# Decision Memo: Electric code calculator

Full report: https://ideanavigatorai.com/ideas/electric-code-calculator/
Recorded: Not recorded

## Decision
- Team verdict: Park
- Validation verdict: Research (56/100)
- Confidence: 58%
- Recommendation: Keep this parked until the team has evidence for the next validation step: Stand up a single high-value calculator (conduit fill or voltage drop) as a free web tool with clear NEC article citations and code-year selection, drive traffic from electrician subreddits/forums and trade Facebook groups, and measure return usage plus an email/waitlist gate for a 'Pro suite.' Validate willingness-to-pay by offering a $5/month preorder for the full offline app and tracking conversion from the free calculator's users; a target of >5% of repeat users joining the waitlist or preordering signals demand.

## Team rationale
No team rationale recorded yet.

## Reviewers
- No named reviewers recorded.

## Source anchors
- Buyer: Working electricians, electrical contractors, apprentices, journeymen, master electricians, and AHJ inspectors who need fast, code-grounded calculations on the job.
- Market: Electrical trades software and field-reference tools serving residential, commercial, and industrial electrical contractors in the US (and Canada via CEC).
- Problem: Electricians constantly perform NEC calculations (conduit fill per Chapter 9, ampacity/wire sizing per Table 310.16, voltage drop, box fill per Article 314.16, and load calcs) by flipping through dense, frequently revised code books or generic calculators. The NEC changes every three years and the 2023 edition added nine new articles, deleted three, and revised many titles, so a manual or outdated reference produces errors that cause failed inspections, rework, callbacks, and liability. Existing free web calculators are fragmented across single-purpose pages and lack offline reliability, current-code traceability, and project save/sharing.
- Thesis: Electric code calculator should be tested as a narrow first-win workflow for Working electricians, electrical contractors, apprentices, journeymen, master electricians, and AHJ inspectors who need fast, code-grounded calculations on the job..
- Source: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm
- Source: https://www.nfpa.org/product/nfpa-70-national-electrical-code-nec/p0070code
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electrical_Code
- Source: https://www.ecmweb.com/national-electrical-code/media-gallery/21253403/top-25-changes-in-the-2023-national-electrical-code
- Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/27/americas-demand-skilled-electricians-boom.html

## Validation rubric
Rubric version: INAV-VALIDATION-2026-06-04

### Demand signal - 6/10 (24% weight)
Demand looks thin because the report has 4 source-backed signal(s), an editorial confidence of 58/100, and a defined buyer in Electrical trades software and field-reference tools serving residential, commercial, and industrial electrical contractors in the US (and Canada via CEC)..

- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: electricians held about 818,700 jobs in 2024, median wage $62,350 (May 2024), with employment projected to grow 9% from 2024 to 2034 and roughly 81,000 openings per year — a large, growing addressable user base.
- Target buyer: Working electricians, electrical contractors, apprentices, journeymen, master electricians, and AHJ inspectors who need fast, code-grounded calculations on the job.

### Problem severity - 6.3/10 (22% weight)
Problem severity is thin when the buyer pain, customer value, and dream-outcome scores are combined.

- Electricians constantly perform NEC calculations (conduit fill per Chapter 9, ampacity/wire sizing per Table 310.16, voltage drop, box fill per Article 314.16, and load calcs) by flipping through dense, frequently revised code books or generic calculators. The NEC changes every three years and the 2023 edition added nine new articles, deleted three, and revised many titles, so a manual or outdated reference produces errors that cause failed inspections, rework, callbacks, and liability. Existing free web calculators are fragmented across single-purpose pages and lack offline reliability, current-code traceability, and project save/sharing.
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: electricians held about 818,700 jobs in 2024, median wage $62,350 (May 2024), with employment projected to grow 9% from 2024 to 2034 and roughly 81,000 openings per year — a large, growing addressable user base.

### Willingness to pay - 5.5/10 (20% weight)
Willingness to pay is weak; the model has a monetization hypothesis, but it must still be proven through paid pilots or explicit pricing objections.

- Freemium subscription: free single calculators to acquire users, then a Pro subscription (e.g., $4-8/month or annual) unlocking the full calculator suite, multiple code years, offline mode, and project export; plus optional team/contractor seats and a one-time-purchase desktop/web bundle.
- Stand up a single high-value calculator (conduit fill or voltage drop) as a free web tool with clear NEC article citations and code-year selection, drive traffic from electrician subreddits/forums and trade Facebook groups, and measure return usage plus an email/waitlist gate for a 'Pro suite.' Validate willingness-to-pay by offering a $5/month preorder for the full offline app and tracking conversion from the free calculator's users; a target of >5% of repeat users joining the waitlist or preordering signals demand.

### Competitive saturation - 3.9/10 (18% weight)
Competitive room is reduced by 3 recorded alternative(s); the wedge must stay narrow and differentiated.

- Recorded alternative: Electrical Calc Elite (NEC Code Calculator)
- Competitive score rewards a narrow wedge, not absence of research.

### Feasibility - 6.2/10 (16% weight)
Feasibility is thin for a moderate build if the MVP is limited to the first measurable workflow.

- Stand up a single high-value calculator (conduit fill or voltage drop) as a free web tool with clear NEC article citations and code-year selection, drive traffic from electrician subreddits/forums and trade Facebook groups, and measure return usage plus an email/waitlist gate for a 'Pro suite.' Validate willingness-to-pay by offering a $5/month preorder for the full offline app and tracking conversion from the free calculator's users; a target of >5% of repeat users joining the waitlist or preordering signals demand.
- Crowded, mature market: established paid apps (Electrical Calc Elite, ElectriCalc Pro, Electrician's Helper) and many free web calculators already cover these calculations, so differentiation and customer acquisition are hard.

## Market gap
Underserved segments:
- Working electricians, electrical contractors, apprentices, journeymen, master electricians, and AHJ inspectors who need fast, code-grounded calculations on the job. who still run the workflow in spreadsheets, generic docs, email, or chat threads.
- Small teams in Electrical trades software and field-reference tools serving residential, commercial, and industrial electrical contractors in the US (and Canada via CEC). that feel the pain weekly but are too narrow for broad incumbents.
- New adopters who need guided proof before committing to a larger platform.

Feature gaps:
- A narrow workflow that reaches value without configuration-heavy onboarding.
- A buyer-facing proof artifact that shows time saved, risk reduced, or communication improved.
- A handoff path from manual concierge service to repeatable software.

Differentiation levers:
- Use specificity as the wedge: one buyer, one workflow, one measurable result.
- Show proof earlier than broad competitors with before-and-after examples and small pilot data.
- Keep implementation lighter than incumbent suites or generic AI assistants.

## Roast and risks
Promising enough to test, not strong enough to build broadly.

Blind spots:
- Crowded, mature market: established paid apps (Electrical Calc Elite, ElectriCalc Pro, Electrician's Helper) and many free web calculators already cover these calculations, so differentiation and customer acquisition are hard.
- A broad AI assistant can flatten differentiation unless the wedge is painfully specific.
- The first release can become a generic dashboard if the job is not named tightly.

Hard questions:
- Who wakes up already trying to solve this?
- What do they stop paying for or stop doing when this works?
- What proof would make a skeptical buyer trust it in one screen?
- What is the smallest paid version of this idea?

## Kill criteria
- Fewer than five qualified buyers agree to discuss the workflow after targeted outreach.
- No buyer can name a current cost in time, money, risk, or reputation.
- The first demo does not produce a clear next step, paid pilot, or specific objection.

## Offer ladder
- **Lead magnet (Free)**: Electric Code Calculator checklist Goal: Capture qualified leads and learn the buyer's exact language. Value: Helps Working electricians, electrical contractors, apprentices, journeymen, master electricians, and AHJ inspectors who need fast, code-grounded calculations on the job. audit the painful workflow before buying software.
- **Frontend offer ($19-$99)**: Concierge review or paid template Goal: Validate urgency, workflow fit, and willingness to pay. Value: Delivers the first useful output manually before automation is trusted.
- **Core offer ($49-$499/month)**: Electric code calculator focused SaaS Goal: Create the recurring revenue product after the narrow wedge survives tests. Value: Turns the recurring manual workflow into a repeatable product loop.
- **Continuity ($99-$1,000/year add-on)**: Monitoring, benchmarks, and monthly reporting Goal: Increase retention and make the product part of a routine. Value: Keeps the buyer engaged with ongoing proof, saved time, or reduced risk.
- **Backend offer (Custom)**: Done-with-you setup, agency, or team rollout Goal: Capture higher-value accounts once the productized wedge is proven. Value: Adds implementation help, integrations, and workflow migration.