Thought it might be cool to have a thread where we tell our stories about how we got started operateing equipment. I got mine when a road was being built near were I lived. I had a little bit of time on a packer already but very very little. I was basically 100% green. I stopped in atleast once a day to visit the boss and bug him for a job. I would hit him up with 20 questions every time. I wanted to know everything about what was going on. What each machine was doing and why. Finaly after nearly two weeks of this he laughed and pointed at were the laborers were shoveling and packing gravel around a big pipe that was being put in for a little creek that ran under the road. "grab a shovel!!" I jumped in grinning ear to ear and started shoveling. Everyday every chance I got I visited with the operators and learned all I could from them. Before long I was playn with the machines on my breaks. I showed intrest in what the mechanics were up to and helped them work on the iron every chance I got. Soon they were calling on me to do minor stuff on my own when they were to busy on other jobs to far away to get there. I also worked with the surveyors when I could, learning how the grade stakes worked and how to shoot grades. And then started shooting grades for the hoe operator. wasn't very long and I got the unofficial title or labor foreman. Boss would give me the tasks for the labor crew in the mornings and I would organize us and make sure it got done. Also started getting on the equipment more. Running the loader back and forth to the gravel pit loading trucks, skidding trees I fell off a slope stacking and burning them. Running the 815 and often using it more as a dozer then a packer. Then one day one of the cat operators that was running an old D8K quit in the morning because he was tired of running it in the heat (was stupid hot out) with the fan on suck. The blades were seized and couldn't be turned. Parts were on order but he had enough and wasn't waiting for them any longer. Boss cruised up to me and asked "you can run that cat eh Brian?" ..... "well I can make it move" he yelled out as he was driving away "good! make it move get to work!" Two weeks later the parts arrived and the cat was mine. Ran it the rest of the season dozing and helping the 627's in the mud when they needed it. Had two months off in the winter, finished that job in the spring and they took me to the next with them. When we got to the next job there was 4 next to new 631's there (some happy scraper ops) and an 8L for me to push them with. The 8 was to small and a couple weeks later a 9L arrived for me. There I was a teenager on a 9 making more money then most of my friends dads. I felt like the king of the word. Been hooked ever since. Anyone else want to share their story? I thought some of these guys coming in asking about how to get started might realy benefit from hearing our stories. Not just stories like mine but you guys that went to school to become operators too. What school did you go to? What did they cover in the classes? How well did it prepare you for your first job? If you could do it all over would you still take the school route? Same school?
I got started by anoying the crap out of anyone that I knew to let me run equipment finally after about a month my Dad put me on a Link-Belt excavator at the farm and told me to go burry the pile of trash. So I did and have been runing machines ever since. Now I'm mostley am incharge of finding equipment and trucks that we need, but when I'm not doing that I go look at jobs that we are going to bid on and am learning how to estimate them, I'm also learning about how to take grades, but I still love runing machines and still do quite a bit. I guess that's not to bad for someone who is only 17.
Back many, many years ago, when Tonkas were still made of steel was the start of my career. With a blade, loader, crane, dozer, excavator and a rock truck, I went to work on the first of many projects. PVC pipe as my sewer main and sprinkler heads as manholes, I had quite the sub devision in my back yard. So.....from about the age of 3 I knew that I wanted to be one of those guys who operated those huge yellow tractors. 8 years later I ran my first 2U...and never looked back. The rest is history. I never grew up, I just got a bigger Tonka Toy. :cool2
I began as a laborer for Kiewit as soon as I finished high school. I did that for 2 years and decided that I had enough. I moved to Texas and went to work for an environmental company. The owner told me that he was looking for an equipment operator and I told him that I had years of experience. I actually only had a few hours in a loader. Since I had done some time as a laborer watching machines all day, I knew their basic operation and I also knew how to move dirt the right way. I am luck that I am a fast learner because he had me in an excavator the next week. I ran every type of equipment for him for the next 3 years. We had a slow down and I asked if I could help locate jobs. I was soon the Estimator for the company. We went from 3 employees to over 200 during Katrina and now we are back down to about 15. I just opened an office in Colorado and now I am starting over from scratch. I am a one man wrecking crew with the part time help of a few high school friends that didnt move away. Hooray Me!!
simple, no one else showed up and i was vollenteered to run the machine. if you can get it started, you can operate it. thansk
I had applied to a construction company as a truck driver. I wasn't aware that when they needed you somewhere else, that's where you went. We had to load our own trucks and fill in on other machines wherever we were needed. It was like a learn on the fly experience. I had run farm tractors when I was younger, I found the transition fairly easy.
:usa well to start off im gonna say my career started about the same as rollover pete. i had most of the real tonkas grader,loader,rock truck,and dozer. i had quite a massive mine and hundreds and hundreds of feet of good ol dirt road haha its funny when you think back that far and if you think about it thats how alot of us EO's got our start. I got on my first piece when i ws bout six or so my grandpa let me brush hog the pasture with him and just keep goin back for more. I got my first real experience on a summer job when the operator didnt show up and they asked me if i wanted to try and run the hoe (backhoe) i was really excited as wel as nervous but to tell you the truth i was a natural i was 16 yrs old and i decided right then and there that this is what a i wanted to do. I am 21 now and lovin every minute of it as im sure you guys are too.:Cowboy
I started my story with my first real job on the equipment but since guys are telling what motivated you to want it I will to I had the toys as well and my dad was a logger up until we moved to Alberta from BC. My best memories of being a kid were going out to the bush with him and riding along on all the equipment. Spent several summers in our holiday trailer in camp with him. I would walk out to the landing pulling my wagon with his lunch in it everyday so I could hang out and get a ride back in the skidder...I was hooked on iron before I could talk lol
Pete - your story brings back fond memories for me. My dad would take me to the Deere dealership and buy the ERTL models for me. I had a dozer, track hoe, elevating scraper, skidder and a few tonka's. The problem I had was the Tonka's and the Deere models were different scales and it was not realistic enough for me. I had several LF of subdivisions and highways running in the backyard. I would use PVC when I could find it for drainage but mostly used garden hose - copper wire for my phone and power lines, buried underground of course. I would fill up coke bottles full of sand and cement from the "real" jobsite and pave what I could - I would also sneak Sakcrete out of the garage for the tough jobs. I didn't have any sanitary sewer - all my lots were septic tank. I also had a landfill because I had to do something with all the weeds - I mean trees - since my parents would not let me play with fire.:Banghead ( I finally gave up on fire after many sore rear ends ) I remember getting excited every time I saw those orange signs on the road. I could watch those big machines work all day long. My dad was a framing contractor then and would take me to work when they had a 955 backfilling the foundation - boy was that awsome. My first real piece of equipment to run was an 843 Bobcat at age 12. When I turned 16 my dad had me pulling the bobcat with the F350 grading and backfilling around houses. Bought my first backhoe in '01 and it has been a steady aquisition since then. I have loved the smell of diesel and fresh dirt since I can remember.
I was lucky as I landed a full time job with the provincial government at the age of 16. First couple of years with the bridge crew. The foreman asked me if I would like to try the post hole digger (this was mounted on the back of a old chevy single axle truck) so I tryed it and knew that ..yup, I wanted to be a operator. I went with the highway department after that and started out as a wingman on the plow truck. Soon I was driving the plow, sandtruck, backhoe and grader. Loved every second of it. Took the grader full time, but every summer for 3 weeks (when regular operator was on vacation) I operated the backhoe on ditching jobs. Did this just for a change and to keep up on my skills. Now in my old age I still work for the department, but as an instructor. But..during training our people on equipment I still get to play..sometimes they have to pry me of the darn things
Ice Cream Yep, ice cream did it for me. I suppose I should expound. Grew up on a farm, and my father and uncle also had a dumptruck and an old Case 530 backhoe for some side work. Every Saturday was ditch-digging, topsoil/shale/gravel delivery day. I loved to ride along, I am guessing I started pre-kindergarten, we weren't too worried about seatbelts and such in those days. Anyways the usual ritual was to stop for an ice cream cone sometime early-afternoon. I was hooked. Wasn't too long I was old enough to ride along with my father on the 'hoe as he loaded the truck. As I got older, I am guessing less than 10 years old or so, he would drop the stabilizers in one spot at our shale bank and I would dig shale with the hoe until he returned empty for another load. Things progressed from there. Part of the reason also, I wasn't allowed to have a motorcycle in my youth, they were just "too dangerous" according to my mother, so I spent my time operating old, well worn farm and construction equipment, yeah, that was MUCH safer. (I certainly do not condone some of the things I did) My first summer after I went to college I got my first off the farm job at a local construction company. "Better hire on as a laborer" my dad told me. That lasted all of two weeks, they found out what I could do with a piece of equipment, and I was assigned to a seat from then on. Good thread, I certainly enjoy reading everyone's experiences. Dustin
Oh, this is a bit of a long story: I left home at 15, from the Farm in South West Western Australia to the big smoke in Sydney, did my boilermakers apprenticeship and then went on in engineering. Rose pretty rapidly to some high pressure jobs..and ended up at about age 28, burning out...running big projects, had blokes twice my age working for me, and running amok in general...failed marriage through mainly spending too much time Overseas. Fast Cars, Fast women and slow horses if you know what I mean. I was not what you would call the nicest person. Anyway, best thing that ever happened, management decided I needed to have a break, get back on the tools, they put me on long service leave and sent me up the mines, place called Mt Newman. I spent 2 months inside 988 buckets disolving boxes of Hardfacing electrodes. I really enjoyed that, and it came to pass that I realised that all the engineering skills and abilities in the world don't mean much if you don't have the personal skills and right attitude to get along. Anyway, one day I ran one of the 988's out of the workshop and brought in another. The pit boss saw me and asked where I learnt to drive a loader, I told him I had always been around machinery and had variously run a few machines for short periods but I wasn't an "operator". He said like hell and next day I started in the pit...he caught me doing backend wheelies in the 88's a couple of times so I always got the old 980 He was a good teacher though. This started a longer, more close relationship and fondness for Heavy Earthmoving equipment. Most of my annual leave was spent back at the mines running loaders and excavators. The funny thing was, welding buckets I was getting $55/hour (big money then) but on the loader I only got $32/hour. For the first time in my life the money didn't matter.
I'm going to resist the urge to comment... I think, if we could, that a lot of us would do this for free...
Well i grew up in the backyard and inside my granddads/uncle and dads garrage. My clothes had to be changed every day because of the oilstains....(from age 5) I started inside a Massey Ferguson 33? wheel loader. About 5-6? sitting on the hand brake while the driver was mowing snow. Later i spent a lot of time on the Ford 3000 tractor, clearing snow around the garrage and gas station in the age of 13-18. Same time i spent hours in my dads old jcb 3D. The real and payed job as a operater started when i was 18 in a Volvo 5350B artic. I got a couple of hours training one weekend, when we did some service work on the machinery. The following monday i was driving it fulltime on the road construction site. Since that it has been all types of equipment and work. Today i am the head of all education on construction machinery in the Army. And beeing one of the guy's with a lot of competence on building military camps around the world...
I started out as a labour/mechanic but now have a sort of a office job I don't even get dirty I don't really enjoy the job but and rather be in the dirt again but sadly the excavation work is seeing a down turn in my area its going back to normal levels again. The demand for equipment operators isn't a issue there is too many equipment operators now. Many of the older generation operators are unable to retire because the cost of living is skyrocketing some of these guys are 65 and older. If the older generation can't afford to retire then there are no openings for the younger generation. The older generation can't afford to live off of old age pension they have investment savings but they can't be dipping into those they need that for when they are too old to work. Then company attitudes are getting worse they want guys with experience for McDonalds wages. The highways maintenance contractors are like that they expect to pay a truck driver 15 dollars per hour. Don't work that way because at 15 dollars per hour thats poverty level it should be minimum wage for B.C. If your with a good company stick with them the gravy train days are gone the attitude with some employers now is fill their own pockets the employees are just a number to them your the ciggarette butt they step on. The days are disapearing when a contractor would take a green horn on and train them most contractors are not interested in that anymore. When the baby boomer generation and the generation before that had a much more easier time to get a job. It was on the job training now employers want experienced employees. How is a person supposed to get experience if they can't get hired.
Go with the work. Up until reacently Southern Alberta was the same way. Next to noone I know that is an operator gets to stay home we all travel and get paid very well to do it. I get all my expences paid for and then some. I make as much of off my living out allownce as lots of people make for their wages alone. And loa is tax free. Every job is a new adventure in a new place. And work has never been a problem to find. The down side to it is its no life for a family man I have an ex wife that raked me through the coals and 3 kids I barley know. Most that I have worked with are in the same boat.
I Grew up on equipment, my Mother has pictures of me sitting on my Dad's lap on the backhoe when I was a baby. Now I run the backhoe, I just don't sit on Dads lap anymore.
This topic was just about duplicated a couple months ago,I will include the link for those that may have missed it.Ron G
I started off harassing my uncle who worked for a sewer and site company. I'd go with him on saturdays and during the summer. After that I bought an old dynahoe and mack six wheeler and started paving driveways. Now I very rarely get to run a machine. I do miss though digging around phone, electrical, gas, water.
Well being a new guy here...I'll chime in and give my history. I grew up on a small farm on the edge of town. Dad had an old Massey tractor with a hoe on it. I used to sit for hours pretending to run in it. As i got a bit older I got braver and learned to start and operate it...I don't think dad ever knew what kept causing the mess behind the barn...yea right. As i got older I was given a few opportunities to dig some post holes with it. My brother who is 11 years older worked for a local contractor, at the ripe age of 13 i begged him to take me to work with him. It took time but eventually i became the guy who parged the CB's for $2/hr ...hey at 13 it wasn't bad. Opportunities came for other duties and I grasped them. I spent 4 summers and many weekends with them. The company shut down and my brother started his own business, within a month at the ripe age of 17 I became his first full time employee. I worked doing what ever i was told and got be in the machines whenever I could. By fall I got put on a crawler loader on a big site to level gravel. I spent a number of years on that machine and eventually onto 6 way dozer's, all while doing labor or mechanical work when needed. The company grew, although my passion was dozer's, I had the chance to be the main excavator operator...a very intimidating time since i had spent very little time in the seat of one. Time passed and i operated /shoveled/ drove /fixed or did what ever was needed. Eventually I gave up the main operator seat for more of a supervisor/ lead hand job. I worked winters for the local municipalities running road grader/dump-plow trucks and loaders. We got into more of road reconstruction projects and I took over looking after these and many other projects...still while being the guy in the hole more often than not. I spent 21 years there before an auto accident caused a significant change in my life and as a result i took a job as a Public Works Supervisor for a town of 6500. I know have a staff of 9 of the best guys/gals i could ask for and look forward to spending many years with them while helping to educate the younger ones and learning from the senior citizens.....lol
Wow! Must be terrible to be you I get excited when I go to our nearest city, 100 kms away. I need a life :Banghead
I started out with a fleet of Tonkas, who didn't, right? I'd spend hours and hours playin in the dirt as long as I can possibly remember. Just felt natural to get on the iron when I was going through my teenage years. I was mowing lawns and such since I was 13 and would ocassionally need to rent a Bobcat to do a small job for a customer. Eventually my dad got into hardscaping and I got a little more seat time with our equipment and the rest is history.
I got my first job when i was 15 as a farm hand running a case 9270 and a John Deere 9300. After a three year stint in retail ointhead I am now a fulltime operator at gypsum mine. Started out on a stripping crew running Cat 657 scrapers and D10-D11 dozers. I am now working at the road rock portion of the plant loading out over the road trucks with a 988H. When people ask me how I like my job, i say, i get paid to drive big tonka toys. I'm livin every 4 year old boys fantasy. I love my job
Righ on phantom :thumbsup Have you got some pictures of those toys to share with us?
Here is a pic of the old D11N with 35,000 hours. Just upgraded to a D11R with 900 hours. I don't have anymore pics anything else yet. I do have some pictures of the farm equipment but i'm going to have to resize it.
by the way the D11R we just got was Cat's demo dozer that paul and paulie from American Chopper got to try out...
How i got into the excavating business? Family (back to great granddad on dads side ) has been doing site work since the early 1920's ) So i was raised in the business & was on a machine w/ dad & granddad @ age of 2 & was running a 1370 Case tractor & 10 yard pan by age 8 , 225 Cat by the age of 9 by myself loading dump trucks D5B & D6D &td 20 &TD 25 Dozer by 11. I COULD ON BUT I ANIT GONNA RAMBLE ON MUCH ... YALL have a safeone Bulldog
That sounds like me almost word for word. I didn't grow up, my sand box just got bigger. I don't get to run big equipment everyday like I would like too. But I slowly working on buying the big toys. I will have a JD 310 SE or SG in the next 12 months. Then a dozer.
Starting as an operator My Dad & uncle were both in the earthingmoving gamein NZ. Started of on me dads little Bristol 22 soon as I could reach the peddles & pull the levers, spent every weekend & school holidays driving something when ever I could. Left school when I was 15 (only went there to eat my lunch) to work for my uncle, driving his dozers which were a TD 9, Allis HD14 & D8-8r whith a cable blade. spent 2yrs there and then moved to a bigger Co in town where I spent the next 25yrs or so running mainly dozers ,20,000hrs in the seat of TD15Cs as well as TD20 C/Es, 25B/C &TD30, D6,7,8,9S. Moved to the land of Oz 14yrs ago and still work as a multi skilled operator on any thing from a bobcat to grader to twin power scrapers ,for the Co I am with now, although seem to be getting steered more into training & supervising when not operating. Been doing it for 40+yrs now & still lovin it.
Right on welcome to HEF RDG!! After that many years I imagine you got some great stories to share with us
Starting as and Operator Well first I'm 24 years old I have always loved heavy equipment ever sense I was old enough to say Dozer. My mother can vouch for that. My aunt worked for Caterpillar in Mossville Ill. and would take us to the Power parade's My first one was in 1988 I couldn't get enough of the big equipment when I was little I thought they ran themselves and I wanted to be Buddy's with what ever was moving dirt. Years went by and I never ventured far from home. Home maker Dad was a Carpenter so I didn't get the exposure to equipment that I wanted. One day My dad had a job and a backhoe operator he knew for years came to the house, dad had a transit he wanted to trade so dad told him I need your backhoe at the house for a few hours one evening for the trade. I was in the house when the hoe showed up and out the door I went to greet it I had no Idea dad told the hoe operator I was going to run it I was 12 years old at the time and fascinated yet nervous when I got on the 3 stick case backhoe Dad showed me a paint mark and let me go they sat back and watched as I dug a 10 foot deep hole for a burn pit. As they watched sipping on cold beer the operator asked if I had ever ran a backhoe before and dad said this is his first time! He just about fell over and said well I think I need to put him to work. Not knowing what they were talking about I dug my hole and jumped off the backhoe and asked if that was up to speck. the Hoe operator climbed inside the cab with me and said OK great job now let me show you a trick how to square up your edges. After that it fueled the fire I had for running equipment! Every farmer in 3 counties that had equipment was tired of me asking if I could run there dozer but a few gave in some after school practice you could say. After High school I went to Linn State Tech College in Missouri for 11 months for seat time and some new equipment training. I had some good and bad jobs now I work in Arkansas for A large company doing what I enjoy in life most and keep learning new tricks as I go along. I'm just waiting for the cab A/C and stereo. Some really great posts here in this thread brings back some good memories. hope to read more .
I was just 8 months old when I took my first dozer ride with dad, on our 850 John Deere. From there it was down to the toys in the sand box or on a pile of dirt out on a job site that dad was on, didn't take much to give me a huge pile of dirt out there. I had roads everywhere. As I got older I spent most of my summer with my dad, grandpa and uncle going around to the many projects we did, roads, dams, building sites, timer removal, etc. I would ride with my dad on the dozer(TD15C) or with grandpa on the scraper(860 John Deere). Grandpa would let me run the elevator lever as i sat behind him. As time progressed I started actually helping out more and more, being grade rod man, gofer, and the dumb end of the tape measure. Dad started me out on a skid loader moving some rock around a job site and soon progressed to being our skid loader operator. I was 15 when he first put me on our newly aquired excavator, him and my uncle ran the dozers, so it was a perfect fit for me to start on the excavator. Out in the middle of an open field, he striped off the black dirt of a large area and he said start digging, we had a pile of junk to bury. Within a year, when I wasn't in school, I was digging footings, tile lines, and installing culverts. It wasn't til just a few years ago, when grandpa finally choose to retire and I was tossed on to the scraper all summer, 4 months solid, hauling fill for a dam, a large freestall and a manure lagoon. So for the most part I was either on a hoe or a scraper. When my dad took over as the Highway Commishiner, and we started to close the business, I was able to really get on a dozer more often, and thankfully I had my uncle, who I will say with out any hesitation(and I know my dad is good on one) that Harvey is one of the best dozer men in the business, and I mean that, any good baldemen around here have said, you want the best get Harv. Harvey, 68, has been on a dozer since he started with my grandpa, his brother in law, at age 18. For me learning it was much better to be working side by side with uncle Harv then my dad, cause dad and I tend to both have short tempers, while Harv as more paitence than anyone I know. He would let me make some mistakes somtimes, come over, fix it for me and then tell me what I did wrong and what I needed to do so I didn't do it again. I am nowhere near the dozer operator as my dad and uncle yet but am working on it. For me though, an excavator fits my style better, but I like most good operators, want to know how to run many different types of equipment. Well thats kinda a short history in a nutshell. Anyone want more info or any questions feel free to ask. I might do a piece on the Company history sometime when I get free. Jason
You lucky guys that had dads that were into heavy equipment. I had to start out with Tonka dozers, and backhoes. And didn't get my chance till I met a friend of my ex mother inlaw that had a D155 Komatsu. I rode with his operator for a few days, watching and getting the feel for getting stuck in the mud. I learned on 90,000 plus lb dozer, and that is what I feel comfortable on. The little ones are hood ornaments. I was in my late 20's when that happened.
I am hopefully getting my start through the Union and I hope to learn and get to play in the dirt . The way i see it the union at this point in times seems to be strong in my area and I have little ones to feed
I am new here, but this thread had me going down memory lane. Like several of you, I had a huge project in my backyard with the Tonkas. I had the 1/2" and 3/4" conduit for storm drain, with 4" PVC catch basins. My family was in the road building business in Columbus, GA, so whenever I was with my father riding the jobs(which was as much as I could be) I was able to bring some sort of material back home. The best days were when they were paving and if I could find a metal 5 gallon bucket, asphalt was coming home with us! I also had the Diecast type John Deere paddle wheel, a 762 if I remember, but as previously stated the scale was wrong with the Tonkas. WE had alot of older equipment so my first machine to run was a 944A rubber tire loader. For those who don't know, the 944 did not articulate, the rear wheels steered the machine. The 944 became "my" machine during the summers I worked. I also cut my teeth on a D-8 14A series (cable operated, direct drive) and a D7E also with a direct drive transmission. Other machines of my youth were the Case 980B track hoe(lots of pedals), 12F motor grader, 950 Loader, JD 310 Rubber tire backhoe and my favorite of all, the 613 paddle wheel. I was 15 or so and loved the speed of that machine. It got hotter than hades during those GA summers, I had to wear gloves to run that thing. Well skip a few years, went to college, family got out of construction business and I got a regular job and moved to a suburb of Atlanta where my wife is from. I met a great friend at Church who was a GC and told him of my past love of construction. Well he encouraged me to do what I want and now in the third year of my own sitework company. I still lease most of the equipment I need for jobs (mostly 1-3 acre commercial, banks, restaurants) but I did purchase a new Komatsu D37-PX this year and love it. I grew up Cat, but the Komatsu dealer here is easy to work with! Sorry for the running on so long, I like this forum and think there are more that a few who would appreciate my story. And to CM1995....War Eagle(class of 97)
Welcome to HEF cbhfour! :drinkup
Welcome to the forums cbhfour and a big War Eagle! (BSC95):drinkup :drinkup The season is upon us!
Like a lot of the other guys here, I started with my own small fleet before I could even walk of Tonka's. Still got them at my parents house too. Unlike a lot of you guys, I didn't get into the business through a relative who was already there. In fact most of my family have to put on a "business attire" to go to work, involves a tie?:beatsme That being said, I figured for the longest time, I'll never be able to run them, but they are still cool, so my miniature fleet grew as it still does (it's a hobby now). I went to College for, first chemistry ed, then switched majors to math. Somewhere late in my sophomore year, they started to work on a new parking garage, literally straight across the street from my then girlfriend's room... I spent a lot of time there (usually for her, really ). I think she could see how much more enjoyment I got from watching an excavator tear up asphalt then from parabolic equations. I thank her a lot for giving me the confidence to make my decision (now junior year) to talk to my parents and to make a life decision. I had no real experience (tried to get summer jobs with companies around home with no luck), so I knew I had to get experience, fast. SO I transferred to Penn College, who has a Heavy equipment operations program, though you have to take a lot of different courses, some that do and some that do not involve equipment. The rep. from the school is what got my summer internship with Allen Myers, there I worked as hard as I could, even though I spent a lot of it flagging or marching around the woods with the treespade crew, because I knew then and still now, that the school got me in the door, it wasn't gonna keep me there, I had to do that. After I graduated, I came down and now work for Allen A. Myers full time as an operator. I think I've impressed a few of the older guys there, with how quickly I can pick up operating a machine (especially those awesome excavators:notworthy ), but I know my limits, and dozers are a curse for me:Banghead I've been on everything from rollers and discs, to D6's and 345's, but most of the time I've been on A30 Volvo's and other off road trucks. Any chance I get to continue learning I take because I know there is a lot left to learn:usa Sorry, long winded, but I think it accurately describes what I do and how I got here, oh and that girlfriend I had in college that helped me so much, she's my fiancee now:notworthy :drinkup :woohoo .
Right on! Great stories, no appologies necessary for the length of them :scool keep them comming and take up a whole page if you want to. Come back and add more to your storries to if you want to. How about some of you truck drivers and wrenchbenders? Maybe I shouldnt have called it 'how did you get your start as an operator'. I would like to here everyones story.
My father and uncle both worked for a big utility company and got me a job as a laborer, then operator and truck driver. I bought a 1961 Mack B61 and a dynahoe 190 backhoe and started doing driveways and water services. All it takes is practice. When I had nothing to do I go practice on the crane. Learning to clamshell and piledrive.
Welcome to HEF mikef87! :drinkup
How did you guys get started... I was just wondering how some of you fellas that own your own excavation, or whatever company, got started? Im just starting out part time right now with a backhoe, and its going to be more of a side job to my real job, but I would eventually like to do it full time once I get alot of experience and my name out there. Just would like to hear some of your guy's storys, advice, whatever you have to say on the subject!
I'm still waiting to start my own!!
In 1980 i worked running 1 of the 2 D6C's and the owner ran the other. He offered to sell me one. I borrowed money off of my family and the bank and bought it. About 4 months later most dozer work in this area just dried up. I ran out the year and went back to work for others. Got it paid for over the years working in different areas. Went back to run it in 1988, had it paid for. Tax man abused this single guy with a paid for dozer. Got married, sold the dozer, got a job, and thought about doing a different business. Went back in business in 1996 by mortgaging our house and bought a blade. The experiment continues......
If you want we can merge this thread onto the old one??
Sure thing Mod, I didnt actually do a search on the topic, merge away
You have been merged...
I was one of those kids in school who would ditch class so I could work and make a little $$$. Being 17 and smarter than anyone I knew, I dropped out of school to go to work. I managed my GED (Good Enough Degree) and went to work as a laborer on a asphault and concrete company. That kinda sucked, all I ever wanted to to was drive trucks. In N.M. you have to be 21 before you can get a CDL, unless you are a farmer, my folks are university types, not farmers. Anyway, at 19 I got hired to drive Haul trucks at a local mine, 789's and some old Euclids with the 16 cylinder Detroits. Holy cow those things were loud! After a couple years in mining I got the itch to drive real trucks, the kind with 18 wheels, so I quit mining and went over the road with my wife for a couple years. I then got a job offer to work as a transport driver for a top notch rental company. Sunstate Equipment Co. I still miss that job. Anyway they closed our branch down and I tried to stay with the compant and relocate to Oklahoma City, that didn't work. So I went back home, back to the mine. The dozer forman was an old customer of mine at Sunstate, he gave me a chance to train on the big stuff and I guess I did OK because he didn't fire me. The rest is history.
My story starts in Southland, New Zealand, born 1947 My first gear was a pedal car. I used to race the dog around Grandpas farmhouse. At 5yrs of age I started school and cried all day as I missed the farm. My uncle had gotten rid of draught horses and bought a second hand Mackormic-Deering farm tractor with hand clutch to do farm work. I was taught to start/stop and steer it aged about 6. When I was about 10 we had a Massey Ferguson 35 and I used to drive it on various jobs. I got a job training with the Forest Service, and jumped on gear at any opportunity. My first Cat was a D7-17A with cable blade and logging winch, and I progressed from there. My favourite gear of all was elevating scrapers as you always got a good look at the changing scenery of any site, and were left alone to manage your part of the job. Over the years I've driven everything that walks, scrambles, rolls, moves, digs or talks. Overall, earthmoving was good to me. I had my own gear since 1980, but not sorry to be out of it now. I had mainly Cat gear with the exception of a Mitsubishi grader, which I hated with a passion........C ya.......Ray
the beginning or the end. i was a backyard excavator as a boy. i must have moved 500,000 tonka yards every summer. i knew i wanted to be a local 150 operator from the time i was 4 years old and that drove my dad nuts because he and his father and brothers are all union sheet metal workers. i was an equipment geek always calling mfrs. for literature and stopping to watch anything that dug. when i was 14 i asked my neighbor for a job, he owned a small excavating co, and he put me to work sweeping and grade checking. pretty soon he let me run a packer and uni-loader then i progressed to a 953. when i turned 18 i wanted to get in the union, but the boss said no so i asked my father for help. he was a union rep for his local so he had connections. 1 call and i had a coveted local 150 apprenticship. that was 14 years ago and i have been digging and swinging ever since.
I grew up on a 25,000 acre ranch on the central coast of California. We and a pony start D7, an old Michigan wheel loader with no brakes, a new Holland bailer, and an IH wheel tractor. When I was about 10 or 12 my dad taught me to run the 7, I got pretty good at keeping the roads on the ranch clear. I graduated HS and moved out; I got a job as a laborer in the oilfields in Taft. The boss asked me if I could run a backhoe I said sure, after 10 min he said you got a week to learn how to run this thing or your fired! Four years went by and I got to run loaders, dozers, excavators. I even hauled equipment. In 99 the oil hit 8 bucks a barrel, and I was laid off. I needed work so I moved to Las Vegas NV and got a job digging plumbing with a Case 580L. I got fed up with Las Vegas and moved to Fresno CA, and took a job hauling equipment. For about 2 years I was seen screaming up and down the central valley. Then I got a chance to run a 1400hp Diamond Z tub grinder doing orchard removal. Then in 2004 I met the girl of my dreams, she is going to be a Dr in about a year. We moved to NJ for her internship, I got a job running a shear in PA. Last week I got a call to go to work loading bailed trash on train cars. And I stare on the 28th…… a couple of days ago I found this site so here i am….. Oh by the way my names Chris....
where in pa are you working and who do you work for?
where in pa are you working and who do you work for Chris?
RMC in Conshohocken, but i gave my 2 weeks notice last week! I'm starting a new job in north Jersey on the 28th! I will be loading bails of trash into train cars, bound for a landfill in Kentucky!
started as a laborer. joined IUOE 825 AND STILL PAYING DUES Like A Lot Of Operators Most Of My Experience I Got From Working Several Jobs, But When I Got Back Into The Union I Take Advantage Of There On Hands Training:
sorry about the double post........ where about in Northen New Jersey will you be working at. My company is out of Chester im currently working in Mt. Olive
I'l be out of Kearny and working for ESIX NJ.
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums union4life! :drinkup
Going to work with my Dad and helping out on my Grandfather's farm got me started.Tonka played a huge part in my early years.As did Koehring Cat and HW.Many a day were spent sitting on my Dad's lap digging for Transite or Storm.Dug my first basement at 5 on his lap on a 955K.He ran the pedals I ran the levers.Did my first Septic at 9 w/ a 225.I wouldn't change anything for anything.My Dad instilled PRIDE & EXCELLENCE in me @ an early age.Watching and learning the old timers and listening to their stories are priceless.This is the best job to have.I just have bigger toys in a bigger sand box !
Little late on this thread, but I was just thinking about the path I followed to run heavy equipment and happened across this today. Well my mom bought me "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel" when I was about 3 yrs old and I made her read it to me all the time before bed. Moved out of the city and next to our neighbor who has a plumbing/excavating business and his son and I would play with our Tonkas and climb all over the equipment to pretend we were digging with it. The county park also had a cool playground toy that was like a combo. You sat in the seat, pulled the levers for the boom, dipper and bucket, and shuffled your feet to swing. Alot of tears and bloody noses happened around those things when there was a festival. I remember waiting for hours for a turn to "run" that thing. Got older and worked as a laborer for a larger road construction company. Never had any steady work. I was always jealous of the operators, want to be in their shoes. Then worked for a scrap metal joint, and they turned me loose inside a grocery store they were stipping out with 763 bobcat. Best of all I was by myself with a bobcat w/grapple and no one to supervise!!!! DELI CASES BEWARE!!!!!!!! too much fun !!!Probably looked like a "Jack@ss" episode being filmed. Everything else about that job sucked tho and I quit. Started working on ships on the Great Lakes. Now that was some HEAVY EQUIPMENT!! Still was wanting to run all the machines I'd see around the dock and in the mills. THen I hooked up with a tugboat company and we used to move equipment between the mills on barges. I told my super I wanted to be on every heavy lift job we ever got. And I was. Then we organized with Local 150. Life is good. :drinkup Now I get to play on Tonkas and read "Mike Mulligan" to my daughter.
Bought a new skid steer and trailer to do some part time work, I was 40 years old and liked it a alot so just kept growing untill I sold my company that I owned and started at age 22, had nothing to do with dirt, and went full time in "digging holes" as my kids would say.
I moved to Blue Springs Missouri in 1970. I didn't know anybody and hadn't made friends yet, so one Saturday morning I went outsdie to find something to do, and heard something making noise. I went walking to find out what it was, ended up watching a 977 clearing trees for a new subdivision. That pretty much got me hooked. Oddly enough, when I graduated high school in 1981, the industry was slow around here. Did some crappy jobs until I found out about the union apprenticship program when they were grading land in my neighborhood. I didn't become an apprentice operator until 1992, at the ripe old age of 29. I don't intend to do anything else if I can avoid it. Hope things pick up soon. As these pics show, I've been holding the seat down for some time. The pics of the 977H and the P&H how were taken in or around 1972-1974. The others were taken after I moved to Omaha, somwhere around 1978-79. Alan627b
Well I started out as soon as I was born. My grandfather owns a road construction company that my father works for. When my mother needed my father to watch me on a saturday he would put my car seat in our 1987 LTL 9000 with me in diapers and we would move equipment all day with the low bed. Once I was older i was with my father any chance i got I would help him chain the machines down and just loved every second of it. When I was 8 we got our first bobcat and that was what I got to run all by myself for the first time moving piles in the backyard. I would also be in the garage all the time learning how to weld and do mechanic work. When I turned 15 was when I finally started working for pay in the summers as the "yard boy", you know do whatever needs to be done in the yard or garage, load trucks, weld, work with mechanic on equipment, parts runner, etc. I did that until I was 18. I am now 19 and this summer got to go out on the road as bobcat operator/laborer and loved every second of it, except did get tired of night shift that I was on for month and a half, once back to days loved it just as much again. I also got to run the backhoe for a day doing excavation when the operator was sick. I am now in college, I go to a local college so I work after school and still work in the garage, welding, doing mechanic work, parts runner, but cant wait to get in the equipment again this summer!!!
Well I am going to revive this older thread. As with most of you i got my start with the good ol REAL Tonka toys, the metal ones. I am only 21 years old, and i dont quite remember when they changed over to those plastic things they sell these days.:Banghead I had a great fleet that served me well into my teen years, and ill tell ya what i still have every single one of them to this day! Some in better condition then others. No-one in my family was ever in construction, so that didnt sway me in this direction...i dont know what it is about Big equipment but man it spins my gears. Senior year of high school i stumbled upon the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport PA, they have a great Heavy Equipment Operators program and i knew instantly thats where i wanted to go. So here i am, 3 years later, i have my associates degree in HEO and now am working on my bachelors in Business Technology Management. The business degree is just something that my parents, and now current teachers have motivated me to obtain while i have the chance and am still in the school state of mind. I dont know if i will ever use it but they way our economy is goin it sure isnt a bad thing to have! To wrap it up, I cannot wait to get my career going and do what i love to do, MOVE DIRT. I know i dont know everything, I like to say "im not cocky with what i do, just confident that i can learn what i dont know quickly".
I grew up around trucks, tractors, & machines. I slowly became a pretty good, not great excavator operator. (still learning). I am proud to be one of the few females that likes to play in the mud!
I started out feeding the hot oil to a barber green hot mix plant with a 5 gallon pail. Kept me eye on the guy feeding the plant with an 8n ford tractor. The work was hard but the pay was good...25 bucks a week. Im a pretty thrifty individual and now i own the company.....That was over fifty years ago and like I say to all the young pups that ask me why im still doing this after all these years I say I havent made enough money to quite yet. My sons are now in the business and they are around 25 years old.... thats why im still doing it. Lol still have weeks that 25 bucks would be an improvement. ITS BEEN A GOOD RIDE.
refinery work to start, in the early 70's... pipefighter, laborer and driver...Tiny bit of playing on the equipment, then one day the owner said two of us were going out of town... To a gas plant... He said I was the crane operator and the other guy a backhoe operator, neither one of us had any real experience on either machine... very old 60's model Gallion neckbreaker.. and a rubber tire Ford backhoe.. We told him that we didn't, but he said you have to start somewhere... off we went..... he dug a little... I lifted a little.. small 6" pipeline job in the middle of nowhere.
I started out as a laborer in sewer and water construction working for a friend of mines dad. I moved on and labored for a few other companies. Then one day I got in a bad trench accident and they made me a operator. I worked for them for a little longer. Then some of my buddies who where in the IUOE showed me their paychecks and I liked what I saw. I got in the union and the rest is history.
Mack I noticed your in North Carolina, what part?
everyone else is telling thier life story I will keep mine short. Had a pond to clean and wanted a 953. and a neighbor asked if I could dip his out too.........several years and back surgeries later I signed up to be a member on HEF lol Pj
I started out young. My grandpa owned a dump and after it closed he kept his equipment and did wrecking jobs, grading, etc. So when I could walk he put me on a 977H and since then I grew up around it. And I love doin it to this day.
hey me to, All these guys are lucky to have grown up around equipment, I'm 15 and I'm saving up to buy an excavator