Missing equipment on construction jobsites costs operations an average of $13.2 million annually when accounting for project delays, penalties, rentals, and wasted labor, with 71% of operations experiencing theft every quarter and small mobile equipment like generators and power tools being the most frequently lost assets.
- 71% of operations without asset tracking experience equipment theft every quarter, with 25% of new equipment budgets spent on replacements
- Average annual cost of missing assets reaches $13.2 million per operation, including delays, penalties, rentals, and labor waste
- 72% of losses come from equipment under $10,000—small, mobile items like generators, power tools, and light towers that are cheap to replace but expensive to lose
- Crews spend 10+ hours weekly searching for missing assets, which take an average of 25 days to locate, if found at all
- Asset tracking solutions can prevent and measure equipment loss, making the damage largely preventable for construction operations
Samsara
*This article is sponsored by Samsara
On a construction site, a missing asset is rarely just a missing asset.
A generator disappears, a rented light tower never comes back, a skid of tools vanishes over a quarter. Each one sets off a chain of delays, rentals, and idle crews that costs far more than the sticker price. A 2026 Samsara survey of more than 1,500 executives across asset-heavy industries found that the true cost runs far deeper than most teams realize, and that the damage is both measurable and largely preventable.
How Often Does Equipment Go Missing?
Among operations without an asset tracking solution, 71% experience equipment theft every quarter, and a quarter of their new equipment budget goes to replacing what was stolen or lost. The gear that disappears most is the small, mobile equipment that moves between sites: generators, power tools, pumps, air compressors, and light towers. These items are easy to overlook and easy to lose.
The Ripple Effect
Operations without tracking self-reported losing an average of $13.2 million a year to missing assets, counting the project delays, penalties, rentals, and wasted labor that follow. 72% of those costs came from assets worth under $10,000, the small gear that is cheap to replace and expensive to be without. Crews at more than a quarter of these operations spend 10 or more hours a week searching, and a missing asset takes 25 days on average to locate, if it’s found at all.
Built for Construction
These numbers are only part of the picture. The full report breaks down where the money goes, how long missing assets take to recover, and what sets apart the operations getting ahead of the problem from the ones still absorbing the hit.
See the full findings: SOCO Report: Asset Theft and Loss | Samsara
