In last year’s white paper we noted that of all the Top Contractor lists, the Striping list shows not only the steadiest growth but also the most stability. We theorized that where other industry segments were severely hit by the Great Recession, it’s possible that the lower-cost striping services were not hit as hard. So it’s possible there wasn’t the pent-up demand for striping, meaning there weren’t the huge leaps seen in the sealcoating and paving sales lists in 2015 and 2016.
In addition, we theorized, the capital investment for striping can be significantly less than for other industry segments, so it’s possible the striping industry lost fewer competitors during the recession – because they weren’t carrying large amounts of equipment debt they couldn’t afford -- meaning competition before, during and after was consistent.
And more specifically, we noted in the white paper that “A similar steady uptick in striping-only sales for this [striping] list in 2017 will likely affirm that and demonstrate a stable – possibly the most stable – segment of the paving & pavement maintenance industry.”
And that’s exactly what happened.
Total striping-only sales for the 2017 Striping 50 was $139,214,580 – up from just over $133 million last year. And that’s despite the Striping list being cut from 75 to 50 companies!
That growth in striping-only sales continues the trend that we started tracking in 2014 with $92 million in striping-only sales and $112 million in 2015.
The Striping 50 surely has demonstrated its stability and a steady growth pattern for the pavement marking aspect of their sales.
Unfortunately total sales for all the work the 2017 Striping 50 did declined to $926,195,292 from $1.177 billion last year and from $1.5 billion in 2015 and from just over 1 billion in 2014. But it’s fair to say that had we been able to expand the list to include 75 firms the 2017 total sales figure would have neared or surpassed last year’s total.
Striping-only sales represent 15% of total list sales, up from 11% last year, 7% in 2015 and from 9% in 2014. Average striping-only sales for 2017 was $2,784,291 – up from $1.774 million in 2016, from $1.492 million in 2015 and from $1.297 million in 2014.
Other revenue was generated as follows:
· 36 companies perform paving work (72%)
· 44 companies perform sealcoating work (88%)
· 39 companies perform pavement repair work (78%)
Profit Margin Growth
But sales increases don’t necessarily translate into bottom-line profit, but we’re happy to note that profit margins for the Striping 50 continue a shift to larger margins. Margins for the Striping 50 have been edging higher since Pavement began the lists five years ago.
Those reporting margins greater than 15% rose to 48% up from 39% in 2016 and 31% in 2015 (and from 30% in 2014 and 17% in 2013). And while companies earning 10-15% profit declined to 25% from 28% last year, the percentage of contactors earning more than 10% profit rose to 73% from 67% last year and 64% in 2015.
The percentage of contractors earning 5% or less remained stable at 4%, still a significant improvement over the 10% figure reported in 2015 (with no contractors reported margins of less than 3%).
Where Stripers Work
All of the Striping 50 companies generate sales from parking lot work, with 7 companies reporting 100% of sales from parking lots and another 10 companies reporting 90% or more of sales from parking lots. Work on roads and streets generates sales for 33 companies; 15 companies indicated they work on highways; 25 contractors said the work on driveways but it’s unlikely that work involves striping.
The Striping 50’s Customers
· 49 contractors work for commercial/industrial customers (98%)
· 41 contractors work for multi-family residential customers (82%)
· 39 contractors work for municipal clients (78%)
· 31 contractors work for single-family homeowners (62%)
