CONCRETE PUMPING · CONCRETE AND MASONRY · FIXED BY STEP 02

A Back-Ordered Boom Part Parks Your Whole Revenue Unit

That truck is the whole shop. It waits three weeks on a part, and the equipment payment keeps clearing the whole time.

WHY IT'S A CONCRETE PUMPING PROBLEM

A crew-based trade flexes capacity by moving guys to another job, adding a Saturday, or subbing out part of the scope. Pumping has one production path per unit, and every yard of it goes through a machine no supplier keeps on a shelf. So downtime removes the unit from the schedule entirely while the equipment payment, the commercial auto and inland marine premium, and the operator's pay all keep clearing your account.

WHAT IT COSTS

The size of it

Three weeks down on one truck in July removes an entire quarter of that unit's contribution margin. There's no season left to earn it back in.

OVERHEAD AT $1M–$5M

16%

CFOS target 15% for concrete pumping.

GROSS MARGIN AT $1M–$5M

23%

CFOS target 25.5% for concrete pumping.

NET PROFIT AT $1M–$5M

CFOS target 10.5% for concrete pumping.

One back-ordered boom section takes an entire revenue unit offline, because production here is one truck plus one certified operator. A stationary unit runs around $30K; a 52 meter or larger truck-mounted boom runs up to roughly $800K, built to order through a short list of importers who quote by request with no published lead time. When a boom weld cracks, a main hydraulic pump fails, or a pipe section goes on back order, that unit produces nothing until the part gets there. There's no overtime path and no subcontract crew that covers the downtime.

WHAT TO DO

Three moves, in order

STEP 01

Build a one-page contribution margin per truck: that unit's revenue minus operator pay, fuel, wear parts, and the payment, so you know what a parked day costs.

STEP 02

Stock the parts no supplier will quote a lead time on: spare S-tube, wear plate set, cutting ring, end hose, and the coupling and reducer sizes your fleet runs.

STEP 03

Set a cash reserve equal to three months of fixed cost on your largest truck, and fund it out of peak season while the money is moving.

THE FIX

Step 02: Equipment cost basis

A correct internal rate per machine covering ownership, maintenance, fuel, and transport, charged to the projects that used it.

CFOS-02 · CHAPTER 2

What your equipment really costs per hour

What this step changes, what it depends on, and how to tell it's installed.

BENCHMARKS

Concrete pumping by revenue band

All 7 bands are published. The CFOS target is beside the figure up to $10M to $25M, and the 4 bands above that are labelled modeled.

ACROSS EVERY TRADE

Your equipment is eating the margin

The machine is paid for, so the jobs use it at no charge. Then the transmission goes and the year is gone.

SAME TRADE

What else costs concrete pumping contractors money

CONCRETE PUMPING · CFOS-02

You Bill Hours. The Steel Wears by the Yard.

Two four-hour pours bill the same, and one of them wore out a whole pipeline. The invoice meters time; the machine meters yardage.

CONCRETE PUMPING · CFOS-05

Six Hours of Pumping, Eighteen Months of Retainage

You were on that job for six hours in March. Someone is still holding retainage on it two years later.

CONCRETE PUMPING · CFOS-04

The Cheapest Hour of the Day Is the One You Can't Skip

Half the day is windshield time at drive rate, and your operator is into overtime by ten in the morning on job two.

CONCRETE PUMPING · CFOS-01

Grout, Diesel, and Payroll Go Out Before the Invoice

You mix grout and throw it away before you pump one yard you can bill for, and the busiest month is the thinnest month in the bank.

CONCRETE PUMPING · CFOS-06

Outrigger Damage Comes Back Netted Off Your Next Check

A letter reaches you in June about a driveway your outriggers cracked in April, and the amount comes straight off your next check.

SAME MECHANISM, OTHER TRADES

The same mechanism in other trades

CONCRETE

Eight Tons of Rebar Tagged to a Drawing That Changed

The EOR approved the placing drawings, the fab shop cut and bent to the bar list, and then somebody moved a footing. Now you own bundles tagged to grid lines that no longer exist.

DEMOLITION

Your Breaker Burns Tool Steel That Overhead Pays For

A hammer chews $9,000 of tool steel on one teardown and the job that ate it never sees a dollar of the cost. The margin looks fine and the bank account disagrees.

DRYWALL

Lead-lined board is eight weeks and non-returnable

The imaging room's board is eight weeks out, cut to the shielding drawings, and the deposit is gone the day you release the order.

QUESTIONS

What concrete pumping owners ask

How much does it cost me when my boom pump truck is down?

That truck is the whole shop. It waits three weeks on a part, and the equipment payment keeps clearing the whole time.

What does it cost?

Three weeks down on one truck in July removes an entire quarter of that unit's contribution margin. There's no season left to earn it back in.

What do I do first?

Build a one-page contribution margin per truck: that unit's revenue minus operator pay, fuel, wear parts, and the payment, so you know what a parked day costs.

What are concrete pumping contractors supposed to be making?

Concrete pumping runs 23% gross margin, 16% overhead and 7% net profit before taxes at $1M–$5M. The all-trade average is 7%, so this trade is right on it. The CFOS target is 10.5%.

Which part of the system fixes it?

The step is number 02, equipment cost basis. A correct internal rate per machine covering ownership, maintenance, fuel, and transport, charged to the projects that used it. It comes from chapter 2 of CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System.

OR HAVE IT HANDLED

Everything on this page is something you can install yourself, andCONTROL is the order to do it in. If you would rather buy the finished result, SPM The Construction CFO does this work for concrete pumping contractors as a service. It is a separate firm, Sulphur Prairie Management, LLC, run by the same author.

What a fractional CFO does for concrete pumping contractors

AUTHOR

JOSH LUEBKER

MASTER ELECTRICIAN · 150+ PROJECTS · $2.1B+ MANAGED

Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system behind these figures. More about the author.