Some of the best federal work sits in places nobody wants to go — and that's exactly why it pays. The full story of a $107,200 air conditioning job in Skagway, Alaska, taught by the contractor who performed it, contains every lesson about pricing remote work.
The job
A 3-ton air conditioner — cooling only, no heat — for a 1,044-square-foot museum in Skagway, Alaska: the Jeff. Smiths Parlor, a preserved 1890s Klondike Gold Rush saloon now run by the National Park Service. The government's own estimate was $25,000 to $100,000. The same unit installed in a house in Austin, Texas: maybe $6,000 to $8,000.
The contractor, who had never worked in Alaska, figured work in Alaska must be expensive — and bid $107,200. He was the only bidder. The government wanted the job done. They awarded it.
What it actually costs to work in Skagway
- Getting there: the earliest flight from Austin arrives in Juneau at 9 p.m. — a full travel day. Juneau has no road or rail connection; it's surrounded by moving glaciers. From Juneau, a small hopper flight drops you in Skagway, a town of 934 people that exists for cruise ships.
- Materials: ductwork had to be fabricated in Anchorage, then driven 854 miles through Canada — a U-Haul and a border crossing that took some creative persuasion.
- Labor: the two mechanics had to be flown in from Juneau, because nobody in a town of 934 fixes commercial refrigeration.
Total cost to perform: about $65,000. Profit on a $107,200 contract: healthy — roughly 40%. The contractor had bid "a big number" out of caution and discovered the market would bear it.
The lessons
- Only bidder is a market position. When nobody else wants the job, the market price is what you say it is — if you've priced the logistics honestly.
- Remote work has a floor, not a guess. Price travel days, freight, lodging, and specialty labor line by line. The cautious number beat the market because the logistics were real.
- Know where NOT to bid. The same instructor refuses the North Slope: remote camps where materials disappear, locals are territorial, and outside contractors get default-terminated. Every remote market has rules — learn them before you bid.
- One remote job begets nine more. The same contractor later took nine federal awards at once and had to split them with his mentor. Winning one difficult job in a place others avoid can make you the local expert — with pricing power — overnight.
Winning work in your own "Skagway"
Every contractor has a Skagway: the rural counties, the awkward scopes, the unglamorous facilities that urban competitors skip. Those markets have fewer bidders, higher prices, and — for anyone willing to price the difficulty honestly — outsized margins. Read where to find these jobs, and how to price them like a specialist.