside the crew, bending conduit, pulling wire and terminating panels.
• Log crew hours by cost code and report progress and extra work to the project manager for change orders.
• Teach apprentices conduit bending, wire sizing and code rules on the job, and tell the shop who is ready for more responsibility.

Required Skills and Qualifications

To succeed as an electrical foreman, you will need the following skills and qualifications:

• A journeyman electrician license, required in most states before someone can direct other electricians
• Thorough working knowledge of the National Electrical Code edition adopted locally
• Reading electrical plans, panel schedules, riser diagrams and single-line drawings
• Conduit bending by hand and with hydraulic benders, plus wire pulling with tuggers
• Testing with multimeters, clamp ammeters and insulation resistance testers
• NFPA 70E arc flash training and an OSHA 30-Hour Construction card
• Marking up drawings and as-builts in Adobe Acrobat or a plan-viewing app
• Explaining a task once, clearly, to an apprentice and checking back without hovering

Education and Training

The road to electrical foreman runs through an electrician apprenticeship, which usually lasts four to five years and combines paid work under a journeyman with classroom hours in electrical theory, code and safety. Union programs and contractor association programs are the two common routes, and some people start with a post-secondary certificate from a technical school, the most common level construction supervisors report at about 27 percent. After the apprenticeship you sit for the journeyman exam in most states. Contractors usually promote a journeyman to foreman after a few years of reliable field work, and some send new foremen to supervision or estimating classes.

Salary and Job Outlook

BLS projects employment of first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers to grow about 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, with about 67,000 openings a year. Electrical foremen are consistently needed wherever large-scale electrical projects are underway. This role often leads to superintendent, project manager, or independent contractor positions.

Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers.

Electrical Foreman Pay Range

Highest-Paying States for Electrical Foremans

The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are Washington ($109,570), Illinois ($105,750), New Jersey ($105,510), Oregon ($103,070), Hawaii ($102,630). Pay is lowest in Mississippi ($66,910), Alabama ($64,120), Arkansas ($61,230).

What the Work Is Like

O*NET surveys people who work as first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:

• 94% are on the phone every day
• 91% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
• 91% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
• 90% wear safety gear such as gloves, safety glasses or a hard hat every day
• 63% use email every day
• 63% usually work more than 40 hours a week
• 61% work around hazardous equipment every day

Education Workers Say the Job Needs

Tools and Software Electrical Foremans Use

Tools and equipment

• Acetylene welding equipment
• Adjustable wrenches
• Aerial personnel lifts
• Air compressors
• Allen wrenches
• Ammeters
• Analog temperature analyzers
• Arc welding equipment
• Backhoes
• Band saws

Software

• Microsoft Office software
• Adobe Acrobat
• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft Word
• Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
• Procore software
• Facilities management software
• FranklinCovey TabletPlanner

Is This Job a Good Fit for You?

People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.

Skills O*NET rates most important: Coordination, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Management of Personnel Resources, Reading Comprehension.

Knowledge areas used most: Administration and Management, Building and Construction, Mechanical, Customer and Personal Service, English Language.

Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.

Related Careers

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Applying for an Electrical Foreman Job

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