CIVIL: IRON THAT BILLS NOTHING
Ownership cost continues whether machines work or stay idle. A CAT 330 excavator costs roughly $200 per day in ownership cost parked, and $150 to $200 per hour loaded when operating. Industry idle rates average around 30 percent. Bids that skip ownership cost give that money to the owner.
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This page covers one problem. The full picture for this trade, including the other places margin leaks, is on the civil operating system page.
WHERE THE MONEY GOES.
Covered in full in the quick answer above. The sourced numbers and what controls it are below.
THE COST, SOURCED.
a $7.1M civil contractor found $779K on the balance sheet in total to date once equipment and mobilization costs were tracked and billed instead of going unseen. (a verified civil client, verified client story, Ch2)
THE SAME PROBLEM, WRITTEN UP.
Your existing asset continues to sit idle burning a hole in your balance sheet while you continue to pay thousands of dollars each month against your loan on it.
Tenna equipment cost guide
Every machine on the job costs money, whether it's moving or sitting idle.
Excavating Insurance Partners estimating guide, 2026
THE NUMBER TO MEASURE IT AGAINST.
Civil contractors have about 7% net profit at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 10% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS net profit target is 10.5% before taxes at $1M to $5M, the trade's average plus 3.5 points, never below 10%. A problem like this one lives in the distance between those two figures rather than in a loss on any single job.
Gross margin over the same bands is 21% to 23%,against CFOS targets of 23.5% and 25.5%.
THE SYSTEM THAT FIXES THIS.
Cost codes built against the estimate, so a job can be read while it is open.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
PART 3 OF 6, TO WATCH.
Never Miss Payroll Without Taking On Debt is a 6 part series on making payroll out of work already performed, without reaching for a line of credit. One of the sessions covers this:
Your Equipment Is Losing Money, and It's Not the Maintenance Bill
A rate built on what you paid recovers enough to own a worn out machine. It doesn't buy the next one.
Playing on this site, with nothing to enter and nothing to join.
