Picking the wrong asphalt subcontractor on a large Florida project costs more than the bid spread. It costs schedule, change orders, rework, owner relationship friction, and – at the worst – termination and re-procurement. The lowest bid isn’t the best bid if the firm behind it can’t deliver.
Here are ten questions VLJ recommends Florida general contractors ask any asphalt subcontractor before award on a $1M+ project.
Capacity and capability
1. “What’s your annual asphalt placement volume in tons?” This is the headline indicator of fleet, crew, and plant relationships. Subs placing 50,000 tons annually are a different operation than those placing 500,000+.
2. “How many tri-axle trucks do you own, and how many can you commit dedicated to this project?” Owned trucks matter – leased / brokered haul capacity disappears when other contractors offer more. Dedicated commitment matters more than total fleet count.
3. “Who supplies your asphalt mix, and what’s your plant relationship?” Plant access is often the bottleneck on schedule. A sub with a long-standing relationship at a strategically-located plant has real advantages. A sub buying spot-market mix from whatever plant has capacity will have schedule volatility.
Compliance and certification
4. “Are you FDOT-prequalified, and in which categories?” Even for non-FDOT private work, FDOT prequalification is a useful proxy for the sub’s quality systems, safety record, and financial stability. Most prequalified subs maintain higher standards than the bare minimum the work requires.
5. “What’s your current bonding capacity?” You don’t need the specific dollar amount, but you need confirmation they can bond your project. A sub at the edge of their aggregate bonding limit may not be able to take on additional concurrent work – which affects their ability to manage your project on schedule.
6. “What’s your safety record? What’s your current EMR?” Subs with EMR > 1.0 are statistically more dangerous than industry average. Some owners require EMR ≤ 1.0 for award. Ask for the certificate.
Schedule and resourcing
7. “What’s your current project backlog through this project’s expected mobilization date?” You’re looking for honesty here. A sub with no backlog is concerning (why?). A sub with a heavy backlog through your mobilization date is a scheduling risk. The right answer is “manageable” with specifics.
8. “Who will be the project superintendent on this job, and what’s their experience?” Named individual. Years on similar work. Specific past projects (anonymized if needed). The superintendent is the day-to-day reality of your subcontract. Don’t accept a “TBD.”
9. “What’s your standard liquidated damages exposure on jobs this size?” A sub who’s never paid LDs may have never been on a project that imposed them. A sub who paid LDs once and learned from it is often a better bet than one with no track record. What you don’t want is a sub who’s repeatedly paid LDs.
Communication and culture
10. “Walk me through how you handle a weather day.” This question reveals whether the sub thinks like a partner or like a contractor adversary. Good answers: “We call you by 6am, recommend a go/no-go, coordinate plant cancellation, and re-baseline our crew schedule.” Bad answers: “We show up and see what happens” or “The contract says we get a rain day.”
How to use these questions
The point isn’t to pass-fail subs on each question. It’s to listen for the texture of the answers. Confident, specific, internally-consistent answers indicate a mature operation. Vague, defensive, or rehearsed answers indicate the opposite.
For most Florida primes, the ten-question conversation takes 45 minutes. It saves multiples of that during the project.
Where VLJ stands on these
VLJ Construction Services has been answering versions of these questions for our prime contractor partners since 2012. If you’re scoping a $1M+ Florida project and want to start a vendor conversation, reach out – we’ll walk through all ten.
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Related Resources
- Our Services
- What Sets Top Road Construction Companies Apart
- The Value of Quality in Commercial Construction Projects
Vetting asphalt subs for a Florida project? Talk to VLJ Construction Services.
