Construction companies that operate fleets across multiple locations juggle a familiar tangle of moving parts, including mixed assets working in harsh environments, seasonal demand, regional regulations and dispersed teams with different experience levels. All this can make consistency feel out of reach, yet the fleets that are winning right now have one thing in common: they’re standardizing practices across locations and using centralized fleet solutions so all data and communication flows into one platform.
This need for standardization and data visibility is something Nick Bader, Fleet Manager at Race Communications, knows all too well. When he started in his position three years ago, the fleet was about 90 assets strong. Now, they’re at 391 assets spread across California. Bader knew that to get control over all his assets, ranging from pickups, dump trucks and skid loaders to bore machines and other heavy equipment, he needed all fleet data to be in one place with digital access.
The Standardization Problem
Consistency is important for any fleet, and as companies grow and expand, it becomes even more integral to keeping operations running smoothly. But to get to the point where you can be consistent, standardization is a must, and this especially pertains to things like preventive maintenance (PM) and repairs, safety and overall data visibility.
When every location schedules and records PM its own way, service tasks can slip through the cracks, you can miss warranty windows or pay for services that are covered and you might even experience assets getting double service, all of which equals a lot of unnecessary cost inflation. And with siloed spreadsheets or job-site whiteboards, fleet managers can have a hard time seeing which assets are down, which parts are available or whether a repair is waiting on technician time or vendor ETA, leading to additional downtime.
A lack of standardization can also impact safety and compliance. Across all sites, inspections must adhere to FMCSA requirements and should be based on OEM recommendations, although they can have additional checklist items based on criteria of your choosing, such as including high-fail items. Inspections don’t just pertain to assets, though; they include personal protective equipment (PPE). Creating a safety and compliance policy and distributing it to all locations and having safety stand-ups can help ensure standards are being met.
Without having visibility into your fleet data, both standardization and consistency can be hard to obtain. Bader experienced this difficulty before he and Kristen Arnecke, the company’s Fleet Admin, began migrating data to a centralized fleet solution. The company had its own internal system that could be used to create an issue or a ticket but caused them to have to submit and look for data in multiple locations. Relying more heavily on the centralized fleet solution allowed them to consolidate data from telematics and gave them digital access to data in real time. This was a major benefit, as Bader recalls a time he was out in the field and his CEO was requesting information on a paver — how much it cost and when it was procured — and by pulling up the fleet solution’s mobile app, he was able to provide that information in under a minute.
Creating Consistency
A great place to start seeing more consistency across locations is by standardizing PM programs by asset class with interval logic based on engine hours, miles or time. This allows for better scheduling and helps each location adhere to set standards. Leverage automatic alerts and reminders for due soon and overdue tasks so you know when to schedule and can track which asset isn’t meeting the standards set. Bader explains that all the company’s drivers receive both an in-app notification and e-mail when their asset is scheduled for service, ensuring all parties know what’s going on, reducing friction and improving uptime.
When it comes to the actual service side of things, you can run up against other challenges. Manually entering service invoice data can be time-consuming and create inconsistencies where there should be none. Fleet solutions offer AI functionality on the back end so you can upload an invoice and the system properly allocates each line item, including any notes left by technicians. Arnecke has reported that using this feature has saved her between six and eight hours per week on just data entry.
You can also use a fleet solution’s Maintenance Shop Network feature so invoices are automatically pulled into the system. This functionality allows you to set auto-approvals based on cost or service task across locations to minimize downtime related to manual approvals and/or drivers waiting to pick up assets.
For in-house service, you can use digital work orders to help improve standardization in the shop. Digital work orders are customizable, so you can add any line items you need and set estimated service durations. If you keep parts inventory on hand, you can add it to your fleet solution and set auto-reorder thresholds for every location to reduce instances of assets sitting in the shop waiting for a part. When parts are added to a work order, they are automatically removed from your inventory count, improving overall inventory management and minimizing unnecessary overhead across locations.
Digital inspections add another layer of consistency, especially if you’ve standardized inspections — based on asset type and OEM recommendations — across locations. Not only will inspections be consistent, but you can require photos and comments on failed items for deeper insights into the issue. Failed items automatically alert managers and technicians, enabling you to prioritize service based on criticality to improve safety and reduce downtime.
Driving Improvements
According to a 2025 fleet benchmarking report, the median maintenance cost per mile in construction is $.23, so keeping fleet assets at or below that rate can keep your business competitive. Gaining consistency and data visibility allows you to benchmark all your locations and overall fleet operations by providing real-time key performance indicators by location, including uptime, utilization, PM compliance rates, inspection completion rates, fuel per operating hour, cost per mile and total cost of ownership.
With this data, in addition to benchmarking, you can monitor standardization across locations to see what’s working, where inefficiencies lie and what areas need improvement, as well as where the biggest cost centers are and why. Consistency really is the differentiator for multi-location construction fleets, and you get it by connecting the field to the back office and the shops and giving every location the same playbook.
