Been a commercial electrician for 25+ years. I can retire at 55 currently 54 and looking to start in the excavation business. Just recently obtained my electrical administrator license which allows me to own/ operate a company doing electrical work. About the only thing I will do with that is bring power from the street to the jobsite. Ie for a new house build or possibly setup power for someone who wants to put an rv on a piece of property. Currently I'm looking at getting a septic installer license. Lots of septic systems in my area. To get the license doesn't seem to difficult and would be for new installs only. Lastly very good friend of mine helping me get into this business will teach me how to clear a piece of land and cut in the foundation for a house. He been doing it for 30+years. My end goal or at least thought Is a builder could come to me and I could do all the dirt work necessary without hiring another company. No electrician at least to get started no septic guy cut in the foundation and also bring water in. Any thoughts?
I worked for a company for a while that did everything except power up to framing. Cut in the driveway and crawlspace/basement, pour it, put in the rain drains, sewer hookup or septic system, dig the power and utility ditch and run the water line, then backfill it all. It worked pretty well for the builders that had him do everything I thought but some had other guys do other parts of the job, too. Eventually he got tired of dealing with the foundation side and gave that up.
I often do what you are describing, clear the land, put in the driveway, dig the foundation, pour footers, lay block, pour concrete, trench for utilities, etc. Then back fill, finish grade and seed the yard. I usually offer this as a turn key price, it's especially appealing to owner/builders and small contractors. I don't do septic systems, there are plenty of guys around that do and its not something I'm interested in. I do most of it by myself although I do have subs I hire for the block and some of the concrete. What equipment do you have or are planning to get? What about trucks/trailers? Have a CDL? What other licensing will you need, GC license?
Can't say I'm to enthused about doing any concrete or block work. The septic just seems to simple to pass up. Starting out with a takeuchi TB 370. Any dump truck work would be subbing to my friend that's getting me started. If I need a skid steer I would probably rent one for now. What i want to end up with is the mini a skid steer and dump truck. Don't have a cdl yet but it's part of the plan.
Ok a TB 370 is a good start, I think you'll find you need a skid steer and/or dump truck sooner than you may think. An excavator is great for clearing, trenching and digging, but you are going to very quickly find you need something to move material around the jobsite and do flat work with. When digging a foundation, footers, etc with a mini/midi excavator you need something to carry the dirt away. You don't have 30+ feet of reach to work with like a full size excavator. Also jobs like stripping and spreading topsoil, spreading rock, and back filling are much faster with a loader (or dozer.)
Agreed I need to fill that void as soon as possible. Some i can do with my tractor. Kubota L3560 but I know it's no replacement for a skiddy
A guy I know quit his construction job to start his own biz--Scooping dog crap out of back yards. He averages $500 a day after cost of bags and has a never ending supply of people calling--realtors call him on rental management properties as well as home owners that aren't willing to get the dry heaves scooping piles.
No one with no operating experience is going to buy machines and magically just start doing clearing and dirt work. It is a skill level job not learned by book. Just like your not going to buy a welder and magically your a welder with 5 or more years experience. Just like what Mr Truck shop does I bet you will not grab a pencil or pen and paper and become an accomplished artist. You first need to some how get a few years of operating experience, before diving in to a self employed equipment operator.
Fully agree with what you say. I'm just stating goals that I'm looking to do. I do have experience with a backhoe, dozer and skid steer. And very fortunate to have a good friend that has been doing this for a long time and is willing to teach me
Agreed. It takes 200hrs of seat time on a machine just to become proficient running it and 2000hrs to fully master it. In addition to being good at running the equipment is estimating materials, bidding jobs, scheduling and so forth, all of which comes with experience. When you really start making money is when you can bid a job properly, do it fast, and do a premium quality job. People are willing to pay top dollar for that.
Welcome to the Forums 525! Glad to have you. From my experience trenching and power conduit pays pretty well for what it is. No grade to keep like it's a wet utility and basic specs for depth and backfill. Here in AL a licensed electrician has to permit and install the secondary UG conduit from the pad mount transformer to the structure for commercial projects. FWIW I gave a "really don't want to do it" price for a high school football stadium remodel to an MEP sub we work for on and off last Friday that resulted in a contract on my desk. Simple trenching 2.5' and 4' wide trenching 4' deep for primary and secondary power with a run of communications from the press box to score board. Now trying to figure out how we are going to fit it into our schedule. To be honest if I could get enough of that kind of priced work for 2 - 305 mini's and a 279 CTL on a regular basis I'd sell my big iron and buy stock in PVC glue. With all that being said you might want to stick with something you are well versed in and specialize in it.
Sounds good. Make sure an have fun.
Never be master at a trade with only 2000 hours. That's only a little more than a first year apprentice. A lot of operators/ trades people are still learning new things with 10's of thousands of hours and decades of experience. Grader operators never stop learning from any I've talked to. There's also a lot of new technology to learn. Welding is a trade that is one of the most tested. You need to keep at it if you expect to be able to pass all the tests.
I didn't say anything about mastering a trade, just a particular machine. 2000hrs of actual seat time on a single machine is no small amount.
You said 2000 hours to fully master a machine. That's still a relatively short period of time, about a year full time. Not many will have fully mastered a machine like a grader, dozer, excavator, etc. in only a year. A wheel loader loading trucks maybe.
Sure, if I spend a year working on any machine, unless it’s just driving around, I expect to fully know that machine and what it can do. That is an extremely long amount of hours. Maybe some people don’t learn as well as others. I do suppose it has something to do with what work is being done.
It does depend on the operator and the type of jobs they've done. Some people shouldn't run equipment. If someone only does a certain type of work they won't necessarily be proficient in all the types of jobs a specific machine can do. For example if someone only did finish grading of topsoil they wouldn't automatically know how to do the rough grading and how to read grade stakes and site blueprints. I talked with a grader instructor with over 40 years experience and he said he learns something new all the time.
A electrician who wants to excavate? Hmmmm. Consider doing UST work and tank monitoring. A petroleum tank is better than a stinky ol’e septic tank
Yabutt he will be able to bury his mistakes......
Steps for operation, off the top of my head. 1 Drive or move the machine. 2 Implement operation 3 Make the machine do something and not wreck it or get it stuck. 4 How to make the machine work, such as putting a load on it. 5 How to work the machine do normal operating things with it, not good or fancy. 6 How to go about doing the job with the machine, how deep to cut or what ever the job is. 7 Where to start when starting a job, and the plan of the whole job. It takes a long time to get proficient, theres some job bosses that some times don't know how to run the whole job. And theres more to it than I posted, like compaction and other measures for overly wet area's, grade stakes, the plans and all that fun stuff.