The scrap credit has to go somewhere

Anyone who has bid a track removal knows it. The scrap is worth real money, but the bid form won't take a negative unit price. The easy place to hide the credit is mobilization. That holds until the quantities come in short.

One case on our Try page: a yard track removal, industrial lead as an alternate. Yesper priced the scrap track by track, net of cutting, handling and trucking: $158,000, and the lead loses money below $225 per gross ton. Mobilization can't carry the credit. Each item takes its own scrap, the alternate's stays in the alternate.

You know before bid day which track pays its own way. The credit follows the quantities instead of a fixed deduction the owner can read as unbalanced. Same for the rest of the Try page: a tie replacement estimate, crew and flagging hours, a work plan for a culvert.

Try it yourself →