ForConstructionPros.com

Job costing in its simplest terms is knowing how much it costs to perform a particular job. But the intricacies of that “job cost” and how to get to it is where most contractors get bogged down. And once you have collected and organized your job costing information, how do you know it’s right? In other words, how do you know that the 25% of revenues you spend on labor for sweeping a parking lot is what you should be spending on the job?

That’s just one of the questions two veteran contract sweepers - who run two vastly different types of sweeping businesses in different markets of different size - were asking themselves about five years ago. Since then, they have been working jointly, comparing notes and numbers so that each can improve his own job costing - and his company’s bottom line.

Gerry Kesselring, Contract Sweepers & Equipment, runs an employee-owned company based in Columbus, OH, with operations in Cincinnati and Dayton. Contract Sweepers employs 100 people providing parking lot, municipal, and construction sweeping within a 75-mile radius of each location. Contract Sweepers also generates a portion of its revenue from scrubbing, indoor sweeping, distribution, and other pavement maintenance services. “We are a sweeping contractor first and foremost,” Kesselring says. “Sweeping is primary to what we do.”

Gabe Vitale, president of C&L Sweeper Service, Jackson, NJ, is a second-generation owner of a 50-person company that generates 85% of its revenue from sweeping (60% shopping centers, 15% construction, and 10% municipal). Like Contract Sweepers, C&L Sweeper also offers full pavement maintenance services.

Their efforts at comparing and contrasting job costing information has its roots in the North American Power Sweeping Association (NAPSA), where both are long-time members. What they’ve determined is fuel costs should be roughly 9.3% of revenues, direct labor (wages only) should be 25% of revenues for parking lot sweeping, and direct labor for broom sweeping should be roughly 25.5%. Neither of the labor figures includes benefits, insurance, etc. (They caution that these job costing figures are benchmarks for the two operations and might or might not be applicable to other contract sweepers.)