Service 07 · Equipment & maintenance analytics
Equipment lifecycle cost and maintenance analytics
Where RootN’s approach was shaped: repair history, labour, parts and hours turned into cost per hour, and an analysis that takes hours instead of weeks.
- Gather price, resale value, labour, parts, repairs and hours, by unit
- Normalize to one cost structure per class, so units compare like for likeException: Gaps in the repair history are shown, with what to capture next
- Find the low point: cost per hour by age marks the replacement window
- Decide keep, rebuild or replace for each unit, against that windowException: The decision stays with the people accountable for the fleet
Signs you need this
Sound familiar?
- Replacement timing is decided on age, gut feel or the loudest complaint.
- Maintenance cost is visible by department, not by machine or component.
- Meter hours are typed from one system into another every week.
- The quarterly capital review takes weeks of analyst time to prepare.
What we build
The pieces, and what each one is for.
- Cost-per-hour models
- Repair, parts, labour and hours combined over each machine’s life, with the same logic for every model.
- Labour by machine and component
- Existing timesheet records mapped to units and component categories.
- Maintenance KPIs
- Availability, PM compliance, backlog and cost per hour, defined once and reported on a schedule.
- Automated quarterly runs
- The full analysis regenerated from fresh data, with formatted outputs for review.
What you’d see
Numbers a fleet can run on.
Built from your own work orders, meter readings and costs, and refreshed automatically. The example uses made-up data to show the format.
- Availability
- 89%Last 30 days · target 90%
- PM compliance
- 73%PMs done on time
- Backlog
- 3.4 wkOpen work ÷ technician hours (scale: 6 weeks)
- Maintenance cost
- $46/hFleet average, 12 months (scale: $60/h)
Units costing most above their class
Maintenance cost per operating hour against the class average, last 12 months
Tap or hover over a unit to see its numbers.
Show the numbers as a table
| Unit | Cost per hour | Class average | Above |
|---|---|---|---|
| EX-14 Excavator | $78 | $52 | +50% |
| WL-07 Wheel loader | $64 | $45 | +42% |
| HT-22 Haul truck | $58 | $41 | +41% |
| DZ-03 Dozer | $71 | $55 | +29% |
| EX-09 Excavator | $61 | $52 | +17% |
How the numbers are defined
| Measure | How it’s worked out | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical availability | (Scheduled hours − unplanned downtime) ÷ scheduled hours. Whether planned PM time counts is agreed up front. | Maintenance lead | Weekly |
| PM compliance | PMs completed inside their window ÷ PMs due. | Maintenance planner | Weekly |
| Backlog (weeks) | Estimated hours on open work orders ÷ technician hours available per week. | Maintenance planner | Weekly |
| Maintenance cost per hour | (Labour + parts + outside repairs, net of warranty recoveries) ÷ operating hours, by unit, against its class. | Equipment manager | Monthly |
| MTBF and MTTR | Operating hours ÷ failures, and downtime per repair, where failures are coded. | Reliability lead | Quarterly |
Try it
When does a machine get too expensive to keep?
Drag the hours, change the repair-cost trend, and watch the replacement window move.
Ownership cost per hour falls as the purchase price is spread over more hours. Operating and repair cost per hour climbs with age. Where their total bottoms out is the replacement window: the cheapest time to plan a replacement or a rebuild.
Cost per hour is still falling. Keep running and maintaining it.
- Cost per hour now
- $184/h
- Lowest
- $158/h near 12,000 h
- Window
- 9,000–16,500 h
A first step for fleets
Start with a replacement-plan check
Send the units on your replacement list, with their cost and hours history. In about 2–3 weeks you get a keep, rebuild or replace recommendation on each unit, and the model behind it.
Ask about a replacement-plan checkWhat we’d ask you for
- Your asset list: unit, class, year and hours
- 12–24 months of work orders, with labour and parts
- Meter or hour readings
- Purchase price or book value
Exports are fine, and messy is fine. That is usually where we start.
What you get
Deliverables you can hold us to.
Fixed price, agreed before work starts. Built in your environment wherever possible, and owned by you.
- A documented lifecycle-cost method, with the formulas shown
- Models for each equipment class, regenerated on demand
- A decision memo format for the capital review
- The code or workbook, handed over and owned by you
Track record
Related work.
Systems built by RootN’s founder: case studies and field notes from a heavy-civil equipment operation.
Questions
Good questions to ask.
Is this an engineering opinion or a spreadsheet?
Both, deliberately. The model makes the numbers repeatable; the recommendation is an engineering judgement made from it, with the assumptions written down.
We don’t have clean cost data. Can we still start?
Yes. Most fleets start with partial data. We show what the model can and can’t support yet, and what to capture next.
Other services
Next step
Start with one equipment class.
Bring an example. In 30 minutes we’ll tell you whether it’s worth fixing, roughly what it would take, and what we’d do first.
With the engineer who would do the work. Reply within one business day.