Why Sitework Contractors Run Out Of Cash
Sitework contractors, grading, clearing, earthwork, run out of cash because the work is entirely equipment and weather dependent, and most bids don't separate equipment cost from labor cost cleanly enough to know which one is actually driving overruns. When a skid steer sits idle waiting on a weather delay, the cost doesn't stop just because the work did.
Sitework sits underneath every other trade on a project, which means it absorbs schedule pressure from everyone above it while carrying some of the heaviest equipment costs in the industry. Here's where the cash actually goes.
Reason One: Equipment Costs Get Bundled Into One Guess
Most sitework bids use an all-in hourly rate for equipment that bundles the machine, the operator, and fuel together. A real example from a $7.1M civil contractor: a skid steer was estimated at $450 an hour, which sounds reasonable until you break it down. The machine cost $979 a day to have on site, $200 to mobilize and stage, 8 gallons an hour in fuel when running, and a $47-an-hour fully burdened operator. When a task only needed two hours of actual use, the equipment was still on site for the full day, and the job lost money every time.
Reason Two: Weather Delays Don't Pause Equipment Cost
A rained-out day doesn't stop the daily cost of owning or renting a piece of equipment. If your bid only accounts for active machine hours instead of the equipment being on site for the duration of the job, every weather delay quietly turns into a loss that never shows up until the job is closed out and it's too late to price the next one correctly.
Reason Three: Double-Paying For The Same Capability
Without visibility into where owned equipment actually needs to be, sitework contractors often rent a second machine for a different job because they're not sure the owned one will be free in time, while the owned machine sits underused elsewhere. That's paying twice for the same capability.
The Fix: Separate Equipment, Fuel, And Labor
Break equipment costs into their own category, separate from labor and separate from fuel. Charge a daily or monthly rate for equipment being on site, distinct from the hours it's actively running, so idle days and weather delays are covered instead of absorbed silently. One $7.1M civil contractor who rebuilt this exact structure across 34 pieces of equipment and 14 trucks saw their balance sheet improve by $779,000 within three months. The money was always there. They just couldn't see it.
Why do sitework contractors lose money even when they're busy?
Because equipment, fuel, and labor costs are often bundled into a single all-in hourly rate that doesn't reflect what the machine actually costs to have on site for a full day, including idle time and weather delays.
How does a weather delay affect sitework contractor profitability?
Equipment costs keep running whether or not the machine is actively working. If a bid only accounts for active hours, a rained-out day becomes an unbudgeted loss.
What's the right way to price equipment on a sitework bid?
Calculate a true daily, weekly, or monthly rate based on ownership cost, maintenance, and mobilization, separate from an hourly rate for labor and fuel, so idle time is priced into the job instead of absorbed as a surprise.
How much money can better equipment cost tracking recover?
One $7.1M civil contractor recovered $779,000 in three months after rebuilding equipment cost basis across their fleet. The cash was already inside the business; it just wasn't visible.
Former commercial construction project manager and master electrician. Managed 150+ projects totaling $2.1B+ — Google data centers, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. CONTROL is built on what actually works in the field.
Josh founded Sulphur Prairie Management (The Construction CFO) to be the fractional CFO for commercial subcontractors.