How We Generate Revenue
We currently generate most of our revenue through our water-management services associated with well completions as well as ongoing produced water management, provided through our Water Services and Water Infrastructure segments. Most of this revenue is realized through customer agreements with fixed pricing terms and is recognized when delivery of services is provided, generally at our customers’ sites. While we have some long-term pricing arrangements, particularly in our Water Infrastructure segment, most of our water and water-related services are priced based on prevailing market conditions, giving due consideration to the customer’s specific requirements.
We also generate revenue by providing completion and specialty chemicals through our Chemical Technologies segment. We invoice the majority of our Chemical Technologies customers for services provided based on the quantity of chemicals used or pursuant to short-term contracts as customer needs arise.
Costs of Conducting Our Business
The principal expenses involved in conducting our business are labor costs, vehicle and equipment costs (including depreciation, rental, repair and maintenance and leasing costs), raw materials and water sourcing costs and fuel costs. Our fixed costs are relatively low. Most of the costs of serving our customers are variable, i.e., they are incurred only when we provide water and water-related services, or chemicals and chemical-related services to our customers.
Labor costs associated with our employees and contract labor comprise the largest portion of our costs of doing business. We incurred labor and labor-related costs of $126.7 million, $140.2 million, $265.0 million and $278.4 million for the Current Quarter, Prior Quarter, Current Period and Prior Period, respectively. The majority of our recurring labor costs are variable and dependent on the market environment and are incurred only while we are providing our operational services. We also incur costs to employ personnel to ensure safe operations, sell and supervise our services and perform maintenance on our assets, which is not as directly tied to our level of business activity. Additionally, we incur selling, general and administrative costs for compensation of our administrative personnel at our field sites and in our operational and corporate headquarters, as well as for third-party support, licensing and services.
We incur significant vehicle and equipment costs in connection with the services we provide, including depreciation, repairs and maintenance, rental and leasing costs. We incurred vehicle and equipment costs of $79.0 million, $77.9 million, $158.5 million and $156.1 million for the Current Quarter, Prior Quarter, Current Period and Prior Period, respectively.
We incur raw material costs in manufacturing our chemical products, as well as for water that we source for our customers. We incurred raw material costs of $63.2 million, $72.6 million, $124.9 million and $155.9 million for the Current Quarter, Prior Quarter, Current Period and Prior Period, respectively.
We incur variable transportation costs associated with our service lines, predominately fuel and freight. We incurred fuel and freight costs of $21.0 million, $28.3 million, $45.0 million and $60.9 million for the Current Quarter, Prior Quarter, Current Period and Prior Period, respectively. Rising fuel prices impact our transportation costs, which affects the results of our operations.
How We Evaluate Our Operations
We use a variety of operational and financial metrics to assess our performance. Among other measures, management considers each of the following: