Paying For Digital Stationing: It’s Easier Than You Think Oct 30 Written By Olivia Hughes When teams start exploring digital stationing tools like OnStation, one of the first questions that comes up is: How do we pay for it? At first glance, the answer can seem complicated. Budgets are tight, margins are thin, and every dollar spent needs a clear return. But in reality, funding digital stationing is often much easier than most people think. It’s not about adding another cost, it’s about shifting the way your team thinks about profitability. The Perceived Problem: Overhead or Grant?The biggest hurdle isn’t usually the cost itself, it’s where that cost lives. Teams often wrestle with whether to pay for digital stationing through overhead, grants, or project budgets. Each option has trade-offs, but none is the wrong answer. Overhead is the cost of doing business. Adding a new tool here can feel like it eats into profitability, especially for firms already operating on tight margins. But at the same time, overhead is where efficiency investments often make the most long-term sense because they benefit every project, not just one. Project budgets can also cover digital stationing, but that might require updating a bid or navigating a change order. 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. So where does that leave you? Somewhere in between, and that’s perfectly fine. Many firms use a blend of funding sources, spreading the value (and the cost) across their organization. The Real Question: What’s the Trade-Off?When evaluating new technology, the instinct is to protect your budget for materials or equipment, the tangible things you can see and touch. But it’s worth asking: Are you okay with spending that same money on outdated methods just to find your location, instead of investing in a tool that helps your team do it faster, easier, and more accurately? Here’s the real trade-off: OnStation helps you reduce your dependence on scarce and expensive GPS or survey equipment. That means your crews can stay productive without waiting for specialized tools or technicians, which then frees up those high-grade systems for the work where they’re truly needed. It’s a smarter way to allocate resources and reduce opportunity cost across your projects.When you compare traditional physical stationing—stakes, signs, paint and manual calculations with digital stationing, the savings become clear. The physical stationing approach alone 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, reduce time spent on manual location conversions, and free up high‐grade GPS or survey equipment for the work where it’s most needed. In short: you reduce labor, equipment downtime, and wasted effort. For a deeper look and side-by-side cost comparisons check this out:➡️ Digital Stationing vs. Physical StationingIf you already use software for staking or layout, adding OnStation doesn’t add much to your cost. That small investment can reduce bid costs, eliminate wasted time, and make your team more competitive when it matters most- during the bidding process. Over time, the ROI is clear: fewer location errors, faster communication, and smoother coordination between field and office. Break Even AnalysisLet’s put some quick numbers behind that ROI. An OnStation license costs about $51 per month. The average labor rate for an OnStation user is around $30 per hour. That means if OnStation saves just 1.5 hours per month, you’ve already broken even. Anything beyond that (whether it’s saving 10 minutes here or an hour there) is pure gain that goes straight to your bottom line. For contractors, that’s real time and money recaptured with every project.Don’t be left wondering about this- run the numbers yourself with our ROI calculator. Download ROI Document Innovation Pays OffTechnology 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. Flexible Funding ModelsThere’s no one-size-fits-all way to fund digital stationing, and that’s a good thing. Across the country, organizations are getting creative in how they structure their OnStation investment: Full License Purchases: Some agencies fully cover licenses for their field and office teams. Shared or Split Costs: Others share licenses across departments or split the cost between corporate and project budgets. Distributed Subscriptions: 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. For large, nationwide firms, OnStation often sits under a corporate expense. This approach ensures the tool doesn’t impact site-level profit margins or bonuses while still delivering value across multiple projects and regions. Tracking TransparencyWhen corporate IT teams get involved, they often see an additional benefit- visibility. 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. It’s the kind of transparency that turns a “nice-to-have” app into an essential business tool. The Bottom Line: There’s No Wrong Way to Pay for Digital StationingAt the end of the day, there’s no single “right” or “wrong” way to pay for digital stationing. Whether it comes from overhead, project budgets, grants, or corporate funds, the investment pays off in time savings, accuracy, and competitive advantage. Our team at OnStation can work with you to find the right approach for your organization, one that fits your workflows, your goals, and your budget. Paying for digital stationing isn’t the hard part. Figuring out how to do business without it? That’s getting harder every day. 💲 Want to See Pricing? OnStation offers different license types and add-ons so you can build a setup that matches your team’s needs. Whether you're in the field or in the office, everything is designed to be easy to use, fast to learn, and actually helpful day to day.[Customize Your OnStation Pricing →] Olivia Hughes
Paying For Digital Stationing: It’s Easier Than You Think Oct 30 Written By Olivia Hughes When teams start exploring digital stationing tools like OnStation, one of the first questions that comes up is: How do we pay for it? At first glance, the answer can seem complicated. Budgets are tight, margins are thin, and every dollar spent needs a clear return. But in reality, funding digital stationing is often much easier than most people think. It’s not about adding another cost, it’s about shifting the way your team thinks about profitability. The Perceived Problem: Overhead or Grant?The biggest hurdle isn’t usually the cost itself, it’s where that cost lives. Teams often wrestle with whether to pay for digital stationing through overhead, grants, or project budgets. Each option has trade-offs, but none is the wrong answer. Overhead is the cost of doing business. Adding a new tool here can feel like it eats into profitability, especially for firms already operating on tight margins. But at the same time, overhead is where efficiency investments often make the most long-term sense because they benefit every project, not just one. Project budgets can also cover digital stationing, but that might require updating a bid or navigating a change order. 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. So where does that leave you? Somewhere in between, and that’s perfectly fine. Many firms use a blend of funding sources, spreading the value (and the cost) across their organization. The Real Question: What’s the Trade-Off?When evaluating new technology, the instinct is to protect your budget for materials or equipment, the tangible things you can see and touch. But it’s worth asking: Are you okay with spending that same money on outdated methods just to find your location, instead of investing in a tool that helps your team do it faster, easier, and more accurately? Here’s the real trade-off: OnStation helps you reduce your dependence on scarce and expensive GPS or survey equipment. That means your crews can stay productive without waiting for specialized tools or technicians, which then frees up those high-grade systems for the work where they’re truly needed. It’s a smarter way to allocate resources and reduce opportunity cost across your projects.When you compare traditional physical stationing—stakes, signs, paint and manual calculations with digital stationing, the savings become clear. The physical stationing approach alone 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, reduce time spent on manual location conversions, and free up high‐grade GPS or survey equipment for the work where it’s most needed. In short: you reduce labor, equipment downtime, and wasted effort. For a deeper look and side-by-side cost comparisons check this out:➡️ Digital Stationing vs. Physical StationingIf you already use software for staking or layout, adding OnStation doesn’t add much to your cost. That small investment can reduce bid costs, eliminate wasted time, and make your team more competitive when it matters most- during the bidding process. Over time, the ROI is clear: fewer location errors, faster communication, and smoother coordination between field and office. Break Even AnalysisLet’s put some quick numbers behind that ROI. An OnStation license costs about $51 per month. The average labor rate for an OnStation user is around $30 per hour. That means if OnStation saves just 1.5 hours per month, you’ve already broken even. Anything beyond that (whether it’s saving 10 minutes here or an hour there) is pure gain that goes straight to your bottom line. For contractors, that’s real time and money recaptured with every project.Don’t be left wondering about this- run the numbers yourself with our ROI calculator. Download ROI Document Innovation Pays OffTechnology 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. Flexible Funding ModelsThere’s no one-size-fits-all way to fund digital stationing, and that’s a good thing. Across the country, organizations are getting creative in how they structure their OnStation investment: Full License Purchases: Some agencies fully cover licenses for their field and office teams. Shared or Split Costs: Others share licenses across departments or split the cost between corporate and project budgets. Distributed Subscriptions: 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. For large, nationwide firms, OnStation often sits under a corporate expense. This approach ensures the tool doesn’t impact site-level profit margins or bonuses while still delivering value across multiple projects and regions. Tracking TransparencyWhen corporate IT teams get involved, they often see an additional benefit- visibility. 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. It’s the kind of transparency that turns a “nice-to-have” app into an essential business tool. The Bottom Line: There’s No Wrong Way to Pay for Digital StationingAt the end of the day, there’s no single “right” or “wrong” way to pay for digital stationing. Whether it comes from overhead, project budgets, grants, or corporate funds, the investment pays off in time savings, accuracy, and competitive advantage. Our team at OnStation can work with you to find the right approach for your organization, one that fits your workflows, your goals, and your budget. Paying for digital stationing isn’t the hard part. Figuring out how to do business without it? That’s getting harder every day. 💲 Want to See Pricing? OnStation offers different license types and add-ons so you can build a setup that matches your team’s needs. Whether you're in the field or in the office, everything is designed to be easy to use, fast to learn, and actually helpful day to day.[Customize Your OnStation Pricing →] Olivia Hughes
