What counts on your jobs
Work you already bill for- Design-build electricalDesigning distribution for a building or a process line.
- Load and fault studiesSizing services and gear when standard calculations don't settle the answer.
- Controls and automationProgramming controls, drives, and building systems to work as one.
- Power quality and backupDesigning generator, UPS, or solar and storage for one site.
- Routing and coordinationFinding a path for conduit and tray through a crowded building, then revising it.
- PrefabricationDeveloping assemblies you build in the shop and install once.
- Lighting and energy designDesigning lighting controls or a system that hits an energy target.
- Commissioning and testingTesting a new system, finding what fails, and fixing the design.
The four questions, for electrical contractors
§41's four-part test- Did you design a system new to your company?It doesn't have to be new to the trade.
- Did it take real know-how?Load calcs, fault currents, control logic: that's electrical engineering, physics, and code.
- Were you unsure at the start?Will the service carry the load? Will the controls talk to each other?
- Did you try options to find out?Load studies, BIM clashes, and revised routing are exactly that.
Unsure about any of these? That's what the call is for. The four-part test in plain English
Electrical contractors ask
We install from the engineer's drawings. Do we qualify?
Plan-and-spec installation rarely does. Design-build, design-assist, and controls integration often do, when a technical question had no known answer. On a spec job, the layout and pathway design your own team draws can count too.
We do low-voltage, data, and fiber. Does that count?
It can. Working out what fits a building, which cable to run, and the most efficient pathway is engineering work. Your shop drawings and the as-builts that show what changed are the proof.
We install the same system at hundreds of sites. Does that count?
The first one might, if getting it to work took real problem solving. Plugging in the same setup the hundredth time doesn't.
We have our own software developers. Does their work count?
Often. Developers building tools for scheduling, estimating, or tracking jobs can count. Software made only for your own use has a few extra tests to pass, and the study sorts out which projects pass them.
Does controls programming count?
Often. Writing and testing new control logic until a system performs can count. Loading a standard sequence doesn't.
Do our field electricians' hours count?
For the time they spend working out a technical question, like a prefab assembly or a routing problem, yes. Pulling wire on a settled design doesn't.
Most of our work is fixed price. Does that matter?
It can. The credit stays with you when you only get paid if it works and you keep the right to reuse what you learned. The study reads your contracts to check.
Filing, how far back, exams, and costs: common questions.
For your CPA: where the credit goes on Form 1120, 1120-S, 1065, or 1040.
Give us thirty minutes.
Bring whoever runs your design-build work. You'll leave knowing whether your jobs qualify.
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