Buying a site work company in South Florida

• A mix of customers (several developers and general contractors, maybe some public work), not one builder whose next subdivision may not happen.
• Well-maintained equipment with service records, and a sensible balance of owned and financed machines. Idle financed equipment drains cash fast.
• Careful estimates, real job costs, and production rates the company tracks (pipe laid or paving placed by a crew in a day).
• Experienced foremen and operators who are staying.
• Enough bonding capacity for the jobs it wants to bid.
• A safety record that keeps insurance affordable and customers comfortable.
• Its own yard, with room for equipment and material.

• An equipment list with age, hours, condition, liens, and whether each machine is owned or financed. Have a mechanic inspect the major pieces.
• Equipment loans and leases, and whether lenders must approve a sale.
• Backlog by job, with expected margin, and how much sits with one customer.
• Job cost reports for finished projects, especially the losing ones.
• Retainage and other money owed, and how long customers take to pay.
• Environmental issues at the yard: fuel tanks, spills, stockpiled material.
• Utility strikes, safety incidents and OSHA history, including trench and excavation safety.
• Bonding capacity, and the surety's view of a new owner.
• Fill and material sources: whether it relies on one pit or supplier, and on what terms.

• Who are your biggest customers, and how much of last year's work came from each?
• What licenses does the company hold, and who's the qualifier?
• How old is your equipment, and what would you replace next?
• How do you estimate jobs, and which kinds make the most money?
• How much public work do you do, and how is your bonding set up?
• Who runs the crews, and which foremen would stay?
• Have you hit any buried lines or had serious safety incidents?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.