Hello. My name is Steve. I am new to the Forum and wanted to get some information about start up of an equipment hauling business. I have been in the trucking industry for 15 years. Most of my experience has been with heavy equipment hauling. I actually work for a reputable LTL company now on a line haul operation. It is a good company, however, my passion has always been in equipment hauling and having my own business. I would like to pick the brains of some of the more experienced people on the forum as to what I will need to do for start up and to get up and running. I am in the New Jersey/Philadelphia/New York region. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
If you want to break away from the 9 to 5 in any job and be your own boss then you need, first and foremost, self confidence; the inner knowledge that you can do every aspect of this stupid job any day of the week as good as my d***h**d boss. Second) Balls. (or ladyballs if you're a lady). Third) Money. Enough to keep you going until the first cheque comes in (which could be months). As far as the specifics go regarding the haulage business you need, first and foremost, a truck.
welcome I'm new here too you didn't mention in your plan on having a truck and trailer. a low boy howxmaI vote for Jen or read up truckny wheels you plan on having on the ground on your first rig how heavy how far do you plan to go. but i vote for gin truck rig up truck with a low boy or drop deck trailer with a tail roll
welcome I'm new here too you didn't mention in your plan on having a truck and trailer. Or a low boy or how many axles you plan on having on the ground on your first rig how heavy how far do you plan to go. but i vote for gin truck rig up truck with a low boy or drop deck trailer with a tail roll
I would start by checking out the local Associated General Contractors chapter along with internet searches for local contractors, then come up with a company name (I prefer generic company names rather than ones including my personal name) call all of the contractors you can find and make a list of those who move their own equipment, those who hire a hauler that are not interested in changing companies, and those who would be interested in your services within your desired service area, and how many moves per week/month/year they make on average. I would also take the opportunity while at AGC to find out who the main insurance companies are in the heavy industry in your area. I would then turn my research efforts to local dealerships and rental companies, as well as any equipment factories and attachment manufacturers, along with auction companies. Find out between the major potential clients what sort of insurance coverage you would be required to carry to haul their equipment, then take those coverage limits, and get quotes from the main insurance companies in the area. Once I established who my prospective clients might be, how much business they might be looking to do, and what they will require of me, then I would go about the task of generating a sales forecast. Once I had a reasonable sales forecast, I would then go about shopping for finance rates and terms, truck and trailer prices, licensing requirements, fuel charge terms, projecting maintenance costs, my own desired salary ect. Once I know what my running costs are projected to be, I would talk to potential competitors, and learn their rates. I would run their rates against my running costs, and establish weather or not I could make an acceptable profit at competitive prices. Assuming that I found that I could I would then dig pretty deep into what my average collection time might be. I would take my monthly running costs, multiply them by my average receivable collection time, multiply that by 1.5 (the .5 because things always cost more than I hoped) and THAT would be the amount of start up capital I would need to get my grubby little hands on. I would also note, that just because you charge 125.00 per hour (or something) does not mean, that in a given day you will have the stars aligned in such a manner that allows you to bill 8 or 10 hour strait through at that rate. You may have one customer that needs to be moved across town, and pays 3 of the 5 hours that you run before lunch, then another in a similar manner in the afternoon. Of course there will be the days that you run it hard all day as well, but they won't always work out, which is something you need to account for in your forecasting process. :drinkup