Next year in this June/July issue the paving & pavement maintenance industry will receive what it has been asking for since 2004: A revival of the Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction Top Contractor Rankings.
These rankings were published until 2003 when we decided to stop -- largely because of the cost of developing the rankings and because, to put it politely, some contractors exaggerated. But because we think we can guarantee the veracity of the numbers we are again making the investment to determine rankings in four contractor categories: Paving, Striping, Sealcoating and Sweeping. We hope to rank the top 100 contractors in each of the four segments, but the number ranked will be determined by the response we get from contractors.
The rankings will be based on total company revenue specific to each field of work. So, if a contractor generates $1 million in total sales (50% paving, 30% sealcoating, 10% striping, 10% sweeping) we will apply the sales percentage to total sales to determine the sales for that segment of work. So in this example 50% X $1 million = $500,00; the $500,00 would be used to determine where that company ranks (if at all) in the Paving Top 100. The same approach would be used for the other segments (30% X $1 million = $300,000 sealcoating sales etc.) We will be basing the rankings on revenue for fiscal 2012, regardless of when your fiscal year ends.
But the big question is: How do we make sure the numbers, and hence rankings, are reliable? We're going to take a page from our sister publication, Qualified Remodeler (which ranks 500 contractors each year) and require either a signed statement from each contractor's accountant or a copy of the 2012 tax return. Either will be acceptable -- but none of the financial numbers will be published; the numbers will be used only to determine rankings. That, combined with answers to a handful of questions (you'll be able to enter online or via mail/fax) should do the trick.
So keep an eye out for announcements about these rankings and we urge all contractors to participate. Not only does this provide a nice marketing edge for contractors but it enables us to generate and track some much-needed industry information such as total sales for each list, total combined sales for the four lists, and more.
