Everyone Hates Overhead: How Firms Really Pay for Digital Stationing Software
Overhead Hurts Margin
Whether your outfit is a prime paver or a consulting engineering and inspection firm, managing margin is your first job. One way firms boost margin is by eliminating overhead spend. Even though software platforms like OnStation deliver big ROI upon project completion, they’re still viewed as an overhead expense. Overhead spend in the construction industry is finite, and closely guarded.
So, if you want the world’s best field data capture tool money can buy, how are you going to pay for it right now? Let’s look at ways organizations pay for the up-front cost of digital stationing.
Why Everyone Hates Overhead
Bid Work
If you bid and won work, the owner will not be giving your company a penny more than the contracted bid amount unless change orders are authorized. However, a successful bidding and estimating team will have built in enough room between winning the lowest bid and earning a profit. A good project management team will keep the job on track for all costs: materials, labor, equipment. All in all, how much profit you make after you pay all your bills (your margin) is the key business metric for every team.
Most OnStation customers manage costs and revenue by project, with bonuses paid to teams that can do this well. Furthermore, if your organization is employee-owned, profit is redistributed back to the company shareholders, who are making every effort to shave down expenses.
Unless there’s a dedicated line item or it’s required by specification, most teams don’t want software costs coming out of their project budgets. There’s every incentive to make overhead costs someone else’s problem.
Consultants
Overhead is also disliked by consultant project teams on fixed-price work for the same reasons as above. Because very few states have instituted fixed-price contracts with consultants, it’s more common consultants are earning an hourly rate, which creates a perverse incentive to maximize billable hours within reasonable expectations.
If you are consulting on an hourly basis, consider it differently. Your job, as a consultant, is to represent the agency on the ground level. Is the owner pleased? Is every inspector maximizing trips? Can your firm perform more work with the same headcount? Are consultants struggling to keep up with documentation requirements? Do you have the right systems and technologies to accurately account for the time and work that you’re performing in the field?
Plus, if your office location is part of a nationwide enterprise, your headquarters is watching your margin on a project-by-project basis and comparing it to your peers. Getting ahead for consultants means working strategically, not just maximizing the total hours billed.
Agencies, Municipal Owners, DOTs
For agencies, any software investment requires months for vetting. Large-scale adoption requires the purchase to be aligned with the city or agency’s fiscal year budgeting process.
Departments of transportation are eager to drive efficiency and quality, but spending tax dollars for technology enhancements is a last resort. They prefer other payors to go first to prove the concept.
How Your Competitors Pay for Digital Stationing
Here are several ways companies pay for their OnStation platform.
Put it in the bid. For certain types of jobs, consider inserting a line item for stationing technology that will be used across the entire project. Even if you then use OnStation on other projects throughout the year, you’ll have paid for the cost up front on a proposal that can absorb the cost. Ask us for a quote so you can plan accordingly.
Replace staking costs. Where digital stationing is allowed, it saves costs compared with wood lathe staking. Traditional physical stationing involves placement of stakes, signs, paint, and sometimes requires survey to implement. Physical stationing carries an average cost of around $8,500 for a highway project, making it a significant line item. With digital stationing, you eliminate the need for stakes that can be disturbed or removed, eliminate replacing and re-staking costs, and free up high‐grade GPS or survey equipment for the work where it’s most needed.
Change order. Change orders happen outside of the normal budget process. So, if you happen to discover OnStation after you’ve already completed budgeting, change orders are a great way to get started and pilot something without throwing off the whole project budget.
Change orders are a way for contractors to get paid for additional services or work they're providing. Obviously, changes must be agreed upon by both contractors and DOTs, but OnStation fits into the normal decision-making process. Many OnStation contractors and consultants report success with this method, because they share their licenses with their DOT inspectors. The change order benefits everyone on the project, not just the firms who perform work.
Distribute the cost across projects. Many firms take their annual OnStation subscription and assign small portions of that cost to each active project, so no single job carries the full burden.
Reallocate investments in survey tools. With OnStation, you can reduce your reliance on scarce and expensive GPS or survey equipment. That means your crews stay productive without waiting for specialized tools or technicians, freeing those high-grade systems for the work where they’re truly needed. Most project work does not require millimeter accuracy.
Reallocate labor costs. Instead of expanding headcount, use that budgeted annual salary on software that helps current employees be more productive. Mathy Construction saves an estimated $18,000 per density technician per year: “Saving two hours a day on a technician’s time card is $100 a day. Multiply that by our 180-day paving season and just one employee, you can save a considerable amount of money. We have 75 QC employees, so the numbers add up pretty quickly,” according to their QC Manager.
Get a grant. For agencies, grants are a great option. For example, STIC (State Transportation Innovation Council) grants provide a practical way for state and local agencies to pilot OnStation with limited budget impact, helping them adopt innovation without waiting for a new fiscal cycle.
Use innovation to win more work. Technology isn’t just about convenience anymore; it’s a differentiator. Many agencies now award additional points for “Innovative Practices” within their bid evaluations. That means tools like OnStation don’t just improve your workflows; they can directly strengthen your bids. In some cases, those innovation points can even multiply your overall score, giving you a competitive edge while showing owners and partners that your team embraces efficiency and modernization. Simply put, adopting digital stationing doesn’t just save time. It helps you win work.
Put it in overhead, after all! Overhead is the cost of doing business. Adding a new tool here can feel like it eats into profitability, but overhead is where efficiency investments often make the most long-term sense because they benefit every project, not just one. For large, nationwide firms, OnStation often sits under a corporate expense governed by a master services agreement. This approach ensures the tool doesn’t impact site-level profit margins or bonuses while still delivering value across multiple projects and regions.
The Bottom Line
With OnStation, managers can easily track usage, licenses, and adoption across teams and projects. That means they know the tool is being used effectively, helping justify the cost while maximizing ROI. The time savings are measurable, the billing mechanism is already built in, and the break-even point is fast. Whether it comes from overhead, project budgets, grants, or corporate funds, the investment pays off in time savings, accuracy, and competitive advantage.
Paying for digital stationing isn’t the hard part. Figuring out how to do business without it? That’s getting harder every day.
Consult with us about options that work with your business.