Hello everyone. This is my first post so apologies for any rules broken. I am in the process of starting a crane business is Midland Texas. The operator I had partnered up with has backed out of our agreement due to a recent health diagnosis. I have the crane and insurance policy purchased but now have no operator. I need someone qualified to run a 2006 Grove TMS900E. Clean CCO and Texas class A CDL or ability to obtain. You either need to be willing to work cheap to start with or bring a lot to the table up front. The goal is for you to become 1/3 owner within 2 years. Must be willing to relocate to Midland, Tx. Clean driving record and criminal background within last 5 years is a must. I will do the office work and you will operate and maintain the crane.
I don't think the statement of "willing to work cheap" and " operate and maintain" are going to go together.
I understand your view point. I thought the same way for many years. I'm hoping someone is looking for the long term investment. Thank you for your input.
If you want to find someone that can do both of those it is going to cost. Finding someone here that has just half-ss knowledge in equipment maintenance is $25 an hour minimum. Not sure what a crane operator would be paid by the hour, but I would think one with enough knowledge to be a safe operator would be $35 plus for sure. Thats 2 men's wages = $60 per. It sounds like you need a partner/operator type to me....and job out most of the maintenance work that requires tooling. It's still going to be a tough sell these days.
By maintenance I mean greasing stuff. Slack adjusters. Cheap to me is 30/hr or less. If you want to get paid more show me your qualifications and bring money. If you're willing to put a half million in the shared bank account then you can pay yourself whatever you want. That's what I have in it so far and stand to lose because of a lying short term thinker with this exact mind set. I moved here 10 years ago 10k in debt with a truck I had to trailer behind a uhaul because it wouldn't make the trip. This crane business is successful will be my 3rd successful business. Seems like I'm looking for babe Ruth in the peanut gallery here. No one else in this world is offering ownership after 2 years for just doing your job. Most places you're lucky to get a dollar an hour raise after 2 years.
You’re in a special situation, trying to find a person in a special situation. I really doubt anyone is going to go all in without a real relationship first. On the other hand, “married at first sight” was on TV, wonder how many were long term? Highly skilled, dedicated people, typically don’t make these “at first sight” decisions. Most of them are smarter than that. I’m not saying what you have going won’t or can’t work out, just gonna be a hard sell to the person you’re needing and looking for. That’s my .02, it’s worth what you paid.
In my area a man that has a cdl and the knowledge to run a crane without learning how to do it on yours coukd easly run his own dirt work machines and make far more. I would think you would be paying 600 to 800 per days work for a quality man. Try an ad on Facebook.
You get it. I'm not asking for married for life though. I'm thinking 5 years. I realize I'm asking for a lot but I want to invest in people. My other option is real estate, which has a much lower rate of return. A smart young man such as I was 15 years ago would stand to advance himself greatly by pursuing this opportunity. I got this money by the sweat of my back learning a trade and then being a 1 man company with skill levels far exceeding national competition. I want to do for the right person what I wish someone would have done for me. The more money you can make others the more you will make. The gambler personality doesn't typically pair with the pragmatist as you find in me. I'm at the point now where I either find an operator or for sure lose $75k. Thanks for your time.
Where are you losing $75,000? Already paid insurance? They should prorate it out and you wouldn’t loose it all. Crane and other equipment you can sell. I’m not sure why any “partner/employee” that has $500,000 needs or wants you, or the headaches of a partnership. The success rate of partnerships, is even less than the success rate of startup/ new venture. My dad had a successful partnership with another guy for close to 20 years, and I don’t think I could ever have done that. All that said, anyone with any experience or money doesn’t need you. So you get to choose: hire someone with experience and pay him the going wage (meaning you make less). Or someone with money but no experience, and you get to share the risk of losing it all. With the limited information given, I’d sell the crane and go on with life. Especially if your knowledge of the crane rental business is nothing. If you can’t make money with a employee making the going rate, then you really can’t make money.
Brother if I thought I had an in on dirtwork I'd be doing that. I have a customer base I know I can access through current relationships in the crane segment. Ancillary services to large scale hvac contractors has become my bread and butter. And yes I figure to operate will be $1000/ day. Plus paying the man while there's no work or the crane is in the shop. Gotta make sure he can eat.
25% is non-refundable on a $41k premium. = $10k Tax paid on crane purchase. = $22,912 Brokerage fee to resell crane. = 5% of gross sale price yet to be determined. Lets say 5% of 250k = $12,5 Rigging already purchased for crane = $10k Total roughly 55k plus I'll have to pay income taxes on the income from selling the crane. Not quite 75k but close enough to round up. You're probably right about selling the crane and moving on but the refund on the insurance is the same whether I cancel now or I cancel at 3 months. So I'm putting myself out there hoping the right guy sees this. If someone is qualified and genuinely interested please let me know. If you're qualified and want a run down of exactly what I have and have planned then please submit your experience and contact info. I know that my way usually is not how it actually goes down in the end because of other people's needs. This is where I'm comfortable starting from with my experience of operators. Someone at another level of professionalism would warrant further discussion regarding pay scale. If I promise I can pay you 60k this year, would you take it knowing there's a very real chance your pay will at least double every year for the next 5? If an operator catches up in profit to what I have paid out in earning for them and their crane to operate then they will be made a full partner. Thanks everyone for the fruitful discussion.
Best of luck, seriously. I don't know somebody in that area to send your way. A younger, not married and more mobile me might consider such a thing. All the crane operators I know ( other than the fellows here ) are fully employed and making union wages here in Washington.
The OP doesn't state what a poor place to live Midland Texas really is. You have to be from there to be able to stand it. And competition from the oil patch really drives up wages. A few years ago had a friend of a friend that quit a good job in the area because to many co-workers were getting killed. Not on the job, but in the traffic driving to/from work. Oil patch has slowed down some, but not that much.
I have family in Odessa and can confirm. OP do you know how to run a crane? You are your best and cheapest employee.
What are the other 2 successfull business's ?
There’s probably 20 crane companies in that area. Maybe more. Big and little players. Full of competitors, so you better be good at it, or cheap. Doesn’t sound like he’s the skills category. And a promise of doubling the partner/ operator wages every year for 5 years? That’s 1.9 million at the end of 5. You list your investment/ loss at 300k or so, then claim you have 500,000 invested. $ numbers all over the map, and no knowledge of the crane rental game. a partner who sounds like they have a pretty high opinion of their own skill set, and a low opinion of everyone else’s. My crystal ball is giving a big “no dawg”. But I don’t like texas anyway.
I don't like the midwest anyway.
I don't have money or experience, but I'm willing to work cheap.
That does look like a fine crane
Work cheap or invest half a mill, what could possibly go wrong
What's it take to get CCO certified these days? 3 crackerjack box tops and a few weeks? Go get certified yourself and do your paperwork between picks.
The schools for certification aren't that hard to get through. Written and practical test, but the schools will hold your hand through both, if you have troubles testing.
When I hear "work cheap" my mind immediately thinks I'll have to hound the boss for my paycheque. Hard pass. I understand being paid fairly for the skills you bring but telling people you expect them to work cheap just takes away all credibility. I'd flip burgers LONG before I take a job from a company with an attitude like that.
I don't really understand why some of you feel the urge to pile on with the negativity right away. Maybe take a little time to read the entire post or think about it for a moment. So what I gather is WTX is offering a chance to start or enter into a bussiness that could be a little thin on profits right away, so maybe the top pay might not be the case at first. Just think if it works. You would be getting a 1/3-1/2 ownership in a good bussines for some sweat equity and taking a little risk. I doubt he is looking for a grumpy 50-60 year old guy that knows it all and thinks he is worth $300k per year. Think of yourself or someone 25-30 years old, willing to put in some extra effort and grow a bussiness from nothing or very little with a guy that is willing to help you get started. maybe it works, maybe it does't, its called risk to reward. I hope he finds the right guy to make it work.
I can see your point of view, I just took issue with the way he presented the idea. Nobody wants to be told they'll need to work cheap. If OP had simply phrased it as they're looking for someone to help operate a new business and, if successful, be offered a stake in ownership then I suspect the reception would have been much better.
I get what your saying but he's talking about crane operation......the most dangerous piece of equipment on a job. Its also the most regulated. You can't just throw someone into a crane that doesn't have much experience. LMI'S have taken on a lot of the risks with the safety features but those parameters are usually set by the operator before each lift. One mistake in calculations can cause injury or death to multiple personnel, let alone millions of dollars in damages. No way ide have nothing but the best operator money could buy right off the bat. Hiring an operator for cheap is just insanity to me. I dam sure would not want to be working around one. Maybe OP needs to define "cheap"?
Reread the middle of the very first post.
I did. They said must be willing to work cheap or bring a lot of experience to the table. Maybe its just me but when a potential employer says they want me work cheap I envision being paid a poverty wage. I'm not opposed to taking a risk but I'm not working for $15/hr either. Bills still need to be paid.
read the middle line eveyones head exploded at the " work cheap" line. lol I was't really aiming any one persons comments. I mostly thought it wasn't very welcoming for a new posters first post. As a team of experts and beginers in our fields we can do better.
There have to be some crane operator head hunters out there. Crane Operator Staffing and Recruitment | Industrial Trade Services Industrial Trade Services specializes in crane operator staffing and recruiting across the country. For two decades, we have helped employers overcome the challenges of finding skilled operators quickly. www.industrialtradeservices.com Run an ad in the Industrial Projects Report, look into the trades magazines, call up the big schools and tell them what you're looking for. For what its worth my very minimal experience around cranes involved rigging around 2 of those particular cranes with rookie operators. I also rigged around a half dozen other cranes bigger and smaller than that. Generally speaking if something dumb was going to happen it would be around one of those because it would be sent out to a job that should of had a bigger crane and they either wouldn't know enough to say no, or they wouldn't set up close enough and they would have to over ride the LMI. I remember an afternoon spent around one of those floating an ourigger hoping the wind didn't come up while a crew frantically cut the ears off of the crown stand for a rig derrick while others dug a hole to get it under the crown so the operator could set it down. Big rewards come with big risk, hope things all work out.
Could be worded better. Maybe could say ground up opportunity with profit sharing and potential for ownership in the company for the right person. People are willing to start a new career path/job at less money if the potential to advance or become a part owner is highly possible. To some being even a part owner of a business is their definition of success. Could be they don't have the required money or want the problems of equipment ownership. Other's are happy being employee's without all the hassles of being a boss or owner. It sounds like the OP is offering a great opportunity IF he does his part and provides not only the work but the tools and everything else the new hire needs to be successful. If he expects the new hire to do too much it's doomed. He also needs to step in and help when necessary. I've seen it before where someone wants to be a business owner but expects someone else to do all the work and they just sit back and collect the money. That only works with bigger companies where they have managers and can be a mostly silent partner.
One other very important thing. Never give up 50% of your business to a partner. Always keep the majority share because it gives you the majority vote if there's ever a disagreement about what direction the business should go or jobs it should take on. It's especially important if you're the one who financed the business. There are lots of 51%/49% partnerships for this reason.
Well in todays world with it's mega rich----a half a mill is nothing--a million is nothing--hell most think you can't even retire unless you have 5 million and to most that's peanuts. A person is just bilge water if they don't have half a mill, that's pocket change to the upper class, that's just the price of a shanty in most places. according to one thread you need to be leveraged up to your *** to make money, word is lenders will hand it over just to keep you from going broke. So buy as many cranes as you can get your hands on, one just isn't enough.
There are some (a lot of) people that don't think you're successful unless you're a millionaire. A lot of rich snobs too! There are also a lot of people quite comfortable as long as they have a nice roof over their head and can live comfortably without a lot of debt. Their only debt might be a mortgage or a vehicle payment but they make enough it's easily managed. When the "snobs" hit the hard times I don't shed a tear.
An experienced crane operator willing to work for cheap wages. You’re gonna have better luck hunting unicorns.
Yes, but unicorns actually exist. Its just they are big, gray, and have very bad tempers.
Who would have thought- it seems I'm a unicorn?
Nah---your always playing goody two shoes.
You might be a unicorn too!