So this is probably a weird post, but what the hell. I bought a backhoe/loader 8 months ago to start doing a bunch of work on a piece of property I own. I still suck(obviously) at running my machine, but it's literally one of the most fun things I've done work wise, and I'm fascinated by the whole industry. That being said, I'm also mentally completely over my current business(Auto Body Repair). I have some cash, I potentially have the option to sell my business for added cash, and I would love to be in the excavating business. The actual business side I'm not concerned about, but I have no knowledge to deliver a quality product. Any advice for how to get that knowledge somewhat quickly. I've considered just cashing out and going and getting an entry level job just to learn. Thoughts? BTW, I'm thick skinned, you won't hurt my feeling if you tell me I'm an idiot.
first thing you do is go back out to the machine you already have and learn how to operate it then how to do quality work with it. once thats done you can start doing quality work for others and get paid for
One of the cheapest ways to get an education here is to work for someone else. I have lost count of people that have just bought a toy and now "in the biz", with pretty much zero experience. I feel sorry for their customers. They bill by the hour, and lie their way through it all. Don't be another one! go dig yourself a "pond" on your own property, bid it like it was for someone, and do the math after. No one will ever do that, but they are happy to charge people up for their education. Just FYI, I fired a guy within 3hrs for saying is he was an experienced operator and I could tell in 5min he didn't know dick about what he was doing. That can get people hurt! Today I would not be as calm about firing someone like that. If they want to lie their way in, I will help them find the truth....
I had a taste of heavy equipment when I learned to run the Case 580 at a campground business owned by my father and uncle and I loved it. I grew up in my father's gas station business and I was a natural mechanic but the heavy equipment was fun. Heavy equipment also meant that I did NOT have to deal with the general public - the main reason I went back to school for a degree. I also played with Tonka Toys from toddler to about 10 in a huge sandbox that was also a volleyball court at out summer camp. After graduating, I moved south. I got a job in my field of study and absolutely hating sitting behind a desk. I dreaded work EVERY day. This was not the sector of my field that I studied for but it was what I could find. Then a situation arose where I got onto some heavy equipment again and I loved it. I was back outside and in the sandbox was where I wanted to be. Fast forward to when I got a small 550G dozer and a single axle dump truck with the financial help of my father as a backer - he was now retired. He was no operator but he did give me business advice and helped me get the ball rolling sooner than if I had to do it all myself. I met a retired HE operator that was looking for part time work and hired him. He taught me many of the basics of earthwork when I did not know something or was approaching the job incorrectly. I learned fast, got into some work in a new subdivision and started doing everyone's work there from initial clearing, basements, driveways, finish grading to maintaining the subdivision for the HOA. I had all of the work that I could handle in there. The only hard part of work was dealing with that old man's unreliability and mental status. WW2 had left some severe scars on his mentality and there were periods of irrationality that were difficult to deal with. While I will always be thankful for his service to our country, I could no longer deal with him after he threatened to kill me over a small misunderstanding over what, I can not remember. We parted company and I did my best to leave him be. I had some other workers come and go but I was always frustrated with the lack of skills or speed or commitment to quality work of others that represented my business. I did not want to depend on others. I am self taught on everything that I operate and I can repair most anything. I can read a manual or diagram, think about it and get to work. Others told me I could not teach myself to fly RC aircraft without a trainer cable - BS - it was easy. Heavy equipment was no different for me. Put safety first, take the time to learn it well, walk before you try to run and then start high speed operations when competent enough. After several years of dirt work and employees, I was frustrated with the lack of competence of others, the government BS that I was having to deal with having employees and having to rely on others to be there to get projects accomplished timely. I looked into a brush cutting attachment for my excavator in the winter of '97, I had already canned my one full time employee and started working by myself from then on. I preferred the clearing work and decided to concentrate on doing one thing and being more efficient at it. Constantly evolving and working at efficiency keeps me interested in what I do. 24 years later, I am still working alone. I'm enjoying what I do just as much as when I started it. I have minimal hassles and maximum freedom. Life is good. My freedom is everything. It's not about how much money I make, it is the fact that I am secure in life and I have more freedom than most others. I can jump on the bike and head cross country most anytime I want to as long as my contract obligations are met and my customers understand when I can fit their jobs in. SO, my advice to you is, if you love doing it, learn it and run with it. Advice to me from another old man to me was, "I don't know how to operate any of this stuff but I do know how to hire guys that do and I know how to run the business end of things." Learn the basics, talk with others, educate yourself and be willing to WORK - this is the USA - you can do anything you want to IF you put your mind to it and you are driven enough to succeed. Another great piece of advice from another contractor, specifically septic and nothing else, was, "Decide on one thing to do, specialize in that and do it well. You will make more money, be more efficient and have fewer hassles that way." He was right.
Good insights here guys. Thank you. I've built/owned/bought a few businesses over the last 20 years, so the money/business/books/selling/motivation side is easy for me. The knowledge of the actual work is what I don't have. I might call some companies in the area and see if they have a need for a part time/weekend employee.
Start by trying to dig a clean straight consistent trench with your backhoe then start digging dementional holes from layout do this till your bored from it then you will be about ready to start looking for work also learn how to grade and level with the front end of your backhoe Backhoes can do just about anything and when learned how to operate can do it well
Couple things I learned early on (I started in 1995) I am self taught and never worked for anyone else. Make friends with your competitors, at least some of them. You will run across a ton of different situations where you wont know the answer to a procedure or process. Having someone you bounce questions off of is really important, especially when your new. Sometimes that can be done by doing some trucking for other dirt contractors, working your hoe on some of their projects when available. They may throw small jobs or jobs they don't want to do your way as well. Excavation contractors that i made friends with early on, we are still all friends and we still throw work back and forth, and we still call each other with questions. Networking is important, even or especially with your peers. You have a lot to learn (we all do to various degrees) about how to do things you will be called to do. Read as much as you can (books about excavation), it does help. It is really important that you get good on that hoe. Pricing does matter, but how good you are on the machine will carry you a long way (forward or back). Being I never learned under anyone, I tried to keep myself out things I didn't feel good about, until I felt I had the experience to tackle it. Somethings to this day we will contract out to another dirt contractor (hot taps would be an example). The experience will come, keep yourself where you feel comfortable but you have to push yourself to some degree to keep expanding your abilities. Backhoe guys get called on water/sewer line repairs a lot. You need to understand exterior plumbing and get whatever authorization that CO. requires you to have to work plumbing. Working around other utilities is common for this type of work, back to being really good at running the hoe. Lastly on that, strap a shovel to your hoe and use it when you need to when digging around utilities. It is always that last pull that you wish you hadn't taken. I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea.
I taught myself mostly everything, learned a few tricks over the years watching what other guys do. I stumbled upon excavating working for my dad doing concrete. So many times when we were replacing a driveway someone would have a small foundation repair and after seeing what guys were charging starting renting a mini excavator and doing it. After a summer of that the next year when I was building my house I bought my 6 ton mini to start doing those little jobs without renting, and to help my build (and kind of just cause I wanted one). I started doing foundation repairs, digging around old houses putting in or replacing weeping tile, starting removing driveways with it when we found out how much quicker it was then a skidsteer. Then I decided to start doing basements and went and bought a big hoe, truck, trailer, end dump, brand new second pickup, which was a really really bad idea. Most of the year everything sat, I had very little work for it and it wasn't fun making payments working concrete by the hour for a lot of the year. Sold everything but the mini because I just couldn't make the payments and lost a small fortune, licked my wounds and a few months later bought a big hoe and tag trailer and used my dads dump to pull them around. Had a ton of work the next year I just learned it took time to build up and I took on way too much debt before. Worked like a dog 80-90 hour weeks and barely kept afloat. Underbid many jobs, some jobs I didn't realize what was required and customers refused to pay extra so I lost. It was a learning experience. It hurts loosing money on jobs though. But every year has got better 2018 I added a CTL and did pretty well, 2019 I did less revenue but more profit as I got faster and better at quoting, 2020 was really slow, revenue half of 2019 but every single job was good profit. I've become so much faster and learned how to price jobs properly. I have no employees and don't intend to change. All my equipment is paid for and 2020 being slow I got all the repairs and maintenance done to get everything in really good shape so i'm really happy with where i'm at. I thought about expanding a few times but it's just not worth it to me. There's so many companies constantly trying to rip people off, going under, etc I don't want to work for big companies. If I have a job I need a laborer for which is super rare, I borrow a guy from my brother which is actually really handy. I just can't be bothered with the hassle. It sucks scheduling sometimes when busy, but i'll take it over the headaches of employees. It's not a easy business to start in. It requires a big financial risk. It's not like so many others where you can just buy a truck and spend a few thousand bucks in tools and give it a try. But once you are established and got the gear paid for, the money is very good. I seconds KSSS there's a few guys i'm friendly with who I met through the guy who does my trucking and I even use their trucks on occasion. It's a big city, it benefits everyone. The only one's who I won't help or be friendly with are the half *** one's who are out to do garbage work and cut prices.
These are really great tips. I really appreciate it. As far as financial risk goes, try spending $130k on a new paint booth and installation in Dec 2019, and then have everyone stop driving their cars 90 days later .
Perfect. I will do this. I purchased a large chunk of property a few years ago(Raw), and it needed a lot of dirt work done. 1500 feet of road that was in really bad shape, two areas cleared for house/barn, and then trenches for utilities. The quote I got for all that work was astronomical. That's how I ended up with the backhoe. I have plenty of pits that I can dig like that to practice.
Yikes!!!! Now that’s rough
Great Story!