What should I check before buying a traffic control company?

Crews arrive at dawn, set out cones and signs, and keep a lane safe until the job ends. A buyer should understand who the crews are, what the equipment looks like, and where the steady work comes from. Training and road-authority requirements are for your lawyer to confirm, not for this page to state.

Know the crew before you count the gear

Ask for the roster of flaggers and supervisors, how long each has worked there, and how many are full-time as opposed to called in. Ask who would stay if the owner left. Find out how certifications are tracked and who renews them. A company that depends on a handful of supervisors is a different purchase from one with a deep bench.

Inspect signs, boards and trucks

List the signs, cones, barriers, arrow boards and truck-mounted attenuators, and look at their condition. Ask how they are stored, repaired and replaced, and whether any are leased or financed. Ask for maintenance records on the trucks. Worn or missing gear becomes a cost you would carry as the new owner.

Understand who hires them and how

Ask about the customer mix: utilities, municipalities, paving and pipeline contractors. Find out whether the work comes through master service agreements or one-off jobs, and whether those agreements can be reassigned. Ask how seasonal the calendar is, how on-call and after-hours requests are handled, and how dispatch decides who goes where. Compare this with how you would check an equipment rental business.

Review insurance and incident history

Ask for the insurance policies, the claims history and any incident reports, including near misses and damage to vehicles or gear. Ask what changed afterwards. Your insurance broker can say whether coverage carries over to a new owner, and your accountant can read the books for unpaid amounts the seller has not mentioned.