MASONRY GROSS MARGIN BENCHMARKS.
Masonry gross margin runs 21% at $1M to $5M in revenue and climbs to 28% at $500M and above. Scaffold cost allocation is the single biggest swing factor; contractors who track it as a job cost instead of overhead run 2 to 3 points higher at every revenue band.
Gross margin for masonry contractors is direct job cost subtracted from revenue, divided by revenue. It compresses at small revenue because fixed scaffold and equipment cost spreads across fewer jobs, and it climbs as contractors scale because that same fixed cost gets absorbed across more volume. The single biggest lever inside any given band is whether scaffold cost lands on the job or disappears into overhead; a $3M masonry sub with $150,000 a year in scaffold cost running to overhead is giving up 2 to 3 points of gross margin it never sees.
GROSS MARGIN, THE FORMULA.
Gross Margin Formula: (Revenue minus Direct Job Cost) divided by Revenue, times 100. Direct job cost includes labor, material, scaffold rate, and equipment allocated to the specific job; it does not include overhead like office rent, admin salaries, or general insurance.
MASONRY GROSS MARGIN BY REVENUE BAND.
| Revenue Band | Gross Margin | Net Profit | Overhead Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1M–$5M | 21% | 5.5% | 14% |
| $5M–$10M | 22% | 6.5% | 13% |
| $10M–$25M | 23% | 7.5% | 12% |
| $25M–$50M | 24% | 8.5% | 11% |
| $50M–$100M | 25% | 9.5% | 10% |
| $100M–$500M | 26% | 10.5% | 9% |
| $500M+ | 28% | 11.5% | 8% |
Gross margin trends up with scale; overhead rate trends down as fixed costs spread over more revenue. The gap between the two is net profit.
WHERE THE TYPICAL SPM CLIENT SITS.
| Metric | Industry Low | SPM Target | Strong | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Margin | 21% | 23% | 28% | SPM target adds 2 points over industry low by charging scaffold to the job |
| Net Profit | 5.5% | 7.0% | 11.5% | Reflects overhead correction alongside margin gain |
| Overhead Rate | 14% | 12% | 8% | Drops when scaffold cost is pulled out of overhead |
| Days Sales Outstanding | 75 | 45 | 30 | Flat benchmark across all SPM trades |
| Working Capital Ratio | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0+ | Flat benchmark across all SPM trades |
WHAT PULLS MASONRY MARGIN BELOW BENCHMARK.
Scaffold in Overhead
Depreciation, maintenance, and erect/dismantle labor running to overhead instead of the job that used the scaffold system.
Wall-Type Labor Variance
CMU, face brick, stone, and architectural CMU all run different labor rates. No weekly actual-vs-estimated tracking by wall type means variance compounds unseen.
Weather Delays Absorbed
Cold weather protection and pour delays treated as cost of doing business instead of a documented, billable change order.
THE THREE FIXES THAT MOVE THE NUMBER.
Internal Scaffold Rate
Built from your fleet's actual depreciation and maintenance history, then loaded into ControlQore so cost flows to the job automatically.
Cost Codes by Wall Type
CMU, face brick, stone, and architectural CMU each get their own code, aligned to your estimate, reviewed weekly.
Weather Delay Documentation
Every weather hold day gets logged and filed as a change order where the contract allows it, instead of absorbed.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
