In todays world how far will u travel for a Job ?? I use to "try" to say with in about 25 miles from home, but in the last couple of years i have gone up to 60 + miles for a 1 day job. But this year work is looking realie slow, i am working on my MDOT perqualification there seem to be a lot of work being let my MDOT but the prequalification is going to cost around 2k with my accountants :Banghead but not sure what else to do open up new markets for me to bid. :beatsme
I actually just got home from a 50 miler drainage estimate.I suppose 60 would be max but if someone was willing to pay all that travel time/expense,I suppose I would stretch that some.
I traveled 5400Km or 3355 Miles for a job a few times .. 3 days by car a day by plane
Been doing 80 miles a day since 1989
WoW, Tiny is that one-way or round trip ?? And just to let all u know i have a part-time job on the weekends at one of the "big" box stores and it 37 miles one-way for me i took the job for the health insurance :woohoo so that helps alot
That is round trip
Well with the way things are here I have a feeling it will be the boat if I want to work as it will require me emigrating ...
I go as far as someone is willing to pay me to go. Normally if it's more than about 50 miles away I tell the customer it would be in there best interest to try and find someone more local to hire. Then if they can't find someone they like, call me back. I don't mind driving 50 miles or more to a job, but I'm not going to do it for free.
Diggerdave: My employer bids a number of projects thru MDOT every year. We are seeing bidders from the mid - central part of the state that we have never heard of before. So far they have not beat any of the local guys. We have our local "highway" guys "shrinking" from the size they used to due to very little commercial work. Most worked very little overtime last summer and no Saturday's - big change from 3 years ago. Be aware that if you are prequalified and win a bid or 2, you will have to pay Davis-Bacon wages, the project engineer will be interviewing your employees to insure you are paying them properly, there's other wage reporting requirements (you are responsible for submitting copies of your subs certified payrolls) and not only that, if they are not timely in submitting the payrolls, your pay vouchers will be held up. If it's an ARRA project, there are "job creation" reports that have to be submitted. It's my observation that good office manager. paperwork person can make or break you on a project. You need good documentation on pay items by your field supervisor and quick followup by the office person to process extras and increases or you can be waiting a long time for payment. Some project engineers "don't believe" in extra's, because they "don't make mistakes". You don't want to be nasty about it, but if you're not persistent, you don't get paid for the extra work by those types. One of my first statements to a contractor I haven't worked with before is: " If I make a mistake, I will pay for it but if you make the mistake, I expect you to pay for it." It's worked pretty well for 30+ years Feel free to PM me w/ questions
Tks, Raildudes, If i go though with getting prequalified i am only going to bid as a "Sub" on the jobs and i have been watching the MDOT lettings and there are a lot of contractors i have never heard of before too, the company i worked for 25 years with did MDOT work and they sold out in 2001 so i went on my own not sure if that was a good idea, the owner of the company that i worked for kept saying that things "where to good for too long" and he was going to get out while the getting was good. smart man. Thanks and i may PM u if thats ok if i have a question.
My fifth wheel is parked 255 miles from my houses front door. Then I have a 60 mile round trip to the job site every day. The ole Dodge is getting some miles on it this spring!
The way work looks this year in my business the Moon won't be to far!
we run about a 35 mile radius, but as was said before we don't turn the long distance jobs down we tell them that local is probably going to be cheaper for them, if not call us back. Gotta be flexible. Frank
Jason why do you have your camper parked so far away? Hard to find a spot?
How far? As far as there is work. Im out of Saginaw Mi, two years ago I was in Portland Or. Right now I work for a contractor out of the mid Mi area, and they have certified payroll in 6 states right now, TN is the farthest south on that list right now. This will change in June, when we will add state #7 to that list, being Arkansas. Their game is a little different than others, as they are an environmental contractor. They have to chase the work a lot farther, and also keep clients happy.
Howdy All, Been lurking around here and learning all I can from you guys. Usually I try to stay within 20 miles of home. But I'll go as far as the customer is willing to pay. John
Benton City, WA is the closest town to the Lazy H Ranch. Theres a couple other parks about 8 miles closer, but they are out in the desert with no trees, and quite a few miles from the closest watering hole!:drinkup
Wow 50 miles one way won't get your across town here.
That makes since to me.
The company I work for pretty much stays inside Wisconsin. So it could be as much as 5 hours away. They sometimes bid jobs in Minnesota and Iowa but hardly ever works out.
Glad to have another fellow missourian on here welcome. I try to stay within about 35 to 40 miles but like the others will go where the work is but not for free.
At This stage of the game i will pretty much go anywhere where there is work to be had. right now i'm driving 120kms each way to work and when my regular job starts up it usually goes down to about 60-90k on average each way. not to bad of a drive really and i like the travel time in the morning to get my first timmies coffee into me and wake up. I guess thats the price you pay to live in the country. well worth it
Well since I'm the only wierdo on this website that actually travels... That last Job I was on in Lousiana, the GC Phillips and Jorden are from North Carolina/Florida. The trucks were from all over the place including Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah. Most were from florida. The Job I'm currently on in South Carolina, the GC is from Iowa, alot of the supts/operators are from Illinios/Iowa area. Lots from Georgia because the GC has operations there as well. Hardly any locals on either of these two jobs mentioned here. That means I must live in an entirely different world from the rest of folks
150km eachway 6 days a week for the last 9 months .
Well, Milling drum i wish i could see the country like u are and getting paid for it too. N.B. CONCRETE that must be a pretty big job u have going there
Yes it a big contract , but my wife isnt well , so I make it home every nite .
N.B. CONCRETE sorry to hear about your wife, i hope she is getting better.
farthest i have had to drive in the last 5 years is about 10 miles, round trip. usually takes me about ~5 minutes to get to our job sites.
i am going to be traveling 2 hours there and 2 back not happy doing it again for the second year without travel or live out but what can you do in this econamy. will have to keep looking for something more local
I try to stay within a 50 mile radius , but the last two years have been brutal ,I had to sell some equipment and trucks to stay afloat , of coarse I found a surprise in my divorce that really hit me in the wallet also . April was a great month as far as bidding and I now have work for approx. 6 weeks bad for this time of year I know but way better than the last two years , everyone I talked too ,at least locally (Pittsburgh ,Pa. )seems to think things are picking up a little , I just bid a job in State College , Pa. , never thought I would go that far but it is what it is and the bills need paid ,hey Big Ben is out of work maybe he would like to invest in a small construction company ? on second thought too much baggage there
just got a small job and it's 90 ea way better than the couch! Just added some bucks for travel but not tons of money.
Last year, I took a 6 month job 1000 miles from home (flew home once per month). I think with the way things are right now, we go were the work is - we do what we must to support our families.
Hey, du5tyl i know what u mean about doing what we have to do to support our families, i have had to take a job at one of the Big Box stores, part-time on the weekend and i do what little jobs i am able to get on the weekdays and it helps with the bills and lets me keep from dipping into the saving for awhile at least, hope things get better soon, but i doubt that will happen soon enought for me.
Diggerdave , keep the faith , i took a job at a cemetery the last couple of years over the winter sold a backhoe,2 trucks , a trailer and skid steer to get through had 2 full time guys I had to let go , this was the last year for me , even an average year and I would have went under , I maxed all my credit lines sold everything I could sell but for me at least I got slammed this year , and we all know that can change but I really think things are turning around SLOW but turning around , we do this work because we love it ( at least I do) I quit college(straight A student) to run equipment and I had a professor try to talk me out of it by saying "when you're 50 you won't want to be digging ditches any more" well I'm 52 and I still it love somedays the back is hurting the stress gets to me a little more and I curse a lot more but GOD willing I will still love it at 62 ,so keep the fatih it WILL turn around
our yard is 80 miles from my house and we cover all of indiana, illinois, kentucky, and western ohio pretty much out of town all work season long. maybe make it home 30 hours a week. hard on family life but not bad if your a single guy like me
Thanks, 412neal, i am 52 also and you are right about loving this life, back in 1977 right out of high school i purchased a John Deere 300B TLB and have been doing this ever since, I did work on and off for my Father he owned a Ready-Mix Concrete Plant and he sold out in 2001 when the getting out was still good. but here in Michigan things are NOT going to well now but the phone is still ringing and i DO NOT trun anything down can't be picky these days.