Every project generates a steady stream of information about how equipment is being used, maintained and deployed. But looking only at total equipment cost or last month's repair spend doesn't tell the full story.
Equipment is one of the largest investments a contractor makes and is a critical driver of field results. “If that mainline pipe excavator is not running, we’re not putting any pipe in the ground,” says Rich King, CFO of Schlouch Incorporated.
To turn fleet data into business decisions, a focused set of heavy equipment KPIs reveals how well a fleet is being used, maintained and managed. Effective fleet management depends on understanding which metrics matter most.
The Heavy Equipment Comparator (HEC), a joint effort between the Association of Equipment Management Professionals (AEMP) and The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA), was built to help companies move beyond gut feel by standardizing 26 KPIs and allowing contractors to benchmark their fleets against similar heavy highway contractors and construction firms.
From that broader list, here are five KPI areas every executive should understand.
Effective fleet management depends on understanding which metrics matter most.
1. EQUIPMENT UTILIZATION (HOURS-BASED)
Equipment utilization measures the percentage of hours that equipment is working compared to the hours that it was planned to work.
For executives, equipment utilization shows whether your fleet is appropriately sized and deployed. It is also one of the clearest indicators of overall construction fleet performance.
Chronic underutilization points to excess equipment, capital tied up in underused assets or projects that aren’t drawing on the fleet as expected.
2. PREVENTIVE & PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORK ORDERS
Preventive and predictive maintenance (PM) as a percentage of total maintenance hours measures how much effort is spent preventing breakdowns before they occur.
Top-performing fleets devote about 52% of their maintenance hours to preventive and predictive activities, Rich shares.
A high PM/predictive share is a hallmark of best-in-class fleets. Planned work reduces emergency breakdowns, improves availability and makes costs more predictable. It often goes hand in hand with better residual values at disposal and lower lifecycle cost.
3. DOWN EVENTS PER 1,000 HOURS
This metric measures the number of unplanned down events normalized per 1,000 equipment hours run.
Rich notes that top performers average one down event per 1,000 hours and nearly double the time between failures when compared with the average.
For executives, this metric provides a straightforward view of reliability and equipment uptime. Frequent down events often translate directly into lost productivity, project disruptions and higher maintenance costs.
4. EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE
Tracking equipment maintenance costs as a percentage of revenue helps connect fleet performance to business performance. According to the industry benchmarks compiled through the HEC, median performers spend around 3% of revenue on repair and maintenance, whereas top-quartile fleets hold that number to about 1.8%.
Stronger maintenance practices contribute to those results. Companies that invest in preventive maintenance, identify corrective work early and reduce emergency repairs often experience lower overall maintenance spending and greater equipment reliability.
5. EMERGENCY WORK ORDERS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL MAINTENANCE HOURS
Emergency work orders as a percentage of total maintenance hours provide another important measure of construction equipment management. The metric tracks how much maintenance effort is devoted to unexpected failures rather than planned work.
Comparator data showed that top-quartile fleets had emergency work orders at about 3.6% of total maintenance hours, while median performers were around 11.6%.
A high emergency work share signals a reactive culture and poor planning. Emergency work is more expensive, more disruptive to projects and harder to staff efficiently.
As planned PM and predictive work improve, the emergency percentage drops, which keeps fleets operating and work moving forward.
KPIS ARE JUST THE BEGINNING
The real value of KPIs is not in the spreadsheets, but in the conversations they make possible.
“Numbers are numbers, and they can certainly be signals,” Rich explains. “But we have to follow up, use other metrics for diagnosis and turn them into the basis for real collaboration.”
The real opportunity in understanding KPIs and benchmarking them through tools like the HEC is to turn fleet data into better decisions about capital, staffing, bidding and risk.
Dive deeper into the Heavy Equipment Performance KPI’s Every Executive Should Know by purchasing On Demand Education Access from the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 show.
PHOTO CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK/VIRRAGE IMAGES
