OVERHEAD RATE FOR SITEWORK CONTRACTORS — WHAT IT SHOULD BE.
The target overhead rate for sitework contractors doing $2M–$8M is 10–14%. Sitework carries significant equipment fleet overhead, utility coordination administration, and the scheduling complexity of multi-trade site coordination. Most sitework contractors who formally calculate their overhead rate find it running 4–6 points above their bid rate because equipment carrying costs and coordination overhead are absorbed informally rather than quantified.
Sitework is the most coordination-intensive early trade on most projects. Managing utility conflicts, GC schedule alignment, survey control, and inspection scheduling creates real administrative overhead that belongs in the rate.
OVERHEAD BENCHMARKS FOR SITEWORK CONTRACTORS.
Sitework contractors with significant owned equipment fleets run at the higher end of the range. A sitework contractor doing most work with rented equipment and minimal fixed overhead can achieve 10–11%. Heavy fleet ownership typically pushes the real rate to 12–15%.
THE LINE ITEMS THAT PUSH SITEWORK OVERHEAD ABOVE TARGET.
Equipment Fleet Between Projects
Sitework equipment — excavators, graders, compactors, utility trucks — generates carrying costs every day regardless of project activity. Fleet downtime between project mobilizations produces overhead proportional to the idle period. A sitework contractor with a $1.2M fleet running 78% utilization carries 22% of annual ownership cost in overhead — potentially $35,000–60,000 per year.
Utility Coordination Administration
Sitework on developed sites requires 811 coordination, utility locating, potholing verification, and coordination with utility owners. The PM or superintendent time spent on utility coordination — scheduling locates, managing conflicts, coordinating repairs — is administrative overhead on most projects. At $4M revenue with heavy utility coordination work, this can run $25,000–45,000 annually.
Survey and Grade Control
Grade control on sitework projects requires ongoing survey coordination — benchmarks, control points, as-built verification. The superintendent or project manager time coordinating with the survey crew, verifying grade, and managing survey schedule belongs in overhead as an administrative function not directly billed to most projects.
ONE SITTING. REAL NUMBER.
Free calculator: The CFOS overhead rate calculator walks through every line item and produces your real rate in about 10 minutes at constructioncfo.net/construction-overhead-rate-calculator-interactive
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