Excavation subcontractors operate some of the most equipment-intensive businesses in commercial construction. Heavy iron — excavators, bulldozers, haul trucks — drives overhead in ways that most other trades never experience. Here is what normal looks like at every revenue level.
These benchmarks are drawn from SPM's work with commercial excavation contractors and industry data. Calculate your actual overhead rate — total G&A expenses divided by total revenue for the trailing 12 months — and compare to your revenue band below.
How to use this data: If you're above the top of the range, specific categories need review. If you're below the bottom, you may be underinvesting in systems and staff. Use the benchmark as a target range, not a single number.
Trade note for Excavation Contractors: Excavation contractors have the highest equipment-to-revenue ratio of any commercial trade at $1M–$10M. The overhead rate benchmark reflects this reality — 15–22% at small scale is normal and expected, not a sign of poor financial management. The benchmark compresses significantly with scale as equipment cost is leveraged across more revenue.
A $3M excavation contractor may own $1M–$2M in equipment. The loan payments, insurance, and maintenance on that fleet as a percentage of $3M revenue is inherently high. Managing utilization — keeping equipment deployed at 60%+ of available hours — is the primary lever.
Fuel and maintenance for excavation equipment often goes to a general overhead account rather than to the specific jobs using the equipment. This inflates overhead and understates job cost simultaneously.
At $1M–$3M, the owner of an excavation company is often operating equipment on jobs. That time and value should be priced into bids as direct cost — not absorbed into overhead invisibly.
SPM builds equipment hour tracking in ControlQore — logging hours by job for each piece of equipment. Utilization reports show which equipment is earning its ownership cost and which is sitting idle. Low utilization triggers the sell-or-lease analysis.
Fuel and maintenance for equipment deployed on specific jobs is coded to those jobs in ControlQore — not to a general overhead account. Overhead rate drops and job costing accuracy improves simultaneously.
SPM sets up internal equipment rates in ControlQore for every owned piece of equipment — based on true ownership cost including loan payment, depreciation, insurance, and maintenance. Equipment cost flows from overhead to direct job cost where it belongs.
Find out in a free 30-minute call. Josh will tell you straight where your overhead rate stands and what to do about it.
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