Hello everyone, my name is Victor. I'm 28 years old and have been in the excavating and trucking industry my whole life. My father has owned and excavation company for the last 35 years or so. All I've ever wanted to do was be part of the business so I went to college for Construction Managment at Alfred State College. We mostly do complete site development, underground utilities, cut and fill, ect. We also just purchased a core drilling machine and also are looking into mobile crushing and screening. I look forward to learning a lot from everyone here!
Welcome aboard VPZ!! You're not too far from me, I'm just east of Poughkeepsie. I used to do deliveries to Stony Point back when I was trucking.
Very cool. One of my best friends lives out that way in Poughquag and I'm up there a lot. His wife is actually from LaGrangeville. Small world!
Nice, I went there for heavy equipment operations. We are about the same age so we may have been there at the same time
VPZ, welcome from another New Yorker. Located in the Easter Finger Lakes. I'm retired after 45 years pulling wrenches in a quarry. As for Alfred State worked with a guy who went there maybe in the late 1970`s, he was there for diesel mechanic trade. I've held a grudge against what past for a Guidance Counselor where I went to High School. I tried to get into the then new BOCES(trade school) in our area back in the mid `60's and was told I was not qualified, too smart should go on to college. But was not ever told there were colleges like Alfred or for that matter Morrisville where I could study things like mechanics. So when I did get a job in the new shop set up at the quarry my dad worked at I had to learn most of my stuff by reading service manuals and looking over the shoulders of other guys. Have to wonder how much better a wrench puller I could have been if I had some good training in basics like reading hydraulic and electrical diagrams. Did get to go to factory schools through work early on but 3 or 4 day classes can only teach so much. I would like to see some of you young guys like Firemanmike and VPZ make some time to visit your local high schools to encourage kids to get into these trades. I know there is still the mentality among Guidance Counselors that the trades are where you stick the trouble makers to get them away from the rest of the school. Know this for a fact as my older brother was a principal at a BOCES near here up to a couple years ago and fought with those people many times about that attitude.
When I was in school the councilors did the same thing to discourage kids from taking up a trade. This produced a huge amount of people around me with little to no work ethic. So many of the people I went to school with are still doing the exact same thing they were in high school. Most are still living with their parents actually. I've talked to a few on the rare occasion that I go out on a weekend and they all still have the mentality that "they are better then this" but in actuality I'm farther along in life due to knowing a trade. Just seems like not many young people want to work anymore, just take the easy money. It's hard to find good people anymore, it's the hardest part of business.