Know Your Competitor and Their Backlog

TL;DR:

Get to know the competition through their backlog and capacity.

Why Tracking Competitor Workload Matters

Imagine you're the offensive coordinator for an NFL team. It’s Monday, and you're preparing to face San Francisco next Sunday. The head coach asks for a rundown of their defense, but instead of providing insights, you say, “I know we’re playing the 49ers this week, but I’ve got too much on my plate. Let’s skip the scouting tape and focus solely on us.”

Sounds absurd, right? No team would ever skip watching the film of their opponent. Yet in the world of highway construction, this is how many contractors approach bid day. They don’t take time to track their competitors’ workload or capacity. When asked why, the most common responses include:

"We don’t have time."

"I can’t run jobs and keep track of all this."

"We have enough trouble managing our own jobs."

While these responses are understandable, they're also the equivalent of skipping the game tape. It's a decision that puts contractors at a disadvantage, especially in a market where margins are razor-thin, and the competition is fierce. Tracking your competitors’ workload can give you an edge that may not seem immediately obvious but pays off when it matters most.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

What’s the first thing you do as a contractor when deciding what markup to put on a bid?

First, you assess job desirability and risk.

Second, you figure out how the work required by the contract lines us with your current backlog and resource availability (crews, plants, equipment, trucks, management, subs, etc).

What volume of work needs to be done? When is the completion date? Can I finish the job on time? What impact will this job have on my bottom line (job P&L and plant transfer)? What are the implications if I finish late? Will I have to pay liquidated damages for every day that I finish behind schedule? What are the reputational or other business risks to finishing late? A LOT of this depends on how much work you’ve got on the books, how those jobs are progressing, what work remains (backlog), and when the jobs need to be finished. All these factors drive pricing strategy.

By analyzing the competitor’s known workload and capacity to perform work in a given year, you are putting yourself in their shoes and figuring out their strategy. This will improve your own bidding strategy.

We Make Time For What Matters

The contractors that do track competitor workload and capacity tell a different story. They carve out time because they know it's a crucial part of their strategy. Here's what some of those best-in-class contractors say:

“I want the edge on bid day. This helps.”

“It doesn’t take that long.”

“We now see what they’re capable of taking on and the work they like most.”

“We get more margin when they’re overloaded and dial it down when we both need the job.”

“It helps us avoid the jobs we shouldn’t be going after.”

“We’re learning a lot.”

This small investment of time and effort translates into actionable insights that impact decisions both short-term (on bid day) and long-term (in strategic planning).

Knowing When To Strike

Just like an NFL team adjusts their game plan based on the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent, contractors can adjust their bidding strategy by understanding their competitors’ workload. When a competitor is overloaded, you can push your margins higher because you know they might bid higher out of necessity. When both you and your competitors need work, you can dial down your pricing to be more competitive.

The advantage doesn’t stop at pricing. By observing patterns in your competitors' workload, you can learn which types of jobs they prefer and which ones they struggle with. This allows you to avoid unprofitable or complex projects that your competitors will likely take on, while positioning yourself for jobs that play to your strengths. In essence, you stop chasing after every opportunity and start targeting the right ones.

The Power of Insight

Tracking workload also serves as an early warning system. When you see that a competitor is stretched thin, you can anticipate issues on their end. Maybe they won’t perform as well on the job, or maybe they’ll be delayed, creating an opening for you to take on additional work. This gives you flexibility and options, allowing you to stay ahead.

Over time, this level of intelligence gathering allows you to refine your understanding of the market. You become better at predicting when competitors are going to be aggressive, when they’ll hold back, and how you should position yourself accordingly.

Stuff That Matters

Here are a few things to track in your competitive analysis:

• Job Name

• Location/County/Region

• Prime or Subcontractor

• Contract Amount

• Key Quantities (tons, cubic yards)

• Bid Date

• Start Date

• End Date

• Percent Time Complete

• Estimated Work % Complete

• Estimated Remaining Dollars and Quantities

• Estimated Capacities (crews, plant, etc.)

You won’t have every single job but you don’t need that.

Follow the 80/20 rule; close is good enough.

Unique Markets

Some markets have more capacity than demand. Fair enough. But there are smaller players, right? If someone is capable of doing 200K max tons per year, how do you know when they’re at capacity if you don’t know know how much they’ve got and when it needs to get done?

Outhustle the Competition

It’s not just about having more information. It’s about working smarter. The contractors who are serious about winning make time to study their competitors. And as new technologies emerge to improve data aggregation and analysis, this process becomes easier.

If you want to be the best in your market, tracking competitor workload builds a repository of knowledge that will only make you sharper over time. Just like in the NFL, the contractors that watch the tape and learn from it are the ones that come out on top. Make time for what matters. Track competitor backlog/capacity, outwork your competition, and you’ll win more profitable work in the long run.

In Case You Missed It

Last Week’s Post About Outfoxing the Competition with Bids Tabs

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About the Author

Tristan Wilson is the CEO and Founder of Edgevanta. We make software that helps contractors win more work at the right price. He is a 4th Generation Contractor, construction enthusiast, ultra runner, and bidding nerd. He worked his way up the ladder at Allan Myers in the Mid-Atlantic and his family’s former business Barriere Construction before starting Edgevanta in Nashville, where the company is based. Reach out to him at [email protected]