If you're working by the square yard or lump sum, yield variance is the fastest way to lose money without realizing it.

Your field P&L looks great - labor and equipment are ahead, trucking costs are under control, and crews are moving rock onto the job at 3,000 tons daily instead of 2,200.

But at month end, the stone tickets tell the truth - you used 600 extra tons of material to complete the job.

The projected $15K profit? Now a $27K loss.

You could have moved 4,000 tons a day and still lost money. Because when you get paid lump sum or by the square yard, every extra ton comes out of your pocket.

Fixing subgrade issues become progressively more expensive the higher you move up in the typical section. Find it early, fix it lower in the typical section.

You Owe the Owner What’s Called For - Nothing More, Nothing Less

Some contractors avoid yield tracking because they think it might look like they’re short-changing the owner.

Let’s be clear: That’s not what this is about.

You owe the owner exactly what’s in the contract. No more, no less.

🔹 If the plans call for 8” compacted with a ½” tolerance, then that’s what you build. Not 8 ½” because "it seemed right."

🔹 If the bid included 5% waste, then you monitor usage daily to stay within that range.

🔹 If the subgrade is off, you document it before placing material, not after.

Managing yield is not cutting corners - it’s being a professional. If there is an issue that requires a change order or owner involvement, have the conversations early and often. Bad news is like fish: after a few days, it starts to stink.

Owner and Contractor trust is fundamental to successful working relationships and repeat business. There’s no other way. You’re not screwing the owner by tracking yield. You’re screwing yourself by not measuring it.

Your job is to build the work at or below budget. And if you’re not watching yield, you’re gambling with your profit.

Pre-Construction: Where Yield Control Starts

Before the first truck rolls, your internal pre-construction kickoff should include a clear yield plan. Yield should be discussed at the Owner/GC kickoff too. Tell them you are going to survey and verify beforehand.

Every PM, estimator, and field leader should know:

✅ Planned thickness & tolerances – "We bid this at 12” compacted with a ½” tolerance. Anything over that comes out of our pocket."

✅ Waste factor in the bid – "We accounted for 5% waste. Anything more means we're losing money."

✅ Subgrade verification process – "We check grade before we place anything. No surprises later."

What is Yield? Why Does it Matter?

Yield = The actual quantity of material needed vs. what was estimated.

A small variance in thickness or coverage can mean hundreds of thousands in unexpected cost

📏 Example:

• We’re building a 5 acre parking lot.

• Plans call for 8" of compacted stone, with ½" tolerance and 5% waste built into the bid.

• If you place ½" too thick, you just burned $83,000.

• If you control placement and stay on spec, that’s $83,000 saved.

Where Yield Goes Wrong: Five Critical Failure Points

1️⃣ Nobody Shoots Grade Before Starting

• Subgrade isn’t checked and shots are not saved, so you don’t know what you’re actually covering up.

• If it’s low, you’re over-applying material to fix it.

• If it’s high, the owner might reject the job later - or you’re stuck fixing it for free.

2️⃣ The Field Isn’t Tracking Usage in Real Time

• Labor and equipment get daily scrutiny, but material consumption is often ignored until invoices and complete cost reports arrive weeks later.

• If you’re over-running by 5% but don’t notice until the job’s done, it’s too late.

3️⃣ Material Waste Isn't Being Measured Daily

• “It should take 22 trucks to cover this area—why did we need 26?”

• Without daily truck counts, nobody catches the issue early enough to adjust.

4️⃣ Unverified Subgrade Conditions Lead to Overruns

• If a base layer is weak or uneven, your material is covering for someone else’s mistake.

• Solution: Document subgrade conditions before placing anything.

5️⃣ Failure to Communicate Tolerances

• The field needs to know: "Every ¼ inch over costs us $45K on this job."

• If they don’t know the cost of an extra half-inch, they won’t manage it.

The Yield Control Playbook: A 5-Step System

1️⃣ Shoot Grade & Document Subgrade Conditions

Before you place a single load:

✅ Shoot elevations at key locations

✅ Log photos & videos of conditions

✅ Flag problem areas for correction before placing material

🔹 Tech Tip: Laser levels, GPS rovers, or even a wheel and stringline will work - just verify it.

2️⃣ Track Daily Yield in the Field

Every field manager should know:

🔹 Planned vs. Actual truckloads for the day

🔹 Expected vs. Actual tons per acre

🔹 Tons per square yard placed

🔹 Tech Tip: Use a simple yield tracking sheet or a mobile app to log this daily.

3️⃣ Establish Clear Tolerance & Waste Limits

Before placing material, ask:

✅ What’s the thickness spec?

✅ What’s the bid assumption for waste?

✅ How are we verifying we stay within limits?

🔹 Tech Tip: Use Trimble SiteVision or a drone survey to check real-time coverage.

4️⃣ Use Simple Metrics the Field Understands

💰 "Every extra inch of stone costs us $150K."

🔹 Tech Tip: Companies like HeadLight and OpenSpace.ai let field crews capture real-time data on material placement.

5️⃣ Verify Daily & Adjust Immediately

✅ Morning Verification: Confirm subgrade elevations match plan.

✅ Live Monitoring: Check truck counts vs. planned yield.

✅ End-of-Day Reconciliation: Compare actual vs. expected yield and adjust for tomorrow.

🔹 Tech Tip: A simple spreadsheet works - but real-time tools like Fleetwatcher automate tracking. 

🔹 Field Tip 1: Think about your construction sequence and approach. If you’re installing material to plan grade across each section each day, you can measure and get it right. If you install half thickness now and half later, you’re guessing. This is why I love completing each manageable section before moving to the next. Not always possible with asphalt, easier with aggregate base.

🔹 Field Tip 2: The masters of their craft are asphalt paving Field Managers and Superintendents. The best in the game know exactly where the yield is at the paver every truckload, every hour at least. It is tracked at every level (screws, pickup, timesheet, office) because that fundamental was taught and learned. If you know, you know.

High-Volume Work Demands High-Precision Management

Yield doesn’t blow up overnight. It’s a slow leak - truck by truck, load by load - until reconciliation reveals the damage.

Imagine you're piloting a flight from New York to Los Angeles, a 2,500-mile journey. If your heading is off by just 1 degree, you won't notice it immediately. At first, you're only a few feet off course. But over time, that small deviation compounds.

By the time you reach California, you're not landing at LAX - you're 50 miles off course, somewhere in the mountains.

Now, imagine being 2 or 3 degrees off. You might end up in Mexico or Canada.

That’s yield.

A tiny miscalculation in thickness, truck counts, or waste doesn’t seem like much at first. But over the course of a project, those small overruns stack up until your margin is completely gone. By the time you realize you’re off course, it’s too late to correct it without major pain. The solution? Check your heading (yield) early and often - adjust before you're too far off track.

Final Takeaways

🔹 You owe the owner the thickness in the contract. No more, no less.

🔹 Communicate with the owner/GC early if there are issues.

🔹 Tracking yield isn’t cutting corners - it’s protecting your margin.

🔹 Start in pre-construction. Track it daily. Build at or below budget.

🔹 Be worried about lack of tracking and the “It’s going to be fine” message from the team. Otherwise, be prepared for a write down when you close it out.

🚜 How do you manage yield in your projects? Reply and let me know - I read every response.

Thanks to Brett and George for reading early drafts of this.

We appreciate you reading this week. Keep bidding, building and growing. See you next week!

Tristan

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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]