Wisconsin Electrician Experience Calculator: Hours Left
Wisconsin sets an hour count for each licensed grade and a minimum period the hours have to be spread over, and it credits full time schooling at 500 hours a semester up to a cap. Put your hours in and this gives you the first day the grade you want is within reach.
How this was calculated
The method, and what each number rests on
Wisconsin licenses the electrician by name. DSPS issues the card, the contracting business holds its own license, and what this page computes is the day you can apply to sit the examination for a grade.
Each grade carries its own figure. The Journeyman Electrician asks for 8,000 hours over a period of not less than 48 months. The Residential Journeyman asks for 1,000 hours a year for at least 3 years, and the Industrial Journeyman and the Residential Master for 1,000 hours a year for at least 5 years.
The Master Electrician is the one with more than one door. Form 3107 Category A accepts twelve months of experience as a licensed Journeyman Electrician, or an experience route of at least 10,000 hours over a period of at least 60 months or at least 1,000 hours per year for at least 7 years, or a bachelor or master degree in electrical engineering from an accredited engineering university or college. The degree route asks for no hours at all, so pick the entry above that matches the route you are on rather than counting to 10,000 by default.
The period matters as much as the total. Reaching 8,000 hours in three years does not satisfy a rule that reads 48 months, so read the minimum period in the box above alongside the date this page gives you.
An apprenticeship is a separate route rather than a precondition. SPS 305.44(3) accepts a construction electrician apprenticeship of at least 3 years in place of the hours, and the residential and industrial grades accept their own apprenticeships the same way.
Full time schooling in an electrical related program at an accredited college, university, technical or vocational school counts as 500 hours a semester. The cap is 2,000 hours and two years on the journeyman grades and 3,000 hours and three years on the master grades, which is why the credit field above moves when you change the grade.
No minimum age for a license appears in the rule sections or the application forms read for this tool, so none is printed here. Every experience route does ask for an Experience Table with witness signatures: form 3106T for journeyman, 3107T for master, 3111T for residential journeyman, 3112T for residential master and 3105T for industrial journeyman.
The date arithmetic is plain. Hours still to work divided by hours a week, rounded up to a whole week, added to your start date. Every week is treated the same, so overtime, layoffs and weather are yours to adjust, and nothing here says whether DSPS will accept your hours.
What each one asks for
| What you are working toward | What it takes | The detail |
|---|---|---|
| Journeyman Electrician | 8,000 hours | 8,000 hours over a period of not less than 48 months. A recognized construction electrician apprenticeship of at least 3 years is a separate route, and so is 1,000 hours a year for at least 5 years. |
| Residential Journeyman Electrician | 3,000 hours | 1,000 hours a year for at least 3 years of residential wiring work, which is 3,000 hours. |
| Industrial Journeyman Electrician | 5,000 hours | 1,000 hours a year for at least 5 years of industrial wiring work, which is 5,000 hours. |
| Master Electrician, on the 10,000 hour route | 10,000 hours | 10,000 hours of experience over a period of at least 60 months, which is the first half of the experience route on form 3107. The other routes to the same license are the next three entries in this list. |
| Master Electrician, on the seven year route | 7,000 hours | 1,000 hours a year for at least 7 years, which is 7,000 hours. SPS 305.43(2) prints this one, and form 3107 prints it as the other half of the same experience route. |
| Master Electrician, from a journeyman card | no hours at all | Twelve months of experience as a licensed Journeyman Electrician. Form 3107 counts the months on the card rather than the hours, so this page counts no hours for it. |
| Master Electrician, from an engineering degree | no hours at all | A bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering from an accredited engineering university or college. Form 3107 asks for no hours at all on this route. |
| Residential Master Electrician | 5,000 hours | 1,000 hours a year for at least 5 years of electrical wiring work, which is 5,000 hours. |
Questions people ask
How many hours does the Journeyman Electrician need?
It asks for 8,000 hours. The figure comes from Wis. Admin. Code SPS 305 and the DSPS application forms.
Does anything I enter here leave my browser?
No. The arithmetic runs in the page and the numbers are saved in your own browser if you press save. They only leave the device if you use the email button, and then they go to the address you type and nowhere else.
Will the board accept the hours this page counts?
That is not a question a calculator can answer. This page works the published rule with the numbers you give it. Whether your own experience is documented well enough is a decision the board makes on the paperwork.
Why does the date move when I change the weekly hours?
Because the date is arithmetic: what you still owe divided by what you work in a week, rounded up to a whole week, added to your start date. Every week is treated the same, so overtime, layoffs and weather are yours to adjust.
Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown
Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.
All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.
The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.