Heavy Highway Contractor

Good Morning, 

I am seeking peer input regarding marketing expenditures in the heavy civil construction sector.

We are a mid-sized, non-union, heavy construction contractor specializing primarily in asphalt and concrete paving. At present, we do not have a structured or long-term marketing strategy in place, and our auditors have expressed concern that our marketing expenses may be disproportionately high.

I would value feedback from others in the industry on the following:

• What target or average ROI do you aim to achieve on your marketing investments?

• What percentage of operating income or gross margin do you allocate to marketing expenses?

• Do you benchmark marketing spend against revenue, backlog growth, or another performance metric?

Any insights into how you structure, measure, and justify marketing spend within a similar contracting environment would be greatly appreciated.

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Malgorzata Blaszkiewicz
Controller
Hutch Paving
Warren MI
(586) 453-7511
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Hi Malgorzata,

Another question worth asking. What does a "Top Pursuit" project look like? Projects that have the best clients, top profit, etc. How did you find it, who did you know, and how long did that relationship take to build? That is your blueprint. Build a repeatable process around that.

In heavy civil the path to more of those jobs runs through relationships with owners and engineers before work ever hits the street. Associations, Business development, networking, lunches, etc.. Studies have shown contractors with a structured pursuit process win more work and carry stronger backlogs than those just reacting to the bid board.

One thing to watch out for. Be careful letting a traditional marketer drive this conversation. Marketing spend without a real BD strategy behind it is just noise. The money should follow the strategy not the other way around.

Unlike residnetial construction where marketing really drives leads, heavy civil is more relationship based (in person meet ups) so I'd be a bit resistent to align a budget to revenue rather then what  top pursuit looks liek and reverse engineer that. 

The question was never how much you are spending. It is whether your spend is actually helping you land more of the work you want.

Happy to share more if it helps.

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Gerard Aliberti
Owner
Pro-Accel
NY
(914) 490-9832
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