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    Heavy equipment maintenance statistics

    31 figures on what it costs to run and maintain heavy equipment, each with its primary source, its period, and what it does not measure. Free to cite with attribution.

    Parts are rising two and a half times faster than the machines

    Since January 2020, the producer price index for construction machinery parts is up 97.6%. Whole machines are up 38.9% over the same period. The gap is the single clearest thing in this dataset, and it lands entirely on the people maintaining the fleet rather than buying it.

    Producer price index change for equipment parts, repair services, whole machines, tires and rental, January 2020 to July 2026
    Producer price indexSince Jan 2020Year over year
    Parts for construction machinery, sold separately+97.6%+10.5%
    Commercial machinery repair and maintenance services+70.5%+9.1%
    Construction machinery (whole machines)+38.9%+2.8%
    Truck and off-the-highway tires+32.3%+1.0%
    Heavy machinery rental and leasing+21.2%+4.5%

    Producer Price Index series, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved via FRED on 2026-09-06. Each series carries its own index base year, so index levels are not comparable across rows — only the percentage changes are. Percentages are our arithmetic on the published index values.

    What it costs to run a machine

    Published hourly rates and cost splits. Every rate below bundles a different set of costs, which is the single most common source of misquotation — read the exclusions before using one.

    $160.75/hr

    Government data

    FEMA’s 2025 Schedule of Equipment Rates puts a CAT D6-class crawler dozer (to 215 hp) at $160.75 per hour.

    What it measures
    Reimbursement rate covering equipment ownership and operating cost — depreciation, overhaul, lubrication, repair, fuel and maintenance.
    What it does not measure
    Operator labor. FEMA states the rates do not include operator wages, and its own line is that labor is "not included."

    U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Schedule of Equipment Rates · Applicable to disasters declared on or after 1 July 2025 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $107.93 – $231.47/hr

    Government data

    Across FEMA’s 2025 schedule, a Caterpillar 320 GC-class excavator runs $107.93 per hour, a 950-class loader $139.80, and a 160-class motor grader $231.47.

    What it measures
    Same ownership-plus-operating basis as the dozer rate above, by machine class.
    What it does not measure
    Operator labor.

    U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Schedule of Equipment Rates · 2025 schedule · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    11% – 22%

    Government data

    In Caltrans’ 2026–27 equipment rate book, ownership cost with operating cost removed is 11% of the full hourly rate for graders and loaders, rising to 22% for off-highway trucks.

    What it measures
    Caltrans "delay factors" — the share of a machine’s full working hourly rate that remains when it is idle on site rather than working.
    What it does not measure
    Operator labor, and the 15% markup Caltrans adds separately for overhead not carried as a direct cost.

    California Department of Transportation, Division of Construction · Rate book effective 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    50.4 / 29.9 / 19.8

    Industry association

    The 2023 AEMP/CFMA Heavy Equipment Comparator splits total equipment cost into 50.4% ownership, 29.9% repair and maintenance, and 19.8% fuel.

    What it measures
    Equipment cost components as a percentage of total equipment cost, self-reported by contractor members.
    What it does not measure
    A representative sample. 57 firms of roughly 530 eligible responded, and the average respondent ran 371 total pieces — a larger fleet than most contractors.

    Association of Equipment Management Professionals and Construction Financial Management Association, administered by Industry Insights · 2023 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    76% internal

    Industry association

    Contractors in the 2023 AEMP/CFMA Comparator performed 76% of maintenance and repair labor with their own employees and outsourced 24%.

    What it measures
    Maintenance and repair labor cost by source, internal employees versus external providers.
    What it does not measure
    Small fleets. Same 57-respondent sample, average fleet 371 pieces.

    AEMP and CFMA, Heavy Equipment Comparator · 2023 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    How much preventive maintenance actually happens on time

    The most consistently documented section on this page, because public fleets are audited and private ones are not. Published on-time PM compliance runs from 20% to 86%.

    20%

    Government data

    A January 2025 audit by the San Diego City Auditor found that only 20% of preventive maintenance services completed in FY2023 were on time, against a 90% goal — 39% when a 10% grace period is allowed.

    What it measures
    On-time completion of scheduled preventive maintenance across the City of San Diego fleet in FY2023.
    What it does not measure
    Heavy construction equipment specifically. This is a municipal fleet, and the figure is not an industry average.

    City of San Diego, Office of the City Auditor (OCA-25-06) · Published January 2025, FY2023 data · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    88%

    Government data

    In the same audit, 77% of preventive maintenance services were delayed, and at least 88% of those delays were caused by waiting for labor — a two-labor-hour PM took three calendar days.

    What it measures
    Cause of delay for preventive maintenance services in FY2023.
    What it does not measure
    Parts availability as the dominant constraint — the audit points at labor, not supply.

    City of San Diego, Office of the City Auditor (OCA-25-06) · Published January 2025, FY2023 data · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $19.3M vs $2.2M

    Government data

    San Diego spent approximately $19.3 million on repairs against $2.2 million on preventive maintenance in FY2023 — and the auditor states plainly, "we cannot estimate costs caused by overdue maintenance."

    What it measures
    Repair spend versus preventive maintenance spend for one municipal fleet in one fiscal year.
    What it does not measure
    Any causal claim. The auditor explicitly declines to attribute the repair spend to the missed PM, and quoting the ratio as proof of causation misrepresents the source.

    City of San Diego, Office of the City Auditor (OCA-25-06) · Published January 2025, FY2023 data · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    17%

    Government data

    A 2017 Fort Worth internal audit found annual vehicle safety inspections were more than two months late for approximately 17% of inspections performed — 832 of 4,887.

    What it measures
    Lateness of annual safety inspections across the City of Fort Worth fleet.
    What it does not measure
    Preventive maintenance generally; this covers statutory safety inspections only.

    City of Fort Worth, Department of Internal Audit (Project #2017.012) · Published October 2017, FY2015–FY2016 audit period · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    81%

    Government data

    A February 2025 Texas DMV internal audit found 54 of 67 fleet vehicles — 81% — had preventive maintenance overdue.

    What it measures
    Share of one state agency fleet with overdue preventive maintenance in FY2024.
    What it does not measure
    Heavy equipment. This is a light-vehicle agency fleet of 67 units.

    Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, Internal Audit Division (Report 25-03) · February 2025, FY2024 data · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    86.27%

    Industry association

    Across the 100 Best Fleets programme, the average PM compliance goal over four contest years was 90.13%, against actual compliance of 86.27% in 2024.

    What it measures
    Self-reported PM compliance among fleets entering a recognition programme.
    What it does not measure
    A random sample. These are fleets that entered a competition for well-run fleets, so the figure is an optimistic bound, not an average.

    NAFA Fleet Management Association / 100 Best Fleets, in FLEET Solutions · July/August 2024 issue, contest years 2021–2024 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    The people who do the work

    Wage and workforce data for the technicians who maintain heavy equipment. Note that no agency or association publishes a heavy equipment shop labor rate — see the gaps section.

    242,400

    Government data

    The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 242,400 heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians, of whom 180,300 are mobile heavy equipment mechanics.

    What it measures
    U.S. employment in the occupation.
    What it does not measure
    Canada, and technicians employed outside the occupational classification.

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook · 2025 employment reference year · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $65,510

    Government data

    The median annual wage for mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines, was $65,510 in May 2025.

    What it measures
    Median annual wage, U.S., for the occupation.
    What it does not measure
    Employer overhead. This is what the technician is paid, not what a shop charges for their time — the two are routinely confused.

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook · May 2025 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $20.67 – $41.21

    Government data

    For mobile heavy equipment mechanics, BLS OEWS put the 10th-percentile hourly wage at $20.67, the median at $29.76 and the 90th at $41.21 in May 2023.

    What it measures
    Hourly wage distribution for SOC 49-3042, U.S.
    What it does not measure
    Benefits, overtime and shop overhead.

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics · May 2023 survey · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    CAD $37.12

    Government data

    In Canada, heavy equipment mechanics (NOC 72401) have a median wage of CAD $37.12 per hour, with a low of $23.87 and a high of $55.00.

    What it measures
    Hourly wage distribution, Canada, from the Labour Force Survey.
    What it does not measure
    Benefits and employer overhead.

    Government of Canada, Job Bank (Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey) · 2023–2024 reference period, page updated August 2026 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    79%

    Industry association

    In the 2025 AGC/NCCER workforce survey, mechanics were the hardest craft position to fill of 18 surveyed — 79% of firms that employ them said so.

    What it measures
    Share of firms reporting difficulty filling mechanic positions.
    What it does not measure
    Firms that do not employ mechanics. The denominator is firms that employ them, not all contractors.

    Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER, 2025 Workforce Survey · Survey conducted July–August 2025, 1,342 respondents · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    45%, falling

    Industry association

    Project delays attributed to craft worker shortages have fallen four years running in the AGC/NCCER survey — 66%, then 61%, then 54%, and 45% in 2025.

    What it measures
    Share of contractors reporting project delays caused by workforce shortages.
    What it does not measure
    Mechanics specifically. This covers all craft trades, and the direction is downward — a detail usually dropped when the shortage is described.

    Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER, 2025 Workforce Survey · 2022–2025 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    −15.2%

    Government data

    Statistics Canada recorded one of the largest year-over-year declines in job vacancies for heavy-duty equipment mechanics in Q4 2025, down 15.2%.

    What it measures
    Year-over-year change in posted job vacancies for the occupation in Canada.
    What it does not measure
    Unfilled demand. Falling vacancies can mean easier hiring or reduced hiring, and the release does not distinguish.

    Statistics Canada, The Daily — Job vacancies, fourth quarter 2025 · Q4 2025, released March 2026 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    Utilization, idle time and machine life

    How hard machines actually work, how much of that is idling, and how long fleets keep them. Most of this section is older than it looks — dates are given because they matter.

    38%

    Trade research

    Komatsu telematics covering roughly 75,000 machines over twelve months put average North American idle time at 38%; Volvo CE reported 28–30% across its fleet.

    What it measures
    Share of engine-on hours spent idling rather than working.
    What it does not measure
    Recent data. Both figures were reported in 2020 and neither OEM has published an update since.

    Construction Equipment magazine, reporting Komatsu America and Volvo CE telematics · Published March 2020 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    818 – 1,641 hrs/yr

    Government data

    EPA modelling defaults put annual activity at 1,092 hours for excavators, 1,641 for off-highway trucks and 818 for skid steers.

    What it measures
    Annual operating hours by equipment type, used as inputs to EPA emissions modelling.
    What it does not measure
    Observed fleet behaviour. These are modelling defaults built on 1998 Power Systems Research data, not a current survey.

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Transportation and Air Quality (NR-005d) · Report 2010, underlying data 1998 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    8,000 – 14,000 hrs

    Trade research

    Contractors surveyed by Equipment World replace excavators, dozers and backhoes at 8,000–10,000 hours, loaders at 10,000–12,000 and articulated trucks at 12,000–14,000.

    What it measures
    The most-selected replacement hour band by machine class among survey respondents.
    What it does not measure
    A large sample. 97 contractors responded, and the figure is a modal range rather than a mean.

    Equipment World, 2026 Tech & Spec Survey · 2026 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    39%

    Trade research

    Equipment World’s 2026 survey found 39% of contractors use a cloud- or computer-based fleet management system; the rest run manual systems or none.

    What it measures
    Self-reported use of fleet management software among surveyed contractors.
    What it does not measure
    Fleet size weighting — a 97-respondent survey with no breakdown by fleet size.

    Equipment World, 2026 Tech & Spec Survey · 2026 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    59.5%

    Industry association

    Construction and industrial equipment rental penetration in the United States rose for a fifth consecutive year to 59.5%.

    What it measures
    Share of construction and industrial equipment fleet value held by rental companies rather than owners.
    What it does not measure
    Machine counts. Penetration is measured on fleet value, not units.

    American Rental Association, forecast compiled by S&P Global · 2025 estimate, released 2026 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    49.5 months

    Government data

    United Rentals reported an average fleet age of 49.5 months at the end of 2025, down from 51.3 months a year earlier, across 1,095,000 units.

    What it measures
    Average age of a rental fleet, from an audited SEC filing.
    What it does not measure
    Contractor-owned fleets. Rental fleets turn over faster than owned ones, so this is a floor, not a norm.

    United Rentals, Inc., Form 10-K FY2025 (SEC EDGAR) · Fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    2 – 20 years

    Government data

    United Rentals depreciates rental equipment over estimated useful lives of two to twenty years, to a salvage value of 12% of cost.

    What it measures
    Depreciation policy disclosed in an audited annual filing.
    What it does not measure
    Physical machine life. These are accounting lives chosen for financial reporting, not engineering estimates of when a machine wears out.

    United Rentals, Inc., Form 10-K FY2025 (SEC EDGAR) · Fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    Maintenance strategy, failure and safety

    The most-quoted numbers in maintenance come from this territory, and most of them are older and narrower than the way they get cited. Ages and populations are stated deliberately.

    40–60% reactive

    Government data

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory puts the typical industry maintenance mix at 40–60% reactive, 30–50% preventive and 10–15% predictive.

    What it measures
    Distribution of maintenance effort across approaches, as a typical industry range.
    What it does not measure
    Heavy equipment specifically. This is a general industrial and facilities figure adapted from a 2010 federal guide.

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. DOE Federal Energy Management Program · Table adapted from FEMP 2010, page currently maintained · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $18 → $6 per hp/yr

    Government data

    The U.S. DOE O&M Best Practices Guide costs reactive maintenance at about $18 per horsepower per year, preventive at $13, predictive at $9 and reliability-centred at $6.

    What it measures
    Comparative annual maintenance cost by strategy, per horsepower.
    What it does not measure
    Heavy equipment. The underlying figures come from Piotrowski (2001) and are about pumps. The widely-quoted "reactive costs 3–5× more" framing appears nowhere in the source.

    U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Management Program — O&M Best Practices Guide, Release 3.0 · Guide 2010, underlying data 2001 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    12–18%

    Government data

    The same DOE guide estimates preventive maintenance delivers 12% to 18% cost savings over a reactive programme.

    What it measures
    Estimated cost saving from a preventive versus a reactive maintenance programme.
    What it does not measure
    Named evidence. The guide attributes the range only to "studies" without citing them, and the same section carries an unsourced 10× ROI claim.

    U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Management Program · Guide Release 3.0, 2010 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    21,799

    Peer-reviewed

    A ten-year NIOSH review of injuries reported to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration identified 21,799 maintenance- and repair-related injuries, 37 fatalities and 473,398 lost workdays.

    What it measures
    Maintenance and repair injuries in U.S. mining, 2002–2011.
    What it does not measure
    Construction. This is mining only, and the data period ended in 2011.

    Pollard, Heberger and Dempsey — NIOSH, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering · Published 2014, data 2002–2011 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    0.881 at 20 hrs

    Peer-reviewed

    For a fleet of six Caterpillar 777 haul trucks, modelled fleet reliability was 0.972 at ten operating hours and 0.881 at twenty, approaching zero by eighty.

    What it measures
    Modelled reliability of one specific mining truck fleet using a Bayesian network approach.
    What it does not measure
    Generalisation. Six trucks at one operation; fuel-injection pipes and connectors were the most critical components in this fleet.

    Rahimdel, Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), vol. 14, art. 3415 · 2024 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    $200, $800 or $2,800

    Trade research

    Mike Vorster demonstrates that the same eight-hour downtime event can be costed at $200, $800 or $2,800 depending on what is counted, and notes there is "little agreement on how to quantify" downtime impact.

    What it measures
    An illustrative worked example showing how sensitive downtime cost is to method.
    What it does not measure
    Any industry benchmark. The figures are illustrative by the author’s own framing, and are the best available answer to a question nobody has actually measured.

    Construction Equipment magazine, Mike Vorster · 2018 · Source · Checked 2026-09-06

    What a service interval actually asks for

    Task counts across the nine published Tenmil equipment checklists. A 2,000-hour grader service is 59 discrete tasks; a 500-hour telehandler service is 22. Nobody else publishes this, so it is offered under CC BY 4.0 — cite it freely with attribution.

    Number of checklist tasks by asset type and service interval
    AssetPre-trip500 hr1,000 hr2,000 hr
    Articulated truck49313852
    Backhoe49364248
    Compactor44364751
    Dozer50334147
    Excavator48374347
    Grader50454959
    Loader49324048
    Skid steer50384246
    Telehandler47223143

    Counted across the nine published Tenmil equipment maintenance checklists on 2026-09-06. A "task" is one discrete line item a technician signs off. Counts are of the checklist content itself, not of work performed in the field — this is a measurement of what a service interval asks for, not of what any fleet actually does. Haul truck is not yet published and is excluded.

    The checklists themselves are free to download from the resources hub.

    Numbers everyone cites that nobody can source

    While assembling this page we tried to trace the figures that circulate most widely in heavy equipment maintenance. These are the ones we could not stand behind. Each verdict is our finding after following the citation chain to its end, not an accusation against anyone repeating them — most are repeated in good faith. If you can point us at a primary source for any of them, we will correct this section.

    Widely circulated heavy equipment maintenance claims and what they trace back to
    ClaimWhat it traces toVerdict
    Heavy equipment downtime costs $500 to $1,000 per hourSeen in: CMMS and telematics vendor blogs, widelyNothing. No study, agency or association publishes this figure.No traceable origin
    The 72/20/8 maintenance ruleSeen in: Maintenance strategy articles and vendor training materialNo identifiable source. Where practitioners give a figure, it is materially different.No traceable origin
    "McKinsey Mining Operations Research" on equipment availabilitySeen in: Mining maintenance vendor contentNo McKinsey publication of that name exists.No traceable origin
    Unplanned downtime costs manufacturers 800 hours a yearSeen in: Attributed to Deloitte across maintenance marketingDisproven at the source it is attributed to.Disproven at source
    80% of hydraulic failures are caused by contaminationSeen in: Fluid analysis and filtration marketingPublicly debunked by Power & Motion Technology in 2018; still in wide circulation.Disproven at source
    Undercarriage is 50% of a tracked machine’s maintenance costSeen in: Undercarriage suppliers and dealer contentCaterpillar states it three non-equivalent ways across two of its own pages — as a share of owning-and-operating cost, of maintenance cost, and of repair cost.Misattributed
    The equipment skills gap costs the industry $2.4 billion a yearSeen in: Workforce and training advocacyThe AED Foundation’s own footnote 21 says of the extrapolation: "we believe that it should" — the report does not claim it as measured.Misattributed
    11,000 equipment thefts a year with a 21% recovery rateSeen in: Security and telematics marketing, usually undatedThe 2016 NER/NICB report. Riding mowers and garden tractors were 41% of those reports — not heavy equipment.Out of date
    Fuel is 30–40% of equipment operating costSeen in: Fuel management and telematics contentNo source. The AEMP/CFMA figure in this page’s cost section puts fuel at 19.8% of total equipment cost.No traceable origin

    What nobody publishes

    Gaps we went looking for and could not fill from any public source. If you are writing about one of these, there is no number to cite — and anyone who gives you one should be asked where it came from.

    • Downtime cost per hour for heavy equipment, measured rather than asserted
    • The multiplier between an emergency repair and the same repair planned
    • Shop labor rates for heavy equipment, from any agency or association
    • Wrench time in a heavy equipment shop
    • Work order backlog age
    • CMMS and telematics adoption measured across fleets rather than self-selected survey panels
    • Fleet size distribution in machine counts
    • Utilization of owned fleets, as opposed to rental fleets
    • A machine economic-life curve built on data from this decade
    • Availability benchmarks by machine class

    Run these on your own numbers

    Published averages are a starting point, not an answer. Both calculators are free and nothing is stored.

    Equipment cost per hour calculator · Shop rate calculator

    How this page is maintained

    Every figure is quoted as its source states it and links to the primary document, not to a secondary that repeats it. Where a percentage is our arithmetic on published index values, the page says so. Sources are ranked by type — government data, industry association, peer-reviewed, trade research — and nothing below trade research is published here.

    Price index figures are recomputed monthly. Annual reissues — FEMA rates, Caltrans rates, BLS wage data, the AGC and AEMP surveys — are reviewed twice a year. Historical figures are link-checked only; where a number is old, the page says how old rather than quietly implying it is current.

    Found an error, or a primary source for something in the unsourced section? Tell us through the contact form and we will correct it.

    Tenmil tracks these numbers for your fleet

    Cost per hour, PM compliance and parts spend per machine — measured from your own work orders instead of an industry average.

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