Tank and vessel
Tank and vessel sits 1st of 3 in specialty on net profit, and it carries leaner overhead than the 48-trade average. Here is every figure, across all 7 revenue bands.
Tank and vessel by revenue band
| Metric | $1M–$5M | $5M–$10M | $10M–$25M | $25M–$50M | $50M–$100M | $100M–$500M | $500M+ | CFOS target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 15% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 9% | 14% |
| Gross margin | 23% | 24% | 25% | 27% | 28% | 30% | 32% | 24.5% |
| Net profit | 8% | 10% | 12% | 15% | 17% | 20% | 23% | 10.5% |
- 2024 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2024. The survey puts gross profit margin at 21.8%, SG&A at 11.8%, and net income before taxes at 6.3% across all respondents. The best-in-class top quartile reaches 11.9% net income before taxes. Those figures are the whole-population reading, so a single trade can sit well either side of them.
- 2025 Performance Benchmarks, Construction Companies, Jones Maresca and Company, 2025. This study reports specialty contractor gross margin between 15% and 25%. It puts net profit at 5% to 8% for a well managed company, and total indirect cost between 8% and 15%. The indirect cost band is the one worth reading twice, because it's the number most owners have never calculated for their own shop.
- SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC, 2026. The reference holds 48 trades, each publishing a row of its own across all 7 revenue bands, and net profit in it is stated before taxes.
How these figures were built. Gross margin and overhead come from CFMA's 2024 and 2025 financial survey data, plus a January 2026 specialty trade study. Net profit comes from a 48 trade master dataset that covers 24 served trades and 24 adjacent trades. The reference holds 48 trades and every one of them publishes a row of its own. Where the survey and the master disagree on net profit, the master carries it. Benchmarks are reviewed against each new CFMA survey release and reconciled before publication.
Which bands are measured. The first 3 bands sit inside the range the published surveys report, and across all 48 trades gross margin there averages 22.1% against the 21.8% CFMA publishes for all respondents. The 4 bands above $10M–$25M carry the same curve further out, where the all trade average reaches 30.3%. Those 4 have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker, so every export labels them as modeled and this page says so before you use them.
6 problems specific to tank and vessel
You bid the tank in March, won it in July, and bought the plate in August against a mill quote that expired in April. The plate slipped six weeks and there's nothing else on that site your welders are allowed to touch. Four welders spent two weeks cutting and testing coupons, and none of that time had a job number behind it. The tank has been holding water for eighteen months, the city loves it, and the owner still has your retainage.
Each one below points at the item, the unit, the clock, or the party that makes it a tank and vessel problem, and it says which step fixes it.
Tank and vessel against the other 47 trades
| Metric | Tank and vessel | Specialty average | All 48 average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 15% | 16% | 15.1% | 17th of 48 |
| Gross margin | 23% | 23.7% | 22.1% | 13th of 48 |
| Net profit | 8% | 7.7% | 7% | 8th of 48 |
Tank and vessel sheds 6 points of overhead between $1M–$5M and $500M+, against 6.3 for specialty as a group. Inside that group, Tank and vessel, Scaffolding all keep 8%, the most in the group, and Marine, Tank and vessel all run 15% overhead, the leanest. This trade is one of them on both counts.
What owners ask
What overhead should a tank and vessel contractor run?
Tank and vessel shares its overhead figure with 14 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It runs 15% at $1M–$5M and 9% at $500M+, as a percentage of revenue. That sits 1 point below the specialty average of 16%. The CFOS target at $1M–$5M is 14%. The CFOS target is one point leaner than your trade's average at your revenue.
What gross margin should a tank and vessel contractor run?
Tank and vessel shares its gross margin figure with 6 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It runs 23% at $1M–$5M and 32% at $500M+, as a percentage of revenue. That sits 0.7 points below the specialty average of 23.7%. The CFOS target at $1M–$5M is 24.5%. The CFOS target is published at $1M to $5M. It's set at whatever gross margin produces the net profit target once overhead is paid, and never below your trade's own average.
What net profit should a tank and vessel contractor run?
Tank and vessel shares its net profit figure with 12 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It runs 8% at $1M–$5M and 23% at $500M+, before taxes, as a percentage of revenue. That sits 0.3 points above the specialty average of 7.7%. The CFOS target at $1M–$5M is 10.5%. The CFOS target is published at $1M to $5M.
Does tank and vessel get more profitable as it grows?
Overhead is the number that moves. Tank and vessel sheds 6 points between $1M–$5M and $500M+, which is in line with the 6.3 points specialty sheds as a group. Net profit is already above the 48-trade average, so the room is in holding it while revenue climbs.
Where does tank and vessel sit against the other trades?
Tank and vessel ties 1 trade in specialty on net profit, all at 8%. Nothing publishes more, and Scaffolding matches it. Its overhead is the leanest too, level with Marine. Gross margin ranks 13th of 48 and overhead ranks 17th.
Josh Luebker ran commercial construction projects before he ran the numbers behind them, on data centers, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. He wrote CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System, which is an 8 step framework for commercial subcontractors, and it publishes on October 1, 2026. He is a master electrician who moved into the office and kept the field vocabulary.
Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC maintains the benchmark reference behind these figures. Every edition is reconciled against the newest CFMA survey release before it publishes here. Where a figure changes between editions, the older edition keeps its year in the title so a citation to it stays correct.