# Mobilization cost

A term used when buying paving.

What it costs to get a crew and its machines onto a site before any work is billed.

It is why a small paving job can lose money at a price that looks profitable per square foot: the paver, the roller and the crew have to arrive whichever size the job is. A book of many small driveways and a book of few large lots are different businesses at the same revenue. Ask for [gross margin](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/gross-margin) by job size instead of in total, because the average hides which half of the work is subsidising the other.

Part of: Buying a Paving Business (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-paving-business)

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-paving-business/terms/mobilization-cost
Not dated: The same editorial definitions as the glossary, inside a trade.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt