Business and Career Articles
November 10, 2026 | Matt
Progress Payments and Retainage
A contractor's guide to getting paid on earthwork: schedule of values, AIA G702 and G703 pay applications, stored materials, retainage, lien waivers, and change orders.
November 07, 2026 | Matt
Surety Bonds for Excavation Contractors
A bond protects the owner rather than the contractor, and it decides which public jobs an excavating company can bid; here is how each bond works and how capacity is earned.
November 06, 2026 | Matt
Hiring a Heavy Equipment Operator
An operator decides what a machine produces, so hiring needs a defined job, a real practical test, verified references, and a first month that keeps the good ones from leaving.
November 02, 2026 | Matt
How to Read an Equipment Rental Agreement: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Rates, Minimum Billable Hours, Delivery Charges, Fuel Policy, Damage Waivers and Downtime Credits
The quoted rate is only the first line on the invoice. Here is how rate tiers, minimum billable hours, transport, fuel, damage waivers and downtime clauses decide what an excavator, backhoe or dozer actually costs to rent — and what to check before you sign.
November 01, 2026 | Matt
T&M vs. Lump Sum Excavation Bids
Lump sum, time and materials, and unit price bids are three different ways of deciding who pays when the quantity changes, so here is how each splits risk and when to use it.
October 24, 2026 | Matt
Differing Site Conditions and Change Orders
How excavation contractors document and price differing site conditions - rock, buried debris, groundwater - so a surprise in the field becomes a paid change order.
October 23, 2026 | Matt
Legal Weight Limits for Hauling Dirt
A practical guide to weight law for dirt hauling: axle, tandem and bridge formula limits, how to work out real legal payload, why density beats volume, and how permits differ for divisible loads.
October 21, 2026 | Matt
Excavation Takeoff Methods
A practical guide to excavation takeoffs: grid, average end area, prismoidal, and surface-to-surface volume methods, plus the swell, strip, and compaction adjustments that keep a bid honest.
October 10, 2026 | Matt
Excavation Job Costing
How excavation contractors track labor, equipment, hauling, and material costs against the estimate using cost codes, unit costs, cost to complete, and change orders.
October 09, 2026 | Matt
Preventing Heavy Equipment Theft
Heavy equipment theft costs contractors up to $1 billion a year and most stolen machines are never recovered; here is the layered site security, machine locking, GPS telematics, and equipment ID strategy that prevents losses.
October 02, 2026 | Matt
How Much Does Heavy Equipment Cost Per Hour?
A contractor's guide to heavy equipment cost per hour: how ownership and operating costs combine, how to calculate depreciation, fuel, maintenance and repair reserves, a worked example, and why utilization decides what an hour really costs.
September 12, 2026 | Matt
How to Estimate an Excavation Job
A step-by-step look at how excavation contractors build a bid: earthwork takeoffs, swell, production rates, equipment and hauling costs, overhead, profit, and contingency.
