I have to try get self employeed again I ruled out running a tandem axle dump there isn't enough work for the costs. The profit margins are borderline for the money need to be spent. I have to have the freedom of being self-employed again and have a job I enjoy and not one I hate. Here is the question I'am sick of searching for a used F-450 F-550 4x4 truck I have been looking for a long time :Banghead So now I'am looking into buying new and options of buying a truck I know where I can get one tommorow if I want to. I have been searching the net about leasing I don't know if its a good idea or not the low monthly payment looks good but you never own the truck. Most lease agreements allow you 75,000kms 120,000 miles for 4 years . The residual payment is what you have to worry about at the end of the lease term. Then there is paying monthly payments for the truck its the most expensive but you own the truck. The trucks I have in mind is at a dealer 2007 F-450XL 6.0 automatic 4x4 it has a 12x8 flatdeck on it for 49,000 cnd 2007 F-450XL 2 wheeldrive with a 12x8 6.0 automatic. The work I do I should have a 4x4 I can do without. I would rather have a 6spd manual but they are hard to find. The dealer has these two trucks instock ready to roll there are a few other dealers with similar trucks forsale. I have a brandnew dump hoist that I haven't used yet so I can make the deck dump. I can go back to hauling construction debris and haul small loads of topsoil again. Is it worth buying new trucks anything used right now is worn out junk ? The one guy I work with at the gov't job says never buy a used vehical your buying somebody elses problems. I calculated my payments to be 760 dollars a month which I can do I would have to do all jobs to make the truck work. I figured my current truck is going to need 2500 dollars in repairs right now fixing the steering box and replacing the transmission. The truck needs tires this summer 1300 dollars. So 3800 in repairs pays 5 new truck payments. Next year the truck will need new king pins and front springs and bushings along with brakes all around so add another 2000 dollars. I will have to replace the seat and windshield on the truck too but thats nothing mechanical. Parts are not cheap in B.C. the prices I quoted are pretty close to what it would cost to repair the problems with the truck. If I invest 5 grand into the truck to make it last another 3 years is that a wise choice ? I shouldn't have bought the truck I have its been run hard and abused by who ever owned it before me it started to become troublesome with the transmission and steering box giving me troubles. The way the truck is now I'am hoping to get 11 grand for it I paid 15,000 in 2005 the truck has 225,000kms (139,000 miles) on it. Everybody says take a chance you never know. I know I can get work with a 1 ton truck I have been doing it for 14 years I'am a legal trucking company. I will just have to start advertising again to get the customers I had back and get new customers. What do you guys think take a chance and buy a new truck if it doesn't work out I may loose the truck but I'am hoping I can make it go. Oh ya I'am a stubborn Ford man and won't buy any other brand so I'am looking at F-450s.
I figure that (minus fuel) if you can maintain ANY vehicle (let alone a working truck) for 2-3000/year that you are doing well. I would at least look into the work your truck requires. I'm just overhauling the mechanical (frame and spring work, repairing cab floor, plus other stuff) on my older ford dually....just for that reason. My goal is to get three years out of it, and that will show me, and the bank if necessary, that I can do more than enough business to buy new at the end of three years. If you didn't have a truck already, then it's different....but you've already said you would need to advertise to start building your business up...during that time you would have to help cover/make payments, the trucking may not cover it all. I also figure that if/when I go new I will purchase.....too many things to go wrong with a lease with this type of vehicle. Getting loaded and a stone hits the cab roof....with a lease it pretty much has to be fixed, and well.....if you own it, it's up to you.....or do it when time permits it. That's the sort of thing that I would be concerned about with a lease vehicle. If you use your existing truck, when it's time to go new, you can keep the existing while the new one is getting the hoist etc, and ready to go. Cuts down on the time that you are 'unavailable' for business. Just some thoughts to add to the mix. Mark
Old trucks Hi I'm new around here and don't know if my 2 cents count or not.But anyway here goes I do a little trucking (1ton style) with an older truck.This is not my main means of income but realy helps support my family.I don't like the idea of going in debt for new unless I know I can pay infull when the time comes.Bad credit :Banghead is a very hard thing to over come.I own and operate a small biz welding,mechanic on heavy equipment/light trucking and well whatever puts food on the table. My point is think it over very well before the plunge and Good Luck
Some of the things we do. Not anything big but work is work and that =$$ in the last pic ia my old work horse (Lil Red) 1971 F-250 made into a dually and a few other mods she's old but still putting grc. on the table>
you know waht your truck needs, and how you maintain it etc. Heres my opinion if you buy a new truck, look at the topkick 4500 5500 6500 or 7500's. They ahve much more brake capacity, bigger payloads, and about the same turning radius. Also look at international, for the dollar they make a decent truck. Id stay away from the 6.0 motor thats been a nightmare. the 466 international or the duramaxes are good. Also, Id look for a 4x4 if it were me. I know your a ford man but really theres better trucks out there. I know around here, there wouldnt be a market for you as every liandscaper has thier own 1 ton and does all their own work.
Truck looks good :yup For me I have been dealing with junk for the last 14 years and I'am getting tired of it. For the last 14 years of trucking its always been a struggle because when your self-employeed the bank pretty much tells you to ----off. So anything that I have done is all with money that I made or used a credit card because the bank wasn't intersted in loaning money. My first 1 ton truck was a old 77 scraped every cent I owned together to buy it run that for 3 years it was my first start in trucking. Then I bought a 1980 Ford it was a lwb truck that I could have a 12 foot deck. Again struggled along making enough money it was tough when the area was in a recession and not much money floating around had that truck 4 years dumped money into it. I bought a 88 F-450 I had to borrow money from relatives to buy that truck but it was a struggle making money the area was still very slow. The truck was my first dump truck I started to get work with it. I had to sell the truck because I couldn't keep the 460 fed with gas at 6mpg she was too piggy. Bought a 89 F-450 diesel had to dump 6000 grand into it total investment was 9500 dollars not probably the wisest move. I didn't have enough money to put a dump on it so I did mostly junk and lumber hauling for 4 years. I sold that truck and bought the 95 F-450 I have now I like PSD power I wish I did a VIN check before I bought the truck and found out its history. It is very hard to make money here you have to do 100 different jobs which I can do. From 1995 when I got out of school to 2002 it was hard to scratch out a living nothing was happening. The area actually from the 70s when my familly moved here to 2002 if you had a job you were lucky to have it or you were self-employeed. Its always been with me struggling make money working for homeowners that didn't want to pay or complained I charged too much. The area is changed now you pay up or you don't get anything done especially for the new people to the area. If you have the money to buy a 500,000 dollar house you pay your bills you complain about the price tough luck. You come to the area and drive the cost of living up because you have the money. Now that the economy in general has picked up its time for me to try get back into the trucking and landscaping. There is a need in the area for a 1 ton trucking service and nobody in the area does small load soil delivery. The guy I was hauling wood for still has lumber to deliver another mill in the area has lumber to deliver. They don't have trucks because their customers expect delivery should be free. They get a shock when they get my bill for 100 dollars. I usually ask for a check before I unload the wood it doesn't come off my truck till I'am paid. I would like to have a "Superduty" bodied F-450 or F-550 is they are heavier trucks over my current OBS F-450. My current truck lacks braking power the newer F-450s have brakes designed for a 15,000lb gvw truck my current F-450 has brakes that just stop a 15,000lb truck. With the roads getting more crowed having good brakes is a must too many idiots from the city driving like they are in the city on rural roads doesn't work. Also the newer F-450s come in 4wheeldrive my 95 is a 2wd. It is getting to the point on some of these places you need to chain up to get out of the places people have. The driveways are okay for a 4x4 or a front wheel drive car but a dually 2wd with no weight you cross your fingers. Some places I have been turning around can get you stuck have to be very carefull not to get into a bad situation. I imagine a locker in the diff of a 2wd might help but usually it takes 4wheeldrive or a winch. A 4x4 is almost a must for the area now because the easy building lots are gone your into tougher terrian that requires long steep driveways some have switch backs. A 50 grand investment might be a little much I have been looking at 2004s with lower kilometers they are selling for 40 grand. I know the 6.0s diesels don't have the best record but its been hit or miss with the lemonmobiles. A familly friend has had a 03 and never had a lick of troubles with it but another friend of the familly his 03 was a problematic truck. I know where I can find a few 03s cheap I'am not touching them. Keep in mind this truck is my daily driver too so its going to be driving me to my gov't job if its not hauling its getting me to work where I'am making money to help with the truck payment when things get slow. The truck isn't my only income source I wouldn't tempting this if it was my only income source. This will be one step in maybe getting my foot in the excavating business door I can rent the skid steer or the mini excavation from the rental shop.
I don't want to get involved in running a medium duty too expensive anybody with a single axle 5 ton dump doesn't get much work. Not much demand for single axle hauling the rules and regulations for a single axle are the same as a tandem axle. The only difference a single axle only needs a gov't inspection once a year a tandem twice a year. Out of a population of 3000 there is only 3 landscapers only one owns a 1 ton dump truck and it doesn't haul much and he doesn't do soil deliveries or haul away garbage. The other 2 landscapers are lawn mowing and weed pulling. Being this is a rural area many people in the area have 1/2 to 1 ton P/U trucks I guess I can safely say there are more pick up trucks than cars then there are the people with little trailers that they pull behind a SUV. There is only 1 disposal company they don't do rubbish removal just residential pick up (nothing bigger than a garbage bag). Nobody else does 1 ton trucking thats why the two local mills hire me or their customers try use their P/U truck. The building supply has 2 crane trucks they do their own deliveries. I don't really have any competition if I go back into business. Mini excavators on the other hand they are all over the place homeowners have them in their back yards for puttering around on the acreage.
Id hate to buy a new ford when the new engine is just around the corner. The 6.0 is a turd that was built as a temporary engine to replace the 7.3 that wouldnt meet emission standards. I believe the new one is a 6.4. Have you looked at the LCF fords? They are nice trucks, same GVW as a 550 with super turning radius. My Sterling turns sharper than my 04 550 did. What about getting a bin system on it? If you are doing just trucking, I think you'd be miles ahead getting into little bins. THen you can do soil hauling, and disposal, leave bins for homeowners to load their landscaping waste into...etc etc. Theres a company in ontario called ON-Trux that makes a really nice bin setup, and its not too badly priced. What happened to our lousy housing based economy and your pension??? :bouncegri Heres a link to ontrux...they also sell work ready trucks and will ship them out pretty reasonably http://www.ontrux.com/home.htm
I looked at the LCF Fords briefly when I was at Dams Ford in december when I was looking at a few used tandem axle dumps. The LCF would work if I stuck to pavement but I'am offroading in the truck if I buy a 2wd truck I will have to install a Detroit True Trac or a Detroit locker in the rear axle and maybe add a winch to the front. I should have a 4x4 but they are really hard to find a new 4x4 truck is a extra 3000 dollars or so. The bin system is really handy to have because I can still work for the gov't as I can drop a empty bin off before or after work and go pick up a full bin the next day. I can build my own hoist I have the shop to work in and my brother owes me favors so he can do the welding. I can build a set of rails for under 1000 dollars they are made out of rectangle tubing that is 1/4 inch thick. I would have to try sell the brandnew 3 stage telescoping hoist and buy a scissor hoist as the scissor hoist doesn't eat up space between the truck cab and the rails. If I used the post hoist it would limit me to 10 foot bins with the scissor hoist 12 foot bins. The winch system I would make it similar to a switch and go buy using a electric winch. I would be building the same as a switch and go but my rails would touch the ground. It is the bins that are the expensive part there really isn't many used mini bins around. I would have to search around for old used flatbeds that I could convert to bins by welding deeper sills under them and build some sides. I have to try do something on the side that interests me so I keep my sanity if I had to do the gov't job and nothing else I prolly go bonkers. If this venture doesn't work I still have the gov't job keeping me employeed and the repo company off my back :laugh
If after 14 years of trying too eek out a living part time with your trucking and it isn't working. Might I suggest to either take the plunge full time and make it work. Or find a differant type of work. If not, your not serius, just hobby trucking. I mean come on if after 14 years in business you are going to worry about a few grand price differance in a 4x4 and 4x2. Then your not serius. Get the right tool for the job let the price fall were it may. Also quit being so brand specific. Who cares if it's Ford, Chevy, or a hino. Get what fits your budget and needs. I myself (and I know you have said many times dot looks at them like big trucks) would go with the Chevy 4500-7500. If you are going to be buying it new it should be awhile before you are having any violation. Like bad tires and all the other old truck problems you were saying get you write up.
Its not easy to make money the trucking is just part of the work a person has to do. There are not many jobs in this area. Four main industries here Logging, Commercial fishing Construction and Gravel mining. You try to get a job with one of the companies that work the resource industry which is very tough to get into because they are the year round jobs. Fishing is a seasonal job but you make 70 grand a year as a deckhand the owner of the boats make around 500,000 a season. Most guys work in the construction trade. If you don't have many different skills your SOL to make enough money to survive in a area like this with limited job oppertunities. A Jack of all trades is a must or prepare to be stuck with a very low paying job like working in a grocery store or restaurant. For me I need to have two jobs my gov't job isn't enough even at 21 per hour so its why I want to get back to trucking to help with my annual income. When you do trucking here its not general freight the loads range from junk from peoples basements to 26,000 dollars worth of tires for a articulated trucks There are many odd loads I have hauled over the years and some expensive loads. Untill 2 years ago I wasn't completely legal as a trucking company the laws and regulations changed in B.C. which deregulated the trucking industry to make it more fair and even out the competition. Now I'am legal I applied for my number so now I can haul other people freight legally. Years before I had to operate as a subcontractor for the companies I worked for and they were renting my truck. In the years previous I had to have a motor carrier plate and had to be approved by the gov't and they only allowed so many trucking companies in one area. I never could get a license to haul in this area. Trucking is a tough racket to make a go at because the work is so limited you have to be willing to haul anything everything and go anywhere with your truck. Delivering a load of lumber can entail leaving the paved highway and miles into the back bush to lakeside cabins. Those roads are fairly rough they are logging roads with steep grades. The only trucks that haul full time are the ones that work for the two large cartage companies that haul general freight. They are not interested in hauling other loads like hauling lumber from the sawmill to somebodies house. The owner operators that work there are fighting for the work that is out there. They are not making big money either its a job so they have it. They make less per hour for their trucks than what independant guys like me but they have a semi steady work. There is a need in the area for a 2 ton trucking service but its not a full time job and I doubt it will ever be. The contractors I know would like to have me back especially the sawmills because they have had to find alternatives. I know there is a need for somebody able to deliver upto 3 yards of sand gravel or topsoil. My truck isn't just used for trucking freight it also carries the tools I need for the jobs I do it also gets me to my other jobs. I could be hauling lumber one day and another day could be working on a construction site pouring a foundation. My work days are never the same the phone rings the night before contractor wants me to help on a site off I go the next morning. I like the variety of work I never get bored like I do at the gov't job its the same thing day in day out. The West Coast has one unique problem which is most of you in the US probably never rode a ferry. When you live on the West Coast of B.C. like I do you depend on them to access the rest of B.C. Any time you haul from here to Vancouver it costs me 104.00 dollars in ferry fare for a F-450. Also when you ride ferrys you have wait time and schedules to haul from here to Vancouver and back can take a easy 6 hours and your hustling you azz. There is a demand for a same day service where you make a special trip for them to haul something back from Vancouver. Its not a regular hauling job so thats why you charge a higher price for the special run. If you have a 5 ton truck and trying to do that trip forget it your looking at a full 8 hour day. You need the smaller truck to beable to pass scales get through back routes in the Vancouver to avoid the grid lock traffic. You could be waiting a hour to 2 hours waiting at a highway scale with what a 3 ton payload. I need to beable to run around get the loads thrown on the truck and get back out of the city. The load could be a 4 ton spool of used wire for the logging contractor or it could be a engine for a boat. The load I haul back I would charge 400-500 dollars depending on what it is and how far into the bowels of Vancouver I have to go. Now that I can get financing that I have a gov't job for 4 years I can finally get a more reliable truck. My biggest struggle is I never could get a bank loan to get ahead. Now that I'am able to get a bank loan and some financing I can try move forward instead of moving backwards. Self-employeed people have a tough time dealing with banks you go talk to a loans manager you get kicked in the nuts and sent away. How was I supposed to move forward without and financing and working with the money I made and the cost of living and keeping my truck running. I would be happy if the truck makes me a extra 1000 dollars clear a month so the truck would have to work 40 hours a month to make me approx 1000 clear a month. I would be happy if the truck just paid for itself untill the area picks up again because I will be ready when the boom starts up again. If I see the venture is going to go then I will quit the gov't but the local economy right now is like looking down a barrel of a loaded shot gun you don't know if its going to go off. I'am not going to quit a gauranteed paycheck to self employement. I need the gov't job to restart my self employment.
sounds like a mitsubishi fuso fg would be great for your purposes. that is if its not more important to drive a ford than have your own bussiness. to be so brand loyal doesn't sound like priorities are in order.
For our business I bought a 94 F450 back in 99, bought it as a cab chassis and upfitted with a 11' contractor box. Still use this truck and like it but my advice is to buy a new truck. I used this truck for acouple of years as my daily driver, fuel mileage wasn't the greatest. One winter when I was doing drafting for a lumberyard I would do emergency deliveries with it. Starting out alot of times all day Saturday and in the evenings would run mulch, black dirt, base, and other loads for people. The reason a new truck maybe a better option is any used truck tends to be used up, our truck had roughly 220,000 on it. Two weeks after I got it the motor went, later the transmission, suspension, needed tires, and on and on. So now I have a truck that has 315,000 on it and nobody wants it, had we bought a new one would have had warranty, air conditioning, better fuel mileage. I added all the repairs and price of the truck up once and it was all most the same money but I was chicken to buy the new truck. You also may get some finacing from your dealer that could be decent. Whatever brand you pick go with the 20,000 gvw, its more payload. Good luck
I have been looking at them but they are not cheap the only dealer in B.C. had one with a dump on it and the truck was well over 50,000 dollars CND. There are two of them running around the area one is a flatdeck belongs to a rental company and the other is set up as a concrete pump. I was looking at a 2007 5500 4x4 with dump box duramax for a cheap 77,000 dollars. I found 2005 4500 4x4 12' dump duramax 5000km for 58,000 dollars another 2006 5500 2wd with a flatdeck 30kms 63,0000 dollars. I think Chev must beleive these trucks are worth that much I can get a Ford F-450 or F-550 cheaper than that. I found a 2007 Mitsubishi FG140 4x4 with a flatdeck and 22,000kms (13,670kms) on the clock for 47,000. The Mits are a little low on power wonder how well it would do pulling steep grades maxed out. At 147hp and 347ftlbs its definatly no power house it prolly gets good mileage thou. The other thing is the 140 is lighter gvw than the F-450 the Mits only has a 9480lb rear and 5730lb front axle and a gvw of 14050lbs. I did find a 2006 F-550XL 6.0 4x4 with a switch and go and 11' box for 69,000 dollars I did the number crunching on it the payments would be 1400 dollars a month a little too much. I was talking with one of the better building contractors on sunday he said I should go back to what I was doing before. He figures the house building is going to pick up again we are just in a lull right now.
I would stay away (far away) from the 6.0l. I haven't had lots of trouble with mine. But others have had nothing but trouble. Also mpg just isn't there. I am getting 13-15mpg.
I have a 06' F350 PSD crew cab and I wish I was getting 13-15. Never have seen 15 mph. Today after using 4x4 my milage is 11.5 mpg. I have not had any motor problems as of yet, but nock on wood. Only 8,000 miles on it, better not have any problems. The PSD is better than the V10. Have you looked at GMC? If I was to do again I think I would go with GMC or if Dodge puts a Alison and Cummings together that would be the best.
I have an 04 with about 75,000. I have had a few small issuse but nothing major. I just know I wouldn't want to have this motor in anything bigger than my 1 ton pick up.
Here we go again.... Guys just to give you the heads up he's been talking this for the last yr....remember me (gravelrat)???:wink2
double posting
I was at the Ford dealer today if I want a new truck its going to be the new 2008 with the 6.4 litre. The salesman that I have been dealing with is a good guy he sells lots of trucks and has been at the dealer for 20 plus years everybody likes him. Anyhow he looked on the computer and the there is only 2 07 F-450 XLT 4x4s with 6.0 6spd 165 wheelbase trucks in Canada both of them are in Alberta. He looked up 550s with the same specs there is one left its in Nova Scotia I wanted a XL but there is none left I want a 4x4 which isn't common in B.C. and I want a 6spd manual no rotten automatics for me. To import a truck from the US is allot of work and it needs to be certified for Canada. I don't want to wait for a 08 model and plus I don't think I want to be a guinea pig for the 6.4 supposidly the new Piezo injection is more reliable but the twin turbo set up The dealer is going to get back to me with a price and see if the two trucks in Alberta are not spoken for. If they are I'am SOL I will have to find another option I would like to deal with the local Ford dealer they been here for close to 30 years. The 6.0 scares me too I have been hearing and know people with problematic 6.0s. I know of and heard people complaining about the mileage currently with my 95 F-450 with 7.3 I get 12mpg and it doesn't change much. The 6.0 is only doing 10mpg at best those were 03 model trucks. The guys that do have the 6.0 love the power most 6.0 owners are previous 7.3 owners they say the difference is night and day. I have rode in a familly friends 03 dually 4x4 the truck is close to 9000lbs with fuel slip tank and tool box. He was showing off the power because he knows I have a 7.3. The 6.0 puts you back into your seat I was impressed for being a stock truck dually. The people with 03s some have been good trucks never been touched then one guy I know he sold his truck at a loss just to get rid of it and bought a 07. The cost of running a tandem axle dump truck has gotten way to high your working for borderline profit. The high cost of tires, fuel is still 4 dollars a gallon and dealing with people that don't want to pay their bills forget it. Its to the point now with tires if you ruin a drive tire that eats into a days pay especially when your paying close to 400 dollars for a recaped drive tire. I know the local contractors are getting to the point now is if they could they would park the trucks. At 80 dollars per hour that just pays for expenses and drivers wages. Its been roughly calculated out the truck makes 20 dollars per hour for the contractor. So if I want to make any money its going to be hauling anything and everything with a little truck. At 50 dollars per hour its fairly easy money to go get 3 yards of topsoil from the topsoil supplier would put 100 dollars in my pocket for a 1.5 hours of work. If the construction picks up again there should be enough work especially if the one subdivision starts building because in the rules of the developers the new homeowner has to have the property landscaped in the same year the house is completed. Some of the most expensive houses will be in the 1 million mark.
At least you can shop for free.... http://www.truckpaper.com http://www.traderonline.com
I have been looking there too at importing a truck from the US to Canada. To make it worth while the truck has to be a steal of a deal to make up the shipping expenses,duty fees,canadian taxes,reparing or replacing parts to meet CND standards. The dealer phoned me back said I can have one of the F-450 4x4s in Alberta he listed off the spec's on the truck. It sounds expensive it and I think I found the truck its 49,800 for just a chassis and cab on the net. I was looking at the other trucks the same dealer has 58,000 for a F-550 4x4 The 2008 F-550 4x4s with the new 6.4 diesel is 60,814 to 66,000 dollars for a cab and chassis holy **** no thanks. I looked up a 2008 F-350 crew cab 4x4 with the new diesel 73,000 dollars Who in their right frigging mind is going to pay those kinds of prices With those prices I take a gamble and buy a older truck the sticker shock is getting to me no wonder I can't find a used F-450 on the market people are not selling what they have because the new trucks are way too expensive. Then I have seen people market used 7.3s as don't buy a lemon 6.0 buy a proven engine. One add I seen said tired of your unreliable 6.0 here is a good low kilometerage 7.3. I don't think its a wise move to get that far into debt so if the truck the dealer found me is 49,800 that doesn't include sales tax so its up to 53,268 and thats before I add a dump body. The 4x4 option adds 4000 the XLT trim adds 3200 and the aluminum wheels adds another 1500 dollars. So if the truck was a XL with steel wheels Then to top it off the 6.0s stunning record of being a reliable engine I may have to keep searching for a used truck. I know the bank isn't going to loan me 53 grand I can hear the loans officer laughing right now :crying
Can you expand on the PSD vs. V10 comment? I have a v10 auto (2WD) that I get 15-18 MPg from, towing our 5500lb RV trailer. Approaching 100K miles and not a bit of trouble from the truck. (Well...it seems that cars like to bite it in parking lots , you'd think the thing was more than large enough for people to see). I also have an older F350 with the 7.3IDI diesel, other than rust issues from all the salt we use on our winter roads it's been a good truck mechanically too. Mark
I think I may even consider a V-10 I found a 2005 F-550 XL 4x4 V-10 automatic with a 12' flatdeck and 37,000kms (23,000 miles) on the odometer. The dealer is asking 37,900 I bet a guy could get it cheaper.
you said you have a F450 already. i would spend the money on repairs to get it back in shape. that will leave more money on your credit line to purchase any piece of eqquipment that might help you become even more efficient. in another post you had mentioned that contractors in your area use people to wheelbarrow material around houses due to lack of room for equipment. i would stick with your truck and find a piece of equipment that would handle that job better. labor for 6 people by the hour is pretty high. i know ingersoll and some of the japanese companies make small equipment that can go anywhere a person can push a wheelbarrow. i believe they call them powered buggys. there is also the mini track loader. many people do well with just that and a truck similar to yours. i have seen small track machines working in places i wouldn't walk. good luck,
I'am thinking of finding something a little newer then fix it up because these prices for new trucks is unbeleiveable. I know where I can get a 03 F-450 4x4 with 100,000kms for 30,000 dollars or a 03 F-450 2wd with a 13 foot van with 85,000kms on it for 33,000. I sell the van body to help pay for the truck and both these trucks are 6.0 diesels. What I'am after with a newer truck is the bigger brakes and flat chassis rails on the back. With my current 95 F-450 its underbraked and there isn't much I can do about that its a common problem with the 16" wheels limiting the size of the brakes. The flat chassis rails and the fuel hoses going through the frame rails makes it easier to get the dump body lower. With my current 95 the frame has the hump over the rear axle. When I was doing the measurements for my dumping flatdeck it would put the deck awfully high. The 2001 F-550 I drove it was a 2wd and the the 2003 F-450 I was looking at that belonged to another lumber yard both have 12' lumber decks both allot lower than my truck. The F-550 I could darn near step up onto the deck my 95 its like mountain climbing to get on the deck. The deck on my current truck is mounted as low as it will go. That hump in the frame and making clearance for the fuel fill hoses makes a difference. It may not seem like much but when your trying to lift a 1950s refrigerator onto the truck by yourself lower loading height sure helps the back. It also helps when hauling timbers that are 12"x12" and 16-20 feet long I load those by hand. These house sites are even too rough for a powered wheelbarrow to get around so its buckets or use a regular wheelbarrow and try make ramps out of 2x10s. Some houses are built on stilts because the ground is so steep. As for labour the homeowner pays for it, they bought a piece of property that is tough to work on its going to cost more to work on. One place I know that is getting built the foundation forming has taken close to a month because of the conditions the house is being built on. If the same sized house was built on a better building lot the foundation would have been done in a week. Most houses are built on rock the excavation contractor scrapes the 3 feet of dirt off its down to solid granite the rock is drilled for 3/4 inch rebar dowels and the foundation is formed and poured. Some of these places use 20-30 cubic meters or roughly the same in yards.
For a lot less than 30,000 you can do a lot to your truck. Buying a truck and 'selling the van body' might get you $1000 here, it's not even a consideration. If the current brakes are an issue, consider swapping the rear axle for one from a newer truck with disc brakes. The 'hump' in the axle allows things to be lower if done right. When you also mention the fuel hoses needing space for them, someone didn't install the bed right. I'm installing a flat bed with dump on my F350, there will be a 2x3" tube as a subframe for the dump, and there will likely be two pieces of pipe welded into that to allow the fill hoses to pass through. If you have a 12' bed, I'm not sure why you wouldn't have some ramps for when hand loading and unloading things like refrigerators. There should be space somewhere under the deck (maybe between the rails?) for the ramps to be stored out of the way. To be totally honest, it seems like no matter what advice people here give, you seem to find fault with it. If your heart is set on buying a new truck, financing yourself to the hilt, for a second income, then go ahead. I do my mini excavating business as a second income, but I don't owe a penny on the equipment, so if I want to make it work and generate income, I can, and if not, then I can park it for a while. It also seems ironic that you keep telling us that there is no work where you are, yet people are building million dollar homes. Someone is building these, and someone is also paying for them. BC and Alberta are in a boom, Alberta due to the oil, BC is undergoing major construction because of the Olympics and the preparation for them. If you just want to vent and air your beefs, then warn us, and we can skip giving any advice that you don't seem to want anyway. If you honestly want the advice, then use it rather than grumbling on about what is and isn't working for you. Mark
Jeeze Louise.....grow some balls and go get a truck before you miss the boom ! I got 6.0ls and have no trouble . 05 450 4x4 16 ft flatbed 07 350 4x4 regcab
Sorry Greywind, missed this. I owned a 03' F350 crew cab 4x4 with a V10 had about 35k on it. The truck ran great, had lots of power, heated up fast in the winter but was about 9.5 per MPG. I plowed with it and pulled a trailer in the summer. The 06' PSD I have now gets about 11.5 in the winter and around 13.5 in the summer. I had front end problems with the 03' and have had no problems with the 06 '. I wish the 06' did get better MPG. A little rough N.B., But Ford You would have too admit that talking about never gets it done. Every business decision that I have made I second guessed, but some times you have to go for it. If the decision won't affect the home you live in, what is the worst that can happen, you sell the truck. Some day you will be too old to want to try and will look back on it and say "if I only did this or that things would be different". This Forum has had a lot of guys asking "what does it take to start a business?" or "how do I be an owner operator?" The first thing it takes is balls! :thumbsup The guys with the balls to try has a better chance than the guy that never gets past talking about it.
My current truck has 4wheel disk brakes that come from the factory they are borderline for a 15,000lb truck especially decending 10% on highway grades and 14% off highway grades. A newer F-450 has the brakes of a 550 that has a 19,000lb gross weight that makes a big difference. Some of these places I go you put the truck into first gear with a loaded truck and take your foot off the brake its like going down the hill in neutral Getting back out is interesting too get a run at the hill and don't take your foot out of it. Backing down some of these driveways is also interesting I made a guy almost crap his pants backing down a really steep driveway and the truck just started sliding. I got it under control it have me a little fright because you slide off any of the steeper driveways you will write your truck off. I'am hesitant so dump any more money into my current truck the dealer I bought the truck from lied about the rebuilt engine it had. Its not a rebuilt engine its a used engine with unknown kilometers. Then when I did some checking into the VIN number I found out it was a tow truck I seen it at a Ritchie Bros auction. When I looked at it the engine was dead so I didn't buy the truck because a rebuilt 7.3 PSD is 7 grand. Who ever bought it stripped the tow body off of it and put a flatdeck on it must have fixed the engine then it died the dealer had to change the engine again. All I know that is new in the truck is the clutch its a LUK single mass. The guy that owned the truck took care of the body its got no dents but the poor driveline must have been abused. The transmission needs replacing right now I drive it like a roadranger (straight cut gears) the syncros are gone the bearings are going essentially needs a rebuild. Nobody ever greased the king pins both sides need new bushings and pins. I got some grease into them a little bit but they need changing. The steering box needs replacing and I can see why if you look at my steering wheel the cover is worn off from palming the wheel. Somebody with gorrilla hands driving the truck :yup If I dump 6 grand into the truck to nurse it along for another year where as the 6 grand can go into something newer. We have learned over the years don't dump money into a dead horse. Its cheaper in the long run to buy something in better shape because buying parts isn't cheap. Take for instance I had the lift pump replaced on the 7.3 the pump alone was 300 dollars and the only place we could get was through Ford aftermarket pumps were more. I have seen guys dump thousands into a old truck just to keep it going for a short time. The 03 F-450 with the 13 foot cube box it also has a power tailgate the box is pretty much brandnew I could get a easy 4 grand for it. The truck is a 2wd but I can live with it the price is right and it has low kilometers. The same dealer has a 03 F-450 4x4 cab and chassis doesn't say the kilometers the dealer also has 07 F-450 2wd with 12 foot deck and 07 F-450 4x4 with 12 foot deck I meantioned them already the 07 4x4 they want 52,430 with tax the 2wd they want 49,220 with tax. The 03 F-450 2wd is 35,310 and the 03 F-450 4x4 is the same price 35,310 but its only a cab and chassis. As for the boom being over will only end if the Alberta buyers get turned off from the area. The Alberta economy is starting slow from the Iraq producing oil cheaper than the oil sands it costs more to extract it from the sand. The Alberta buyers still have deep pockets thou they will buy a acre of waterfront for 2 million build a summer house to spend couple months a year then go back to alberta. On vancouver island I hear its worse the Albertans will fly to Comox to play a round of golf and fly back home. They have houses on Vancouver island that they use it for a few hours and go home. Things are starting to pick up in the realestate market so its looking a little better.
Why would you even consider a 4x2? I would never own a truck the sizes you are looking at without 4x4. Unless of course I was never off pavement ever . Those steep drives are a perfect example why. Through in mud & snow. 4x4 is worth it's weight in gold.
I know 4x4s are worth it and people that have them forsale know that so they are selling them for big dollars. You should see what people are trying to sell they say well the truck is a 4x4 ya but the rest of the truck is a pile of junk Snow isn't a big problem out winter lasts a month and its back to duck weather anybody on the West Coast of B.C. has webbed feet I have been doing without 4wheeldrive for 14 years and I go places where I shouldn't but you do what you do for money. The big benefit about the newer F-450s is they are so easy to convert a 2wd to a 4wheeldrive because they come from the factory as a 4x4s. Where as the OBS Fords the F-Superduty trucks never were offered as 4x4s only companies like Marmon Herrington converted them to 4x4s. Even F-350 4x4s with a 161 wheelbase are very very rare. If I can find a good clean F-450 2wd that isn't beat the snot out of I will buy it and do a 4x4 conversion. One of the autowreckers has quite a few 450-550 4x4s that are being parted out so I can get the front axle and transfer-case for a conversion its all pretty well bolt in. Usually the 4x4s that are forsale are ex mechanic service trucks with the service body taken off. I was looking over the John Deere service truck its a 2002 F-550 4x4 the truck was so heavy it had the suspension built up over stock. The overload spring pack had the same amount of leaves in it as a 3/4 ton I know darn well that truck was way over its gross weight you can tell by the way the truck struggles to get rolling in first gear. When Caterpillar had a resident mechanic in the area his F-350 4x4 service truck was so heavy it used to sheer axle shaft bolts and snap wheel studs. If he rolled over a scale he would be a easy 4000lbs over the 11,000lb gvw. There is no highway scales so running at 15,000lb gvw on a 1 ton is legal till you get caught. The Hitachi mechanic looked at his truck his F-350 4x4 runs 14ply tires on it because its so heavy :eek2 The ex service trucks are being sold for a reason the truck has seen some serious abuse. Some of these trucks would have a solid mount rear suspension if it was legal. The 2wd trucks out there are usually allot less abused especially if you find one that belonged to a owner operator that took care of the truck its there bread and butter they want to take care of the truck. You get a company truck its been run hard the mentality its not my truck tromp it to the floor. Municipal trucks are the worst I seen them with low kilometers but they look like they went through a battle and back.
Maybe if you spent the money the first time instead buy truck convert or make due. Thats why after 14 years in business you are still part time. Like the ol saying goes **** or get of the pot. After 14 years you would think you would know better than any of us what you need, what you can live with, and what you cant. Also you have no idea what you are missing without 4x4. Things that are difficult now with your 4x2 is easy with 4x4. Need a beating a dead horse smilely.
Well thats a hard one to find but...... (Disclaimer: I have no opinion in the above discussion. Just answering a request.)
here we go
When I started 14 years ago 4x4s are rare if you wanted one it would have to have been brandnew. Even now its very hard to find a F-350 Superduty 4x4 with a 165 wheelbase you have to order it. There isn't enough work to be full time trucking as I said there is only a certain amount of market. When you have a population of 3000 only 1/16th of that needs a truck to haul material on a regular basis. On a one time basis like cleaning out a basment I would work for 1/8th of the population. Its the construction clean up jobs one house I can make 1000 dollars from carting away the debris over the 6 months to a year it takes to build the house. Out of the 3000 people 2000 of them are retired and the other 1000 is working people. In the spring and summer the retired people do their gardening and cleaning up their yard. If the construction picks up again and 10 new houses get started this year and the people with old houses start renovating there will be some hauling jobs and landscaping work. There is work for a 2 ton truck but its not a full time job there is nobody else that does the work I do. The reason being is you can't make a full-time living from it. If you tried to make a living with a truck alone you would go broke thats why I do other jobs.
First I am curious why 4x4 isn't popular aound there. I can see why it isn't needed in the desert south west. But you are in the pacific north west. 4x4 is anything but rare here. Second if after 14 years you still cant afford to buy the truck you need/want maybe it is time to reevaluate. I mean come on 14 years part time and you still are scraping to buy what you really need. 1 either your priceing to low to cover replacement cost or you spend the money as soon as you get it. May I also suggest if job market is so poor there move.
Everyone around here has a 4 x 4! maybe not, but it seems like it. It is almost like a status symbol or something. I'd be willing to bet that many of the 4 x 4 trucks here have never even had the 4 wheel drive engaged. If you have need at all for it though, it sure is nice to have!
You can not convert a 4x2 to a 4x4 for less money than buying a comparable used 4x4 truck already set up as one. If that were the case, these auto wreckers would be buying up the 4x2s you say are so plentiful and converting them for profit. And before you say you'll save labor by doing the work yourself, if you aren't calculating the value of your time working on equipment in to your business plan, you are doomed to fail. This is exactly why dealer support is so important to me with my trucks and equipment. I can't afford to personally repair equipment that takes me away from my work. Small issues I'll repair, but only if parts are readily available. I can't afford to have production stopped dead in its tracks for more than a few hours. Your time has a value and you must calculate it as such. I was planning to stay out of this thread as it was bringing on a case of deja vu for me. I find it quite annoying that someone who is so quick to point out faults with other's equipment or business practices neither has the experience nor the courage to operate a business of his own. There are a number of threads, both on this Board and others, started by you proposing a business purchase or idea where you solicit opinions from members who offer advice in good faith. No matter how encouraging the members are to you, you talk yourself out of your original idea by the end of the thread. I thought perhaps I was the only one noticing this, but that doesn't appear to be the case. We have a great group of members here who are willing to help complete strangers with their experience in the heavy equipment business and that's what this Board is all about. They have been very patient in explaining things, even when there are some language barriers in dealing with some of our members from abroad. You can't put a value on that type of person, so please don't waste their time! There used to be a comic strip here in the States that coined a descriptive phrase for someone who behaves in the manner you've exhibited here....."Sad Sack". Quite frankly, I'm tiring of it.
Well said Steve.....
Steve, I just think that some people don't, can't, or will not take the chance. I hope Ford isn't wasting time in a malicious way. I just think that like many people I know it is easier to take the easy way, although the unhappy way but none the less the easier way, and wish things were different. I have known many people that have worked for me that have said "hey I can do that" but never do it. I tell them that if there is any place on earth that the chances are you can do your own thing it is here. Doesn't matter what the economy is, doesn't matter what the bank says, what matters is making the move. You have to be willing to fail to be able to succeed. Sorry for the rant but I am bored and have time on my hands. :sleeping PS, this still has been a interesting thread, and that what HEF is all about anyways isn't it?:bouncegri :thumbsup
All said and done if I buy a 07 F-450 4x4 with a dump body the truck will end up costing me 58,000 with payments of 1200 dollars a month. I have to phone the dealer back that I'am dealing with and see what he says about the price. The 4wheeldrive for me would be a conveniece for me its not a requirement I have been places as I said that requires 4wheeldrive but have done it in 2wd. I have talked with guys with 4x4 F-450 and F-550 service trucks to see how much they use the 4wheeldrive to get some idea on their experience. They say it helps to a point but these trucks are so front axle heavy and heavy in general the truck sinks like the titanic in once all 4wheels start spinning. Many of them say a 2wd and a winch would work well because the winch will pull you through anything usually they have to get pulled out. I'am not the only one that has the same situation where the retired and rich people are pushing guys like me out of areas. Money talks and I don't have money I'am a average income earner that is getting stepped on. Talking with a utilities surveyor today he is the same age as me he lives on Van Island lived in Nanaimo all his life born and raised there. The retired people and the rich people are buying up property and houses there pushing out the younger generation. He is surveying the land for the new developments that are pushing him out of the community he lived in for 30 years. He doesn't make enough money to buy a house the exact same situation I'am in. He said its terrible that where you call home is being taken away from you because of people with more money. I was also talking with one of the excavation contractors today he was asking me where is the dump truck. I said I changed my mind on that I'am going to try start a mini bin service. He said that is a good idea because there is money to be made in garbage and sewage which he is in. He is right because in another 5 years the population here will be 80-85% retired baby boomers and the population will grow to 4000 people. Garbage is never ending its always produced and the way things are going people will have to eventually get used to paying 10 dollars a bag for garbage removal. The cost per ton to get rid of garbage in the landfill will go from 80 dollars a ton to 150-200 dollars a ton and wood debris from construction will go from 125 per ton to 225 a ton. The one any only disposal company will not beable to handle all the additional garbage, besides in 5 years he will be retired he is a baby boomer. I would like to try start a mini bin business but when your fighting with a bank to get money its :Banghead I have to see the bank manager again to see if I can be approved for more than 25 grand. I have to use my gov't job as a barganing point and use this as a personal loan. If I tried to get a business load it takes months for them to approve it they need to discuss it with the board then its reviewed. If they don't think its good enough your rejected. My parents own couple million dollars worth of property and they have troubles getting loans for business upgrades. Businesses are a big risk so the local banks don't want to loan money to you. My parents can't help me because their business is stuggling with the loss of the resouce industries which the familly business runs off of. B.C.s economy is lacking sustainable industries BIG TIME B.C. is turning from a resource based province to a geritol province. So anything I do is going to be on my own and as they say you need to spend money to make money but when you can't get any money or credit How I'am I suppose to take a risk when I'am struggling with financing if I can buy a new truck I can try finance it through a dealer and try get the bank to loan me the money for me to build the rolloff system. If I buy a used truck then everything has to be financed through the bank.
You flop around worse than a fish out of water. 1200/month for a truck? You mentioned elsewhere that you charge $50/hour for it, so you're going to work for 24 hours a month strictly to pay your truck bill, in addition to your 'regular job'. For at least 5 YEARS. And you haven't even paid your fuel bill, insurance, or maintenance yet......Personally, I think you really need to sharpen a pencil or two. Like i said......you're out on the ice now just flopping around, gasping at straws though, no idea or plan of where to go. Maybe had you stuck to your last get rich plan, and finished the truck you've had for how long, and put it to work, you would have been making some money at least. Some income is better than no income. Now you're going to buy a brand new truck with dump, but then rip the dump off because you want to go with mini bins....maybe you should learn to crawl before you walk, let alone run. GUESS WHAT??? All of North America has the same aging population, it's called the baby boomers, and they are getting older. So you have two optons, sit and complain about them and all their 'weatlh' or take advantage of it, and get them to spend some of that money on YOU as a business. Unless you want to move to China, then this is where the largest portion of the money is in North America these days. It is what it is, either use it to your advantage, or keep doing your 9 to 5 and get out of this business. Complaining about your clients before you're even in business just isn't going to work. Banks will only take risks on people and ideas that they feel are worth their time. If they aren't willing to do that for you, then there is a problem, but it's more likely in the mirror than at the bank. There's a guy I know, his dad had an excavating business, last few years the father downsized it, was down to a tandem dump, float and a nice 4wd JD backhoe. All paid for, along with a house and shop. There was also $$$$ there too......The father passed away a couple years ago, instead of running with what he inherited, the son is trying to finance himself big time....new 20 ton tagalong float, now three trucks (even though he has a major problem with getting drivers/workers), and was in the process of buying a large excavator last I heard. When I talked to him last, all I heard was "when I get this money, and buy this"....and so on...Problem is no-one is willing to finance him, so he's paying big dollars to go to private loan dealers. In the fall he was scrambling to find work, because he has all these big payments to make, and it was good weather still, not to mention he had the slowest part of the year coming up yet. (Right now.) I'd bet money that he's struggling to pay day to day bills, because he's so badly over financed right now. (I would also guess that if I went and talked to him, there would be several things for sale to try to raise more $$$ to pay those same bills.) Anyway.....I'm tired of offering advice to you.....where's the ignore button? Mark
Mark well said. Now it's bins huh:spaz Like Greywynd said come up with a real plan stick to it. Quit wasting our time with your foolishness.
Hey greywynd have you noticed its CHEAPER to live in Ontario now than B.C. also the B.C. gets the ***** shaft from the gov't. Do Albertans move to Ontario and drive up the cost of living ? How I'am I suppose to live in a area when house prices are pushing 1/2 a million to 2 million dollars. When that happens the cost of living is sky rocketing to another planet it is happening all over B.C. Right now in B.C. the cost of living is so god d*mn high that 90% of your wages goes to just trying to survive. I'am trying to save every cent I make just to :spaz survive !!!! Look how much cheaper your guys fuel is back East out here on the West Coast I'am paying 1.02 a litre it was up to 1.05 earlier in the summer I was paying 1.20 a litre for diesel fuel. Other parts cost more here too like engine oil we pay close to 80 dollars for a 18 litre pail of oil. I have to get two new steer tires for my current truck for the LTX Michelins I'am paying 230 dollars a tire the cheap tires are 180 dollars each. With our roads I only get 20,000 kms (12,428 miles) out of the Michelins the cheaper tires like the Bridgestone get 18,000kms out of them. Even bandag retreads are up to 140 dollars each when they used to be 110. You guys keep saying fix my current truck its not cheap just the brake pads for my truck is 155 dollars the Ford dealer is the cheapest the jobbers are more. By the time I dump 5 grand into my current truck I still have a worn out truck. Was at the diesel shop I hang around we were talking about truck tires 445/65R22.5 Super Singles are 1000 dollars and talking about the cost of other parts on trucks. The cost to run a truck is rising but the rates are not rising high enough to make it profitable. I'am trying to figure out different ideas to get money out of these millionares pockets. The garbage hauling is one way of doing it and getting involved in the house construction. Some of the builders I have talked with they have built 5000 square foot cabins for the Albertan buyers. Money is no issue anymore they want the best of everything doesn't matter what it costs. One of the electicians was doing one of these houses the wiring alone was over 100 grand. I have only worked on one of those type jobs money wasn't a issue the general contractor I was dealing with said I didn't charge enough even the home owners commented to him why my bills were so cheap. Some of these places have a 2000 square foot guest house and a 3 car garage to store the ski boat and other toys. If Vancouvers housing market keeps skyrocketing the long time Vancouver residents that sell their house they are pretty well instant millionares they got money to burn. There are many people in my area that have couple million sitting in the bank. I want to get into the construction market starting in the spring I need to be fully operational. When the construction starts around here is like turning on a light switch its not really a gradual start. I looked at last years stats the permits given out for this area was well over 50 million dollars. Lots of 4 to 5 million dollar houses you can't see they are tucked way in the bush. If this year is the same it would be good. I don't have the capital to get started and trying to start on a shoe string budget isn't going to get me very far. I'am trying to save the money I'am making from the gov't and I got my current truck paid off and all my other debts off so I can start with a clean plate. I had high credit card debt so I worked really hard to pay that off so I don't have that hanging over my head. I can keep working for the gov't and will go full time this summer but I don't enjoy the job. The only thing that keeps me there is its gauranteed wages and its a job. I need something to boost my gross income from 37 grand to 70-80 grand to have a comfortable life and able to buy a house and try have a familly. At 80 grand a year you can buy a mobile home in on a piece of land at 100 grand a year will buy you a 1500 square foot house on 1/4 acre. The B.C. Coast is going to eventually turn into a California right now Vancouver has California prices without the good weather. So a person needs to figure of ways to survive in a market like that. Even lawn mowing will turn into mowing a lawn for 30 mins is going to cost 150 dollars.
"How I'am I suppose to live in a area when house prices are pushing 1/2 a million to 2 million dollars. When that happens the cost of living is sky rocketing to another planet it is happening all over B.C. Right now in B.C. the cost of living is so god d*mn high that 90% of your wages goes to just trying to survive. I'am trying to save every cent I make just to survive !!!!" easy, move.
Already suggested that. Hard to move though when living with mommy and daddy at 30 years old.
So I move to a place with no work ? I guess you missed my point 90% of B.C. has the same problem which is where ever there is work its expensive to live. The wages in B.C. haven't kept up with the cost of living. The wages now are too low. A 20 dollar per hour job working 8 hours a day only gives you a gross monthly income of 3300 dollars or a gross annual income of 40 grand a year. I have been here for 29 years I really don't want to leave because this place is nice. Its rural its in nature I can go fishing any time I want I can go out in a boat anytime I want When I had a 4x4 pick up I could go offroading anytime I wanted there are 100s of kilometers of logging roads. There is no pollution to deal with there is no traffic to deal with. I can leave stuff in my truck and it doesn't get stolen I can leave the keys in the ignition no body steals stuff. We have many lakes and we have the Salt water to go play in which is nice in the summer to get out in a 12' tin boat with the 9.9. I bet most of you never owned a boat. I had a boat long before I owned a truck I was 10 years old when I was allowed to be in a boat myself. I don't eat prawns or oysters but if I wanted I could go out and put out a prawn trap and catch a feed of prawns or go pick oysters. I do like fishing I haven't gone in a long time go catch a 30-40lb spring salmon. Why do you think people want to move here its not some hole in the ground or some big concrete sea with heavy pollution heavy traffic. Albertans love B.C. because its has nature not a flat see for miles province. The weather on the West Coast is mild we don't see cold cold winters. I want to try make a living here if it comes to I can afford a house I will buy a liveaboard boat and anchor in a bay or a cove its rent free. The only thing is you have to buy diesel fuel for a generator and have a sewage treatment plant on the boat.
:Banghead Prioritys need to get yours in order. Do you want to live were oh the fishing good you can go 4wheeling (if had 4x4) or do you want to make $ so you can afford to maybe come back and buy a nice property to build your own house. I dont know but seems to me you want your cake and eat it to. Or maybe you need to find another way of making a living, like staying with your goverment job. Stay part time with your truck and put 10k into making it better. Just saved yourself 15k. which considering you cant make money there :thumbsup
I'm not shure where to start since Mark really answered it for me,but I guess I'll give my 2 cents.I live in Atlantic Canada and no,BC isn't getting the **** end of the stick of this country....we are. I'm 23 and live at home due to a few issues and one is bad credit from a student loan,I've been on the fence about going at west fer a year work hard and save everything I can to return here and purchase a home since the banks won't help me I have to help myself. I understand BC costs plenty to live and family is there but moving to another area within BC may be the answer,find a niche in your marketplace and jump on it and expand on related services.From what I've been told Alberta rent is cheeper than some rents in Ontario. If money is an issue I'll double the anty of anyone who's posted in this thread....I will give you the name and phone number of a man in FT McMurray who will hire you with basic operating experience.He'll put you up,feed you and its all under the table money.
There is work here but I need to find a niche market. Many of my friends that went to school with moved to Vancouver for work. I couldn't live in Vancouver the place shortens your life thats if you don't get killed in a car crash or get stabbed or shot at by rampant gun fire from gangs. Housing in Vancouver is more expensive than here anybody born and raised in Vancouver can't afford to buy anything there now. It is getting to the point in B.C. you wait till your familly croaks and you enherit a house. When my brother lived in Vancouver his truck was broken into so many times. You can't leave you doors unlocked at home, there are home invasions where criminals come in and try rob you during the day.
I could go to Fort Mc and prolly stay with a friend I went to school with he has live in Ford Mc Murray before it boomed. You make good money but it comes at a price = no life. You have choices have a wife and multiply,go to the bar and get drunk every night or get a major gambling addiction. Also the weather is extreme I don't know if I could take the -40 temperatures. My buddy says you have to cover up every inch of skin or you will have severe frost bite in minutes.
Awww......poor YOU !!! :crying If you think you are the only one trying to scratch out a living then you are as mistaken as you are ignorant. You spend all this time typing all these LONG posts where you ramble on and on about how hard it is to make money when you should be taking this time to look for a job. But wait....you say there are no jobs. Yet you also say: Well guess what. By YOUR own statement it seems 90% of B.C. has a place to live AND work. Just because you can't live in a pretty little house with a white picket fence or go fishing or offroading when you want doesn't mean the world is going to stop spinning. What it does mean is that you have picked your own destiny by not wanting to get off your butt and do something about it. You have no plan to get ANYTHING accomplished. You go this way and that with all these ideas that never manifest into ANYTHING. But this is not because of the economy or the boomers or the "high cost of living", its because you sit there at at your computer and cry to us that nothing works for you. I hate to be the one to break it to you but if something doesn't work for you then maybe YOU is the problem, not all these other excuses that you plague us with. Not only have you wasted a piece of the internet with your sob story but you post, dare I say, valid information. NO, more like pure unsustantiated opinion. :nono Opinions have their place but there is no place for an opinion that can cause injury to and unknowing reader. See below: What tha crap. Thats the most rediculous thing I have ever heard and it only validates my second theory of why you can't make something of yourself: You don't know what you are doing. You have all these little tid-bits of information and all this expierence in all kinds of different industries yet you can't use this to your benefit. If I had half the knowledge you claim to have then I wouldn't be sitting here typing this. I would be sitting in my mansion while my new secretary typed it for me. You and you alone decide what you become and in my OPINION its not much. I hesitated to submit this because its cruel and mean but I feel it is more important that the truth have an effect on you than it is to waste this valuable resource we have. There is no need for you to reply to this as I have found peace with myself on the matter by typing this. No reply you make will carry any weight with me unless it contains the word SUCCESS at which point I would be glad to have you voice your accomplishments.
:notworthy I wanted to say so much of what you just said. But I couldn't say it so eloquintly. :thumbsup
I have a job I work for the gov't its not full time when it does become full time I never break a sweat and I never get dirty. The only problem with the job is 20 dollars per hour isn't enough money. I have had tough jobs the worst one working in a landfill laying on your back in garbage trying to fix a piece of equipment laying ontop of a oil dirty baby diapers and rotten fish. The smell is unbeleiveable and you see things that can make your stomach turn. I have worked in construction doing crap jobs like digging a persons crawl space into a partial basement. Many hours mixing concrete in a 4 cubic foot mixer. To make a good wage a person needs to be self employeed you will never get rich working for some body else. Some people can't work on their own I can most jobs I'am by myself. The homeowner gives me a list of what they want done and I do it. When you grow up in a rural area like I did you learn allot of things and have learned stuff from excavation contractors with 40 years of experience in the business. I can go to work for any of the local excavation contractors but they don't have enough work to take on another employee. Most excavation contractors have max 6 employees if they need more its usually not full time work. Many of the excavation contractors know that I work for the gov't and say don't give it up its a cushy easy job. I can sit in my office chair read a magazine when its pouring down rain collecting 20 dollars per hour thinking about what I'am going to have for lunch. Then on holidays I make 40 dollars per hour then on special holidays make 50 dollars per hour.
Quit your whining and grow a backbone. Guess what.....I live an hour and a half from Toronto....the largest city in Canada.....and right in the middle of what is considered the 'gateway to cottage country'.....I've seen places here be listed for sale at 300K, a bidding war breaks out, and end up selling for 500k......then it gets torn down and replaced with a new house to boot. (And likely in the same league as your houses, if not bigger.) Several big name stars (music and film) have houses (cottages?? lol) within an hour of us. Several farms in the area have recently been redeveloped into housing, and several more have became new golf courses for these 'rich folks' as you call them to play on. There are some that are private, membership rates I understand are 100K/year/per person. (Of course your greens fees etc, are all on top of that.) Talking about tough jobs....if you're the 30 or so I heard earlier....recall the recession in the early 90's? That's when I started in my trade, and finished my tool and die apprenticeship. That was in spite of half the other tradesmen thinking that I was nuts to do it. I'm still not real secure, but in 5-10 years when the baby boomers I work with all retire, I'll be laughing more than I am now. Even with the bulk of the manufacturing going overseas (can we say China?) there will still be need for toolmakers/machinists here, even if it's to fix/repair parts for the service industry. I'm a full time toolmaker, I've stated that elsewhere on these and other forums. I can also work as a welder, a machinist, and have skills in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, and running most farm or smaller excavating equipment. $20 an hour is a decent wage as an employee, especially here in Canada where you don't have to pay for your health care costs....ask our southern friends what it cost for their last hospital visits. (Be sitting down if it was a major visit.) I now make $28 an hour....married, with a child, have a small (12 acre) hobby farm with 8-10 horses of our own.....for the last five years we were a single income family. Now we're a SIDO family....single income, double outgo...my wife is in school full time. We have two trucks...an '01 F250 superduty, and my '89 F350 dually that is my 'work truck'. Mini excavator, 26' travel trailer, and other goodies....(Guys, not bragging or anything, just trying to show this clown that it can be done with limited income.) We have commitments, we have a mortgage, taxes, utilities, etc, but we aren't left wanting either. This weekend, I'll likely work 10 hours Sat and Sun....Sat at time and a half ($42/hr) and Sunday double time ($56/hr). Come April 1st....I rarely make it to work for my 40 hour week, I'm often taking time off to be excavating or doing family events. I can make more money excavating than I can at work, even with the overtime rates. BUT.......when I want to have time for family.....I can say no to the digging....and spend time with them. Most of last year I didn't dig with a few small exceptions, we did a lot of family stuff, because I DON"T have $1200/month payments, my equipment was all paid for on the first jobs they went on. Ok, my 'work truck' is almost 20 years old....it works, does the job i need it to, and I know it well enough to do all my own maintenance. IMO opinion (and I would guess most others here will agree) the full time guys can, and often have to finance stuff.....however if you're doing it part time....it doesn't make sense to borrow big dollars for something that's sitting for 8 hours a day while you're at work, that's when it should be making the money to make those payments. "To make a good wage a person needs to be self employeed you will never get rich working for some body else. Some people can't work on their own I can most jobs I'am by myself. The homeowner gives me a list of what they want done and I do it. " Yes...and No. If you don't know how to develop a plan, and stick to it, and on top of that, manage the money you do bring in, then you simply will not succeed. There's enough incentive programs in Canada that if you have a good business plan, you should be able to get the sort of dollars you're talking about. Seeing as you're trying to borrow 50K as a personal loan, with less than 50K/year income, the bank is laughing at you. (If you can't figure that out, you're never going to make it in any business.) To show an example of how easy our country is, our government will even hire an indecisive softass like yourself to do nothing.....and you can't even make a go of that. Oh...and by the way.....the snowmobile/4 wheeler trail is 100 yards from my house, one lake is 5 miles south, and 10 more within a 25-30 minute drive. All boat/trailer accessible (part of the Trent-Severn waterway, google it, you need to learn things anyway.) I had my own canoe when I was 7 or 8, ran small boats from about 9 or 10, and started towing water skiers when I was 15. I'm guessing 15 golf courses within 30 minutes (not a golfer). And to top it off, I can deer hunt on my 12 acres, or several farms within a few miles that I have open permission to hunt on. I'm likely going ice fishing next Sunday and am now planning a 20km winter hike/snowshoe with friends next Saturday. What else could I want? Mark I apologize for being long winded everyone.
Thats cheap for a cottage A cottage on one of the lakes is 1.5 million the cheaper range is 800,000 for a 1 acre chunk of land on a lake. Some of them are not even road accessable. Our B.C. gov't is screwing up our economy they keep preaching oh they are creating jobs that is a out right lie Right now the B.C. gov't is allowing raw log exporting which is going to cause more sawmills to close and put more people out of work. The rules and regulations the gov't has on things is forcing companys to close. The B.C. gov't thinks the 2010 Olympics is good for B.C. its going to put B.C. into the hole. The economy running on hype and realestate. Atleast Ontario has manufacturing and other industries to keep the economy going. I don't know if I would want to get into the mini excavation business being the competition is great. A mini excavator isn't a niche market anymore like I said homeowners are buying mini excavators to do their own work even thou they are not saving money. Some of these homeowners have 40-50 grand to play with so they go buy themselves a toy. Talking with some friends we were talking about the excavators he said every body and his dog has a mini excavator and its true. A place I was hauling logs out of the homeowner said his neighbour bought himself a brandnew Komatsu PC-40 just to play with
I see his lips moving but I can't make out what he's saying. :beatsme
Lets put it this way how would you guys like it if George Bush gave your jobs way to overseas companies or imports immigrants to take jobs away from you because they will work for lower wages :yup How would you like it if a person with more money comes to your place you call home and pushes you out because they raise the property taxes so high you can't afford them.
Mark,your 100% correct. As I said earlier the big bucks are in FT McMurray,I know a couple friends who are living in and around the Toronto area and admit rent there would be cheaper than the Toronto area so BC rent can't be much more expensive. If your not married or have kids just go for a year in the oil patch and work your tail off whats the wost that could happen? I don't smoke and basically stoped drinking so if I can do that so can anyone else.Make yer money come home buy some property and a couple toys and get a head start on life. Myself I'm not the fancy show off type like young people my age I don't need shiney new equipment or pick ups to make me content I also admit I'm a cheapskate,maybe this is where your stuck in the rut,just fix the old truck and take the leap if it doesn't pan out maybe your in the wrong business and junk isn't for you.If you buy your new truck and these bins your overhead will be through the roof and if BC is as bad as you say it is you'll be bankrupt in no time.you have a part time job so you have an income fix the old 450 and be done with it and you won't have any debts and your laughing. I guess its up to you.They plan to build Canada's largest refinery a god 10 minute drive from my parents home,a 7 billion dollar project and you know what that means? housing prices will go through the roof now I could sit here and whine about this and get nothing done OR I can get off my ass spend a year working hard and buy my dream home now that I'll retire in (a 3 bedroom bungaloo don't laugh) and have it paid for debt free before this starts.Housing prices in Canada won't be falling anytime soon so I say get money now and buy that lot in BC since it won't be getting any cheaper and if you don't life may pass you by........
:crying :crying :crying :crying Outsourcing happens here in the states as well. But really hard to outsource the kind of business you have been yacking about. So quit your sniffling. Get off your ars and finish something you plan. Like Murray said go to the oil feilds make some $$$$ bring it home if need be. But me personally I dont care what you do just so long as you quit your preaching about what others should do, when you haven't got balls enough to do it yourself. Probably be better off if you just stayed with the gov't. Perfect fit for a guy like you.
Ever hear of NAFTA?????? I've been facing this for the past 10 years. Even before 9/11, all the former farms in my area have been transforming into housing developments for people moving up from NYC. 9/11 has only accelerated that. I've seen my taxes nearly triple in the past 15 years. Has anyone heard me cry about this before??? I delivered dry goods for a grocery chain for 20 years. It was a great paying job but the hours sucked. I lived by the phone to get my next trip and never knew when it would ring. The money was GREAT though!!! In 1996, I grossed over $80K driving their trucks. Toward the end of '96, we got wind that the distribution was going to be contracted out and our jobs would disappear. Rather than sit and fret about it, I started putting a survival plan together. I stopped all unnecessary spending and deposited as much of my check as possible. I looked around the area and read business news reports to try and figure my next move. The predictions were that the service industry would skyrocket. As I mentioned above, I saw all this development going on of houses being sold to commuters to NYC. That means they would be spending about 3 hours a day traveling back and forth to work on top of the time they spent at work. Hmmmmmmm....I thunk...these people aren't going to have much time to care for their homes. Gee, what should I do with this information? The Union offered retraining for other trades, but there were limited slots available and the brown nosers got them. Did I sit and cry "poor me" at the unfairness???? No way!! After 20 years of sitting by the phone and climbing my way up the seniority ladder, I'll be damned if I was going to start at the bottom again. When we did get laid off, we received a severance pay. With my 20 years, I received enough to purchase a used F-350 dump and a Scag walk behind mower. I found a snowmobile trailer someone had junked and fixed it up to pull the Scag around with. I saturated the area with flyers announcing my new landscaping business and the phone started ringing. I took any job that came my way, no matter how small to get money coming in. I sold myself on the quality of my work and was over time able to raise my rates to what they are worth. There were times that were VERY scary, at one point when we had no snow and I fell 3 months behind with my mortgage but I dug myself out from that. I'm now in my 10th year of being a business owner. I'm not rich, but I'm living comfortably, running modern equipment, and even was able to buy myself a luxury this past year, a Mustang that I've wanted for a number of years. It wasn't easy getting to this point, and I've seen quite a number of landscapers come and go in the past ten years, but I feel fairly secure in what I'm doing now. This has only been through perseverance. I didn't sit around feeling sorry for myself, I looked around to see what I could do to improve my situation. When someone threw an obstacle in my way, I figured out how to go around it, not sit and cry "That's not fair!!" We have quite a number of members here from Canada, you are the only one who continuously sings the blues. There are members here from lesser developed countries who are not crying at all and are working to make their lives better. As bad as you say your area is, you are very fortunate to live in a country that offers the freedom to you to do as you please. You are in charge of your own destiny, there are many places in the world where this is not the case. I came across a quote that has a lot of meaning: "In life, there are no victims, only volunteers." If you are not willing to take control of your life, then you are volunteering it to someone else to control, and you may not like the outcome. There is no one here who hasn't faced the same obstacles you do, you have a choice, to go out and do something about it, or sit there and let it continue to happen. No one here is going to be sympathetic to the excuses you make for yourself, they are not reasons for failure, they are excuses for failing to succeed. If I had your attitude, this Board wouldn't exist. I had an idea, looked in to what was required to put it together, took a risk and within a month of conception had this Board up and running. At first it didn't look too promising but I was confident it would work. I took a bigger risk and spent money on advertising and after a short while began to see members come in. Today after 3 years we are growing by 5 members a day, and the post count rivals those of Boards that have been running much longer. Again, none of this would have happened if I had considered all the chances of failing. You are the one responsible for your plight, not your environment, not the people moving in around you, no one but you !! There are countless rags to riches stories to be told, both here and in your area. Donald trump was an orphan, has gone bankrupt, yet look at him today! On our own Board, The King of Obsolete faces all the adversities you complain about, yet earns a living. When he faces an obstacle, he doesn't cry about it, he turns it in to a party! You have all the opportunity in the world at your fingertips, only you can make it happen!
Wow Steve, very well said. Also Country Boy another good post! I think China could be a little harder than Canada to have your own.
I will see what happens I have to go see the bank and see what they will do with the financing. If they say no then its time to try search of another job go apply at the gravel mine I have to join their union. Start out at 20 dollars a hour as a labourer I prolly could get a job fairly easy as I have relatives that work there and know the mine manager. Its brutal place to work I worked there as a sub-contractor you definatly earn your wage. I'am not worried about taking a risk going on my own its trying to get money when you have no money :crying The banks will give you a 50 year mortage on house but a personal loan :nono
On another note up in Fort Mc Murray guys are making 18 grand a month if your in a speciallized trade like a gas fitter or welder. If you go you should be part of the union because the good companies get the people out of the union hall. My buddy that lives there says you have to find a good company to work for or you get the run around there are many companies up there looking for people thinking that they are going to make big bucks. There is no accomodations you have to have a job where you live in a camp I think the shifts are a month on 2 weeks off. A friend of my brother works in one of the camps in Northern Alberta makes 6 grand a month but he is working 14 hours a day. I don't think I'am prepared to pack up yet and move away like I said 6 months I have the chance of going full time with the gov't. I need something on the sideline to increase my income. If things pick back up in the construction this summer I will prolly go back to welding and wrench pulling.
I agree! A very good post for anyone to read...thanks Steve. Most of us (on this forum) from Canada know we live in a great country, and know we are in control of our own destiny, and make our own path in life. Guy's, please don't let the thoughts and ramblings of some influence your opinions of us Canadians... eh? Geez what am I saying...I ramble to!:wink2
Ford-Lt 9000 after reading all these posts In my opinion you’re best option to get ahead is to go to Fort Mc Money like every one else that is trying to get ahead. My brother in-law is an accountant, he was on the first plane to Ft Mc Murray after getting a job offer he couldn’t refuse. Everyone I talk to has stories about job opportunities, my brother in-law said document couriers are making 10K month(sometimes it takes 2 day to get a packaged delivered because of demand) If you bought a new truck and went to work in Alberta you would have a job within hours of arriving and you’re truck would be paid for in no time, save some money then come back to BC. Ford, where in BC do you live? The real-estate boom in the lower mainland has been going on since Expo ’86 Real-estate might have leveled off in the 1990’s for a short time. I am 27 years old and live in Richmond, my wife and I bought our house two years ago and renovated it while working full time. There are opportunities to buy houses if you are willing to work for it. From you’re posts it sounds like you have been working for the Government for too long. If you take the sense of entitlement that is common with government employees and try working in the private sector you will be broke in no time. Don’t even try to get a loan from the bank unless you have the collateral to cover the loan. If you want to buy something, make a business plan then go to the dealer to get finacing. Steve Frasers quote reminded me of this one. Alexander Graham Bell. “The secret of getting ahead is getting statedâ€
You really need to look at different brands of trucks, stop being a snob, is ford going to buy you dinner? No is dodge better, I don't really know, find a truck that works, starts, and has everything you need and want. If the Ford has a motor that you feel might fail, then don't buy a ford, Chevy and Dodge both have motors that work, keep the dam thing stock, dont' modify it for power, also an auto in the big 3 is a hudge gamble, im a stick guy all the way, especially for owner operator, Also I hear dodge has a Cab and Chassie 1 ton with Flat rails + in a few short months they will also have a 4500 and 5500. also let the dealer you do buy it from get the financing for you. If your willing to buy they can get you the financing, trust me, Cars and trucks are the easyiest things to buy, Also at the bank for a personall loan your not giving them colateral so there not going to just give you 60K cash, but they will give you 60K for a truck. Also call Dave smith motors in the US Idaho area they can get a screaming deal on a truck. But here is some advice If you really want to do drop containers, don't buy a Ford, dodge, or chevy, there just don't have enough weight capasity, get a single axel 33 GVW truck. you can haul, dirt, topsoil, trash, what ever + you can drop a bin. for customers to fill. I have been thinking of doing this as well. If you bother to get a Chevy, dodge, ford, get the 4x4 with the exception of a little loss in avaiable payload the 4x4 option will save your ass, back in dump a load now your rear end is light and your stuck on wet grass, I would really hate if my dodge was a 2X, the cost of 4x4 at the start is miminal in payments, less then a tow truck per month + less then a lost job. Also invest in a exhaust brake, I use a PD Pack brake and love it, other vendors are out there too, Good luck and just get it over with, pick something and make it work, yes at first its slow but in the end its worth it, David
You sure do eh .:thumbsup Our province is losing people to out west everyday. I figure on sticking around and picking up the slack . Just got to work a little harder with less help. Thats all . Bitchin' about it wont get the bills payed eh . :nono Now where are my Canadian tire coupons ?
not hard to make $4000 a week out there I'm seriously thinking about it,go out fer a year save every penny and return home with enough to buy a nice 3 bedroom home and a nice mini with float and a nice truck to haul it with and just work to pay the bills :bouncegri Semi retired before I'm 25 :yup
Sounds like i need to move to candada.
me too Eh
Where is Fort McMurray? What is it's claim to fame? This place sounds attractive, almost makes me want to leave.
You guys are in luck the the new guy to HEF is from Fort Mc Murray he has his first post in the Excavator forum asking about which size of excavator to buy. If you really wanted to work you can make 6 grand a month driving truck but you do live in a camp. As for me I'am searching for a truck but not hurrying by any means I still have to make a appointment with the loans manager to see how much more money they will give me. The reason why I'am sticking with Ford is they are a proven truck and I have been using Fords for years and the familly has been running Fords for years. The Ford dealer is good to deal with if I ever need parts or repairs the Dodge dealer is useless if you need your truck repaired they can't work on diesels. The GM dealer has a bad attitude one of the guys I work with he is a bowtie man loves his GMs he says don't deal with the GM dealer. As for running a 1 ton truck :nono they don't have any payload so a F-450 or F-550 is a must. I have considered a 185 Hino I looked one over really closlely but the ground clearance isn't that good they are designed for highway use. I'am also using the truck as a daily driver so the Fords work well for that. Still undecided if I should just mount a dumping fladeck for now just to get me rolling then consider building a roll off hoist later. It still is in the back of my mind why hasn't anybody else started a mini bin service on the whole stretch of coast except for the one local disposal company and he isn't rip roaring busy with the truck. Hauling topsoil, sand and gravel is easier work anyhow dad always keeps asking me why in the h*ll do I want to haul garbage for. It can be a pain especially with the rules and regulations at the landfill. The problem with leaving a bin at a site the home owners or contractors throw stuff into the bin that shouldn't be in the bin. Any time I haul trash it takes me pre planing to load the truck so the material is sorted so the landfill attendant doesn't go banana's on me. They have new attendants time to time that don't know me so they are following ever rule in the book
Have you tried just walking into the dealership and trying getting financed either through them or a credit union? they will do just about anything to get a sale. Just stick to your guns when they keep coming back with offers that dont meet what you want. when i bought my truck i found what i wanted and within 3 hours i was driving it home. I got a good percentage rate, got them to give me more for my trade in than i even paid for the car, and they came down on the price of the truck. best to get things rolling now before things start picking up again, wont be long before spring.
Nice to see another New Brunswicker on here. Stick around long enough and you will learn to be a professional rambler as well:wink2 Enjoy the forum :thumbsup
Where you out of ? Work for Irvings ?
My financial institution is a credit union and they are sticklers about giving out loans My brother he doesn't even deal with the credit unions he deals with CIBC the only problem with that is the closest bank is a hour round trip away. Many people say you have to pay the credit union to have your money in a savings account and they are right. When they are the only game in town people have to use them. The local Ford dealer will finance me for a new truck but thats just the truck no body. They are not really a commercial truck dealer but they can get me a 07 but after I heard the price I'am a little sticker shocked. I'am looking at 50 grand just for the truck a dump body to go with the hoist I bought is another 9 grand after I get the truck complete I'am into it for 60 grand. I have to find a good used truck something in the 30-35 range then put a body on it. A 35,000 dollar truck usually has lots of life left then put buy a dump body. The price of steel has increased the price of the dump bodies its cheaper for me to buy a complete aluminum dump body which I may end up doing. I may want to try get a foot in the excavating door so I don't want to sink all I can afford into a 60,000 dollar truck as I'am into the 1000 dollar a month payments. My gov't job is going to have to support my business till I get rolling. I'am using my gov't job as collateral with the bank its really the only way I can get money.
I live outside of Fredericton(Queens county) Work for Ivings?...no even though I heard from other members... er...I mean member that they were a great outfit to work for...give out hats and everything!:thumbsup I work for the DOT
I herd that! He works for those guys with lime green equipment leaning on shovels in packs of 20 on the side of the road pretending to do work :wink2 :bouncegri 6 grand a month? bah screw that I've herd of up to 4 grand a week but thats 12 hour days 6 days a week with overtime doing demolition at the Syncrude refinery.
When it used to be the gov't doing the maintenace on the roads and it was called the highways dept the public nick named it the " Dept of Holidays " . The worker standing with one foot up on the edge of the shovel and both hands on the top of the shovel was iconic. In the early years things were done at a slower pace but atleast all the services were provided. Now that private contractors bid on the highways contract stuff like road repairs isn't done anymore. Snow plowing isn't done because they don't have enough staff because nobody will work for their pitiful wages. The saying " McDonalds wages for guys with experience " The same thing happened with the company I work for went private things changed and most employees had to smarten up and change their gov't job ways. When I started it was a year after the gov't made it a semi private company. Working for the highways dept was a good job in the 80s when the gov't still operated. B.C. was in a recession in the 80s so you tried getting gov't jobs like the highways dept because it was steady work. I know guys that started with the highways in the early 70s.
We are slowly changing our colour (seriously) to yellow. Resembles the color of the...geez, I just don't have the heart to say it:Banghead
Haha Irving yellow :bouncegri but not anymore since new trucks are now solid white so its ok you can breathe a sigh of relief It won't be the same anymore,I better go to an auction soon and buy me a green grader! uh oh...did I say that out loud?
:yup I can picture you now, driving it home down the #7 highway, grinnin from ear to ear like a donkey eatin thistles sayin, I gut ma green machine an I is headin out to play in the dirt.. eh? :thumbsup Catch ya later Murray
Went to see the bank today I'am approved to 40 grand but not a penny more so its time to find a truck. It makes me in a better mood now I have more truck selection. I was being quized thou if this is going to be used commercially I don't think a personal loan covers that :naughty Aslong as I make the payments they don't have to worry about it. Any money I make from this will be a mostly under the table work. The gov't already gets 12 grand a year income tax from me. If this picks up and turns into a big money maker then I will go legal. Hell if I buy a 35,000 dollar truck there is 4500 dollars worth of taxes on the truck. Now to search for a decent used truck I will sell my truck for 13,000 or see if I can squeek 14,000 out of it. Use 5 grand of that to get a dump body then the rest pay off the loan. I think I will have to try sell my truck privately I will prolly take a bath on a trade in. I don't feel so negative now.
Congrats,now put the bug in peoples ear your starting up.
Well you got your $$$$ now you need to stop looking for excuses not to and get a truck and make some $$$$. Good luck and when you get one dont forget pics.
I shall keep my word and say "Congrats on the loan". :thumbsup Your half way there so don't stop now. And yes we want to see pics when you get it. :yup
I was in a better mood when the loans officer said yes they said 40 was max I think I will stick with no more than 35,000. They were comfortable with 35,000. As for starting up again I will have to start telling the building contractors I worked for that I will be back in business. It doesn't take much for word to spread around here its a small community where everybody knows everybody you fart the neighbours know it. That also can backfire on you to because word gets around quick that you did a crappy job and the customer or contractor wasn't happy.
I don't know the needs in your area, but can adding a skidsteer help your Landscaping, demolition, rubbish removal Business? A few years back I picked up a 96 F350 PSD HD Dump in great condition with Plow for 17K, following year Bobcat 763, 500hrs for 16K, and 709 excavating attachment for 2K. For 35k I got a lot of bang for my Buck.
I have to get back into the swing of things to see if a skid steer will bring enough work. The rental shops killed the skid steer market because people think renting a skid steer is easy and cheap. It was good 6 years ago when there was no place to rent a skid steer so the guys with them were busy. Non of the rental places had them because they wanted the local contractors to ge the work. Then the rental place got taken over by another company not from the area started renting 6000lb Bobcat and a 6000lb excavator. That cut out quite a few of the guys that were in the bobcat business out of business. I was mad that the rental shop did this it put a few guys I worked with in a tough spot. They ended up selling the skid steers they did good work but they were not going to work for peanuts. They couldn't compete a contractor or home owner could rent the skid steer for 250 dollars a day or the mini excavator for 300 a day you were put on a waiting list to rent either or. I'am thinking about trying to find a mini excavator with steel tracks and I will do small land clearing jobs. There are quite a few small jobs like hauling brush where loading the truck with a mini excavator and thumb is easier than hand loading. Some of this stuff is in tough spots so trying to drag it up slopes by hand is back busting work. A excavator will crawl any where I need to go and will go a skid steer will not go. Clearing brush by hand is also back busting labour I had enough of that. With the new burning restrictions in the works and now that green waste is free at the local landfill people are getting into hauling brush to the dump over polluting the air with smoldering fires trying to burn the stuff. Usually when you show up to haul way brush the home owner has cut and piled up themselves the pile isn't piled right so its a big narly mess of tree branches. Some of those cedar tree branches are heavy I usually have a chainsaw to cut them up into 2 or 3 pieces but they still weigh 40lbs. I heap the truck up as much as I can some places I'am hauling away 4 loads of brush it takes me 2 hours to load the truck and a truck without a dump takes a hour to unload. There are quite a few jobs that people want me to dig holes by hand I'am not going to do that anymore. If its a job I'am already working on doing other stuff I can have a machine there charge them for a hour machine time. I have done enough of the pick and shovel work digging for 3-4 hours when a excavator can do the same in 30 mins. I have to get a truck and put a dump body on it first so I get back into the construction loop to see whats out there.
Exactly!! I mean it's only the depositors money... your neighbors and parents and such. It's none of their business what you do with their money! Dang right! I mean, what did the govt. ever do for you!?! Well, except give you a job... and health care... and keep the communists and terrorists from attacking.... but thats really about it.... Plus $4,500 on a $35,000 truck! Wow! That's like almost 13% sales tax!!! That's crazy! What would they do with all that money? Well, except the health care and the terrorist things.... Besides, all the other Canadians on this board won't mind a bit if you don't pay your taxes. They don't mind at all kicking in extra while you work "under the table". Of course not! You got 'em by the short hairs now man! Go for it! You see, I'm one of those schmucks that pays his taxes, insurance and license fees etc. And yeah, all of those bills came this week during my slowest time of the year, so I guess I'm a little sensitive about these things right now. I fight the low-ball bids from "under the table" guys all year long, and it gets old FAST. All I've read is how you're gonna lie to the bank and the tax man and get a F450 so it looks like a F350 and cheat the scale man etc. etc. That's not being in business for yourself - that's being "fly by night" and many other worse terms that I won't post here. You were complaining about the rental place and the foreign truck drivers that put your friends out of business. Better look in the mirror. One suggestion - we have a "Small Business Development Center" near here to help folks get off to the right start, a successful start. They offer cheap and often free classes on starting and running a business. There must be something like that near you or at least on the web. Maybe spend some time learning about running a business before you cash that bank check. I truly wish you good luck with your "business".
Orchard, those were my thought's too.:yup
We pay taxes on everything theres sales tax there is gst our fuel has taxes on it out of the ying yang. Then there is more tax on fuel your paying sales tax. Our roads are crap any of the fuel taxes don't get spent on B.C. there are pot holes in Vancouver that can swallow a car. For health care I pay about 150 dollars every couple months I haven't seen a doctor in since my exam for my CDL which I had to pay for that cost me 80 bucks for the doc to say your fine checked my vision done in 10 minutes As for the terrorist thing isn't in my mind I don't keep track of what Canada is doing about it. I'am more interested in what the B.C. gov't is doing to our resource industry and jobs in B.C. The under the table thing happens everywhere the gov't needs to crack down on the rich people scamming the welfare and other gov't benefits. Some of these people have more money they know what to do with but some how they are collecting welfare checks from the gov't I'am a legal and registered trucking company so the gov't knows what I do as for me being a fly by night not likely. Once you get a bad reputation in a small community like this your ****ed you have to move away. The B.C. gov't knows they are taxing people to death and they know there is lots of money floating around they don't see. They make up every penny of that in taxes for their paychecks. The normal politician makes no less than 80 grand a year the taxes taken off my paycheck pays that. The higher up politicians 115,000 a year. Our hospitals in B.C. is in dire need of funds the gov't is neglecting the hospitals so there is patients waiting in cleaning closets with the mop buckets and bleach because there is no hospital room for them. People are dying in the hospital because they are waiting for help. Trust me when you pay the gov't tax money you expect something back maybe like dropping our fuel prices so we can make money. Many customers I work for want to pay cash they don't want a paper trail. The accountant knows how much I can get away with I have to claim so much per year. If I make over the maximum limit then I will have to go completely legal if I don't then no worries. I will set up account for just for income tax so if I do make over the limit I will have cash in the bank to pay the income tax. Untill the gov't cracks down on the millions of dollars that people are getting away with my 500 dollars year I will have to pay for my sideline business. There are many people that make couple hundred grand a year growing and selling pot its illegal its all cash money into the person or persons growing it. I'am a minnow in the sea of coruption I pay my own share of taxes I'am not a gov't leach. I pay into unemployement insurance which I CAN NOT collect there goes about 1000 dollars a year that I never see but it pays for some lazy bum that doesn't want to get a job. Untill the B.C. gov't listens to the tax payers I don't have no desire to give every penny I earn to them so they can get a raise in their annual salary
People have been bitching about tax's since the tea was thrown overboard in Boston Harbor. Problem is: some one has to pay.
Its us little guys that pay the most while the people with big money get away with scamming the gov't. Why is it us guys that bust our azz get reamed up the behind. Take for example I pay 10-12 grand a year in income tax that doesn't include all the sales tax I spend thats another couple thousand a year. I get goods and services tax back because I pay too much. Its the fuel taxes I hate the most for every litre of diesel fuel I buy there is 30 cents of road taxes. So for a US gallon of diesel fuel we pay 1.33 CND in road taxes. On a average fill up for my truck about 13 gallons of diesel I pay 17.31 cents in road tax plus another 6.50 in sales tax. In one year I pay roughly 1557 dollars a year in fuel taxes and 585 dollars in sales tax. I would like to see our fuel taxes fix up the roads designed for 1960s traffic not 2007 traffic. We have had in the last little while 4 young people killed and about the same in adults from car accidents Vancouver is worse. The gov't has allowed the road maintenance budget drop so low that roads are not being plowed. Which is very dangerous many white knucked rides because the road is so icey you can strap on the ice skates and go skating. The highway has dips in it that will launch you into the ditch. Every summer tourists get seriously injured to killed because they are not used to driving on poor road conditions. One benefit we have is our fines for running marked fuel is no where near as extreme you guys south of the boarder see. We get a slap on the wrist and get a 200 dollar fine thats it.
Ford the things you are bitching about guess what nothing new middle class has always paid the way. The rich have good lawyers and accountants to help keep there money. And the poor well they have no money. So that leaves middle class. What gets me and the others to I am sure is you sit here and complain about the wrongs everyone else does but your wrongs are ok because everyone else does it. Pay your taxes have insurance be above board then you can complain. You seem to have plenty of knowledge. But what your are lacking in my opinion is ethics and balls. Grow a pair and be ethical and I am sure you could be successful.
I see this thread has gone back to the "Whoa is me" mode, it seems the only way it will end is by shutting it down. I think we've endured this long enough.