Frequently Asked Questions

Inside Wire Calls is a centralized resource for IBEW inside wiremen. We aggregate job calls and out-of-work book data from local union halls across the U.S. and Canada so you can see what is open without checking dozens of hall websites one by one.

The public site at insidewirecalls.com includes a Hall Directory, a Job Board with the latest calls, and a Book Status tracker. The member app at the member app adds favorite-local tracking, push notifications, an OT-aware wage calculator, and other tools for verified IBEW members.

The public site (insidewirecalls.com) shows the top calls, hall directory, and book status — free, no signup. It’s the marketing surface, useful for anyone curious about the project.

The member app at the member app is the working tool. After verifying as an IBEW member, you get the full job board, favorite locals, push notifications when new calls post at your favorites, the wage calculator, and a dashboard tailored to your classification.

Two tiers for individual members:

• Apprentice (free) — Verified IBEW members get full access to all job calls, book status, hall details, and the ability to favorite locals.
• Journeyman ($9.99/month or $99/year) — Adds the OT-aware wage calculator, push notifications when calls post at your favorite locals, and detailed weekly gross estimates on every posting. Includes a 7-day free trial.

For halls, contractors, or organizations interested in business-tier access, get in touch.

Yes — Journeyman tier includes a 7-day free trial. No charge if you cancel before the trial ends. Cancel anytime, one click in the app. Apprentice tier is free with no trial needed.

Submit a photo of your yellow ticket on our Join page. We’ll confirm your membership — usually within 24 hours — and email you a secure sign-in link, no password to remember. Click it to set up your free account at the member app.

Existing members are guided through the migration when they sign in at the member app. Use the same email you registered with on the old site. Your verified status carries over, so you won’t need to re-verify. If you hit a snag, use the Report Error form and we’ll get you sorted.

Inside Wire Calls is a progressive web app — no app store install needed. Open the member app in Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android, then tap your browser’s “Add to Home Screen” option. It opens like any other app on your phone, with push notifications and offline support for Journeyman members.

One click in the app under Profile → Billing. No phone calls, no forms, no questions. Cancel during the 7-day trial and you won’t be charged. Cancel after, and you keep Journeyman access through the end of your current billing period — then drop back to free Apprentice access automatically.

The wage calculator (Journeyman tier) estimates your weekly gross pay based on the actual OT rules from your local’s contract — straight time, time-and-a-half, double time, and any premiums the agreement carries. You can model different scenarios: 4/10 versus 5/8 schedules, Saturday work patterns, and the shift and licence premiums some agreements pay.

For locals where we haven’t seeded the full contract yet, the calculator falls back to a conservative straight-time estimate and shows a link to submit the contract. We add new contracts regularly.

Journeyman members can mark locals as favorites and get a push notification when a new job call posts at any of them. Browser-based push — no SMS or app store install required. Works on iPhone, Android, and desktop.

Enable, mute, or unmute notifications anytime from your profile. You stay in control of what you’re hearing about.

We track IBEW inside classifications:

• Journeyman Wireman
• Construction Wireman / Construction Electrician (CW/CE)
• Residential Wireman
• Sound & Communication Technician (VDV / teledata)

Halls write these a dozen different ways — “JW”, “Jrn I Wmn”, “Inside Journeyman”, “CE-3”, “JIT”, “VDV Technician” — and we normalize them so you can compare across halls.

Some boards also carry support classifications a hall dispatches off the same list, such as material handlers and cable pullers. Those are kept in the data and show up when you view all classifications rather than filtering to your own.

We scrape calls hourly from east to west coast, starting at each hall’s close of business — runs go out at 2:01, 3:01, 4:01, and 5:01 PM PST daily. The “Last updated” timestamp on every table tells you exactly when the data was last refreshed.

Journeyman members can favorite locals and get a push notification when a new call posts at one of their favorites — so you don’t have to refresh the page to know when something new shows up.

Keep in mind that each local updates their own website on their own schedule, so some halls may post new calls faster than others.

All data comes directly from the individual IBEW local union hall websites. We don’t create or modify the information — we collect what the halls have posted and present it in a searchable, sortable format. Each table row includes a “Source” or “View” link so you can always verify the original posting.

IBEW locals maintain out-of-work books to manage job dispatch. The book number indicates your priority for receiving a call:

• Book 1 — Members of that local union (home local). First priority for dispatch.
• Book 2 — Members from other IBEW locals (travelers). Second priority.
• Book 3 — Typically non-union or newly organized workers. Third priority.
• Book 4 — Additional category used by some locals for specific situations.

Not all locals use all four books, which is why you may see “N/A” for some. The “Total On Books” column shows how many people are waiting for work at that hall.

A standing call is an ongoing, open request for workers. Unlike a regular job call that fills and closes, a standing call means the contractor has a continuous need and the hall is accepting names on an ongoing basis. Standing calls are highlighted in blue on the Job Board and local pages so you can spot them easily.

The Hall Directory is available from the main navigation on every page. It provides a comprehensive directory of IBEW union halls for electrical lineworkers, searchable by local number, city, state, or region. Click any local to view their individual page with hall address, phone number, map, current job calls, and book status.

Click the Report an error link at the bottom of any page. It opens a short form where you can describe the issue. The page you were on is automatically included so we can track it down quickly. We review every report and appreciate the help keeping the data accurate.

No. Your favorites, profile info, and notification preferences stay on Inside Wire Calls — we don’t share them with employers, halls, or any third party. Verification info is used only to confirm you’re an IBEW member, and is never sent to your hall or any contractor.

No. Inside Wire Calls is an independent resource and is not officially affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the IBEW or any IBEW local union. We simply collect publicly available information from local hall websites and present it in one convenient place.

We’re constantly working to add more locals. Some halls don’t publish their job calls or book status online, which makes it impossible for us to collect the data. If your local does post this information on their website and you’d like to see them added, let us know through the Report an error form and include a link to your local’s job call page.

The Yard is our Discord community for Inside Wire Calls members. Hall-specific tips, what-the-rate questions, how a book is actually moving, and general inside-wireman talk. Join from the link in your profile after verifying as an IBEW member.

Inside Wire Calls provides several resources to help inside wiremen find work and track availability across the U.S. and Canada:

• Job Board — Real-time job postings for electrical lineworkers from IBEW locals across the U.S. and Canada, sortable by pay rate, classification, and location.
• Hall Directory — A comprehensive directory of IBEW union halls with contact info, maps, and links to each local’s official website.
• Book Status — Out-of-work book numbers for every tracked local, so you can see where books are moving and where the work is.
• Contract Breakdowns — Detailed pay rate breakdowns from IBEW local agreements, including scale, hours, and classification-specific rates.
• Wage Calculator — OT-aware weekly gross estimates using each local’s actual contract rules. Available on the member app for Journeyman tier.
• Favorite Locals + Push Notifications — Track the halls you care about and get notified when new calls post. Favorites are free for all verified members; push notifications are a Journeyman tier feature.

Yes — that’s exactly what Inside Wire Calls was built for. Instead of checking dozens of individual IBEW local websites one by one, Inside Wire Calls aggregates job calls from multiple electrical union halls into a single, searchable Job Board. You can filter by classification, sort by pay rate, and compare calls across locals all in one place.