UNDERGROUND UTILITY: STRIKES, DEWATERING AND ROCK
Same 811/strict-liability regime, GL sublimits, and fine tiers the excavation file documents, sharpened by linear exposure: a pipeline crew crosses more foreign utilities per week than a mass-ex crew does per job, and vacuum excavation is the control.
This page covers one problem. The full picture for this trade, including the other places margin leaks, is on the underground utility 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 NUMBER TO MEASURE IT AGAINST.
Underground Utility contractors run about % net profit at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 6% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is10%, set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher. 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 runs % to 20%, against a CFOS target of 10%.
THE SYSTEM THAT FIXES THIS.
The 13 week forecast, and a funding decision made before the week starts.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
