Telecom subcontractors carry overhead driven by technical certification requirements, multi-network-owner compliance, and the project documentation standards that telecom carriers impose on their installation partners.
These benchmarks are drawn from SPM's work with commercial telecom 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 Telecom Contractors: Telecom contractors working exclusively with a single network owner (AT&T, Verizon, Lumen) have simpler compliance overhead than those managing multiple network owner relationships simultaneously. The benchmark overhead rates above apply to multi-network-owner operations. Single-network-owner contractors typically run 2–3% lower on overhead rate.
Each network owner has different certification, documentation, and quality requirements. Maintaining compliance for AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen simultaneously creates overhead that's often tracked at the network owner level in billing systems but not in overhead rate calculations.
Field technicians and PMs who spend time on as-built documentation, fiber records, and network documentation for specific projects are doing project work that should be direct job cost — not overhead.
OTDR units, power meters, fusion splicer maintenance, and specialized telecom test equipment represent significant capital with ongoing calibration and maintenance costs. Most telecom contractors carry this in overhead without tracking utilization by job.
SPM builds compliance documentation cost tracking in ControlQore by network owner — so the overhead cost of maintaining certifications and documentation standards for each owner is visible and can be factored into pricing for that owner's work.
As-built preparation, fiber records, and network documentation for specific projects are coded to those jobs in ControlQore — not to overhead. Project-specific documentation labor belongs in the job's direct cost.
Telecom test equipment utilization is tracked in ControlQore by project — allocating equipment costs to the jobs generating the utilization rather than absorbing all test equipment cost in undifferentiated overhead.
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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