Detritus/Services/Ice delivery
Ice delivery
We have run 2,175 ice and water deliveries across 70 job sites since January 2024, using 51 different local suppliers. Almost none of those sites had a supplier who would commit to a route before we put one on contract.
Ice is a heat illness control on a summer site. It is also the cheapest line item on the job, which is why nobody assigns it to anyone. The superintendent buys it, or a foreman does, out of poc, from whoever is open. That works for a week.
Over an eighteen month build in Texas or the Gulf Coast it produces four problems we see repeatedly:
| Item | How it works | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Packaged ice | Recurring delivery, quantity set from crew count and corrected after the first two or three drops. Route is on contract, so the site is not competing with retail demand in a heat wave. | Per delivery on a held rate |
| Ice chests | Placed with the delivery so the ice survives the shift. Quantity and placement set with the site, not guessed from the office. | Recurring monthly cycle |
| Ice and water together | One order, one schedule. Crew count drives both, so there is no good reason to give them separate suppliers and separate calendars. | One line on the site invoice |
Combined ice and water product code, because that is how we book it. Numbers are delivery events, not bags.
| Year | Deliveries | Sites | Suppliers used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 178 | 16 | 12 |
| 2025 | 1,372 | 44 | 41 |
| 2026 to August | 623 | 40 | 25 |
| Total | 2,175 | 70 | 51 |
Detritus unit records. 31 deliveries per site on average, which is what a recurring route looks like rather than a one-off drop.
Because ice does not travel. A supplier will not run a truck two hours each way for eight pallets, and the sites that need ice most are rarely near a plant. We hold rate and coverage records on all 51 so the next site in a new county is a lookup instead of a week of phone calls. That is the whole service.
If the site is somewhere with thin supply we will tell you before we quote, not after you have planned around it.
Most of what we place is part of a wider site program, but these lines can be ordered on their own. Tell us the site address, what you need, how often, and for how long. We come back with a delivery schedule and pricing.
If you already have sanitation or waste with us, this goes on the same agreement, the same invoice, and the same point of contact.
Who delivers ice to a construction site?
We deliver packaged ice to construction and industrial job sites in all 50 states on a recurring route, not when the site calls. Since January 2024 that has meant 2,175 ice and water deliveries across 70 sites through 51 local suppliers, about 31 drops per site. Chests go on the same order if you need them. One site or a whole program, same process.
How much ice does a crew go through?
It tracks heat index and headcount, and it gets underestimated almost every time. We set an opening quantity from crew count, then correct it after two or three deliveries based on what the site actually used. Sites that double headcount mid-build get the cadence re-set rather than left short.
Can you rent ice chests too?
Yes. We have placed 373 chests across 38 sites. One thing to watch: most suppliers bill chest rental on a calendar month while site service cycles do not line up with a calendar month. That creates a proration argument that repeats every month for the life of the job. We align the rental to the supplier's billing cycle so the same argument does not show up every month.
Do you deliver ice and water together?
Usually, and it is the same order in our system. Crew count and heat drive both lines, and splitting them across two local suppliers is how sites end up with ice on Tuesday and water on Friday. Same schedule, same invoice, same person to call when something misses.