Currently I have no employees, I have my 210 hoe, 6 ton, and a CTL and for the past 2 years it's went great. Been busy, many times too busy but no stress of employees and making very good money. I did a demo job a few months ago for a fairly decent size home builder, I think they build around 40-50 a year, they are not happy with their current excavator and have asked me if I want to submit tender to take over. I know a finishing carpenter who has worked for them for over 10 years now and has nothing but good things to say and financially the builder is very stable. Payment terms are decent. I don't know who i'm bidding against, but having already done work for them I think I have a pretty good advantage if i'm comparable price wise. For me to even consider, I know i'd have to be willing next spring to buy another hoe and have at least 2 full-time employees. I wouldn't want the risk of having one customer be more then about 25-30% of my work. But i'm wondering is it really worth the hassle? I really like the idea of having even 1 guy so not everything has to be done by me, but also know employees can be headaches. My brother does concrete and has around 15 guys or so and at the end of the day this summer i'm probably making the same amount of money as him. The thing I like about the bigger builder is less BS. With so many of the one time builders I deal with now i'm always chasing money and virtually none have any idea what they are doing, and it's getting old quick. There's been a few of the bigger guys closing doors the last few years, from what i've heard it's sick of not making any money because it's hard to find good guys and rates dropping so much. I have no desire to ever get that big, but wonder if it's better just to maybe find 1 good guy and stay small.
Each venture has its bad days, if you have positive numbers prospective employees and the desire I would just do it. If you do not need the stress continue as you are, STILL will be your own call.
You have kids?
Numbers have been great. Except for my big hoe, lowboy, and pickup, all my stuff is paid for, hoe and lowboy about 50%, pickup about 25% left. Last year I banked enough to buy CTL, this year dump truck, a quonset sea can etc for my yard. I am planing to hire 1 guy see how it goes, if it's good then continue 1 at a time. I don't think I have any desire to get beyond 4-5 guys regardless, to many headaches and risk if economy turns bad. Except for another big hoe, I don't think i'd be willing to finance anything, I want to pay cash.
Nope. I'm 30 and single, so I figure it is a good time if i'm doing to do it. And what i'm doing now isn't sustainable if there is a point where I get married and have kids. Last year there was a lot of working saturday and sunday, this year i'm trying to only work every second saturday at most but seems to be almost every saturday. Probably averaging about 60 hours in the summer this year.
30 I was in my third venture, something like 7th or 8th full time job besides, run as hard as can until that burnout sets in and BANK as much as can in the process.
Go for it! Now that is from a guy that has never had a "real job" - IE working for someone else. Grew up working for my father as a kid on his framing crew and then in his homebuilding business during my teens. Started my own homebuilding business in 1995 right out of college. Grew that into a residential, commercial and development company with at one time 15 employees. We were developing land, building houses, multifamily and commercial projects. The 2nd Great Depression hit in 2009 and I was too leveraged - company folded - It was rough, very rough seeing 15 years of your life and hard work go down the drain. Started back over in 2011 and now built a commercial site work company with around $2M in sales per year. Have 2 crews of three for 6 total employees not counting my wife and myself. We are making more money with less stress and liability as a subcontractor than I ever did as a GC. I just wish I could go back in time and be a subcontractor for the last 25 years. Now I go through that trip down memory lane to say - Just go for it. Follow what your gut tells you - mine has served me well over the years. Question - Does it "feel right" to expand now, take on this builder as a client and hire a couple of guys on? If it does then do it. However do keep in mind and I'm sure you've thought about this but when you take on an employee you take on more responsibility. A good guy or gal is going to give your company their all and it's your responsibility to manage the company in a way that rewards them as well. The hardest thing I've ever had to do as a business owner was lay good people off.
I got burnt out last fall. Figured i'd get a break in the winter but stayed pretty steady. Been doing a bit less this year and it's been a lot better. 7 days a week is just too much. I can handle the 14-16 hour days as long as I get at least 1 day off.
I've been around it quite awhile, growing up my dad has always had his own business doing concrete and spent a lot of my time working for him. Although I hate to say it, but I learned more the way not to do things then how to do them from him. I worked a few jobs from 17-21 but I could never work for anyone else, I found it to be a waste of my time because I could make so much more money working for myself. I learned a harsh lesson 3 years ago when I bought my first big hoe, truck and trailer, that summer I didn't have the money saved up to support it and work was a lot harder to come by then I expect and everything was financed. A lot of the summer I was working by the hour for my dad and brother and you can't pay for $250k worth of financing making $35/hr. I sold them and lost over $30k compared to what I paid, did a bit of work with the stuff but not much. Now i'm in a much better position and have established myself better. I occasionally borrow a laborer from my brother over the years so I have some experience, but overall it's not great, it's frustrating dealing with people. I'm hoping more experienced people are better. I tried to hire a hoe operator last spring without any luck, I don't want to train someone, I want someone who has been digging residential basements for a few years and knows what they are doing. Everyone applying either only had oilfield experience, or maybe a bit of mini hoe experience. The problem that scares me is seeing the problems my brother has with guys taking care of stuff. Like finding a truck so low on oil it's not on the dipstick, stupid stuff like that. Out of all his guys, there is one really good one who really looks after stuff. A few are ok, many are absolutely terrible. Something is always broken. I don't know how much different it is with excavation in terms of that. I think it would be easier in terms of leaving a hoe for a operator to dig a basement, verus driving a pickup, skidsteer, etc as it wouldn't go too long without me around. I don't want to finance much. I want to be in a position if the economy gets really bad, I can liquidate stuff to get as small as I need for the work that's around without an issue. My thought was the biggest I want to be is about 2-200 hoes, 1-2 big ctl, 1 small ctl, 2-3 mini hoes, 1 maybe 2 dump trucks. A few employees, but still easy to manage.
I understand not wanting to finance much. Currently at a size that I am comfortable with 2 crews of 3 and don't want to add a third at the moment. Bigger is sometimes not better nor more profitable. As far as financing goes we have a 325FL, 2- 279D's, my pickup and wife's car financed, that's it. Our debt to equity ratio is around 15.5% - the lowest it has ever been in my business life and I plan on keeping it that way. The school of hard knocks is a tough education but one you will not forget. I would like to purchase a new D5K2 with the "smart grade stuff" on it and will probably be the next purchase. However at least one other payment will need to drop off before that happens just not comfortable with that much debt going out every month. As far as employees go they will never work as hard as you do, be as passionate about the business or take care of the stuff like you will and there is nothing wrong with that - it's just human nature, the business is your baby, your vision, your responsibility. The hard part is finding good folks who want to work, take care of the iron and be part of your team. I have been blessed to know and employ some of the best guys in the business. When you find them in your neck of the woods respect them and take care of them.
Oh Man .. Embrace & enjoy that time of life suladas . That brings back memories …. My Amish buddy accused me of slacking on the job as I only had 3 kids at age 40 . LMAO ! You still got some time but better get busy . As stated up thread plow on & go for it . Business and the family
After reading the responses, my reply will be unpopular. Don't do it. Go big or go home. You will make more money working for/by yourself, or maybe with 1 employee than your plan. One needs to get to the 15 employee level to make more than working alone. At 15 employees you have an office person, a book keeper, can pay the accountant, have a shop boy, and have an extra employee or 2 when folks call in sick. When you have 5 to 8 employees you will be forever chasing your tail to find work to keep them busy, chasing your money so you can pay them, doing jobs yourself because someone didn't show up, writing huge check for workers comp and unemployment and wondering where all the money goes, and as mentioned, wondering why your 2 year old $1/2 mil piece of equipment seized for lack of oil ... who's fault was that???
I'm ok with an unpopular opinion. I see your point, though. 15 employee ranges helps a lot to because you can justify a mechanic too which is huge. I do have some advantage to the point that currently me and my brother share a yard, and in the future here we may split buying/renting a bigger place with a shop. So cost can be split for that, even a mechanic, an office person, etc so I wouldn't need to have as many people to justify it. I think the limit for me will come down to two things, how much work is around and how many good employees I can find. As long as there is work and I can find good people, I wouldn't have any problem getting to that size as it's still manageable and not too big and as long as I do it slowly to keep the amount of my equipment financed to 20-25% i'm comfortable so that if things take a dive you can easily sell off equipment and keep going. It's just there's been a few guys who blow up huge in a few years and went down in flames fast. One grew to about 200 employees in the busy season, started off just like me a single man show digging basements and went to about $50 million in the last year.
Dave Kolb Grading when I was a kid had a 955 traxcavator(pre H) a Ford F850 tandem gas dump and a tagalong trailer Dug basements and set grade for flatwork as driveways or building slabs When died had been on his Second Heart transplant for three years Had one hundred seventy pieces of machinery on four yards in three states worth close to $41mil personally. Did that in twenty years with four boys and a great banker Stress and bad diet took him out at 67
That's pretty impressive. So much risk though, there's so many guys who don't make it trying to get like that. There's at least 10 I can count who were a good size and have closed up in the last number of years. Not worth the hassle to me IMO. I think once you get over a certain size a lot of guys see it differently. They think the company has endless resources and don't care. Not all, but many think that way.
So being in the small end excavation business with mainly just backhoes we joke if you are going to run 2 machines you better run 5 with 2 full time machines you can almost double your gross but your profit will only go up by 25 to 30 percent and you will work just as many hours so your crews equipment is ready to go for monday morning with 2 machines your revenue will not support a mechanic of any kind on payroll it also wont support even part time office help. Now there is the slimist of chances a guy will come to work for you that will work similar to you and be almost as productive but ask any owner on this forum and he will tell you he has not seen that guy or he stayed for a while and went out on his own your going to be stuck babysitting your new guy his whole first year it's just the fact his quality will not be yours and his work will not be 16hours a day 5 to 6 days a week his name is not on the door If your going to grow get a good plan but be prepared to grow out of being the guy doing all the work to just being the guy running the company and the fire fighter that doesnt mean 20 guys but it means more than 4 to make enough production to cover the overhead. Plan on training any one you hire experienced guys dont learn new things and dont lose bad habits green guys pick up every bad habit and have to shown more than once what's correct but you can instill the quality in them that your reputation is being built on Bottom line when you hire a guy are you willing to give them your name to put on there work if you are great if your not it will be rough all of us are trying to duplicate ourselves when we hire a guy my dad jokes that it took him 30 years to duplicate himself in business he had to raise me So with a grain of salt do what suits you best but you will have doubts either way and it's going to be 10 years before you will know that it was the right decision
I think if you find the right person, you have to make it worth their while. Maybe pay a little higher than the going rate and give them incentives like bonus's if they get the job done sooner. It's well worth it in my opinion. Trying to do everything yourself takes a huge toll on you and you get burnt out. A lot of companies get too big and fail if the economy goes South. If you try to go too big trying to get rich is a recipe for disaster. My dad used to always say if you can a make a comfortable living, have some time for yourself/family and not be continually stressed out is the best plan. I know a guy who has a small motorcycle shop. Makes really good money. He had a very good young mechanic who was also fast that did 75%+ of the work. Also had excellent people skills talking to customers. Very hard to find someone like this. Mechanic was making him tons of money and he had time to drive around and pick up parts and visit with suppliers, etc. Didn't have to do much wrenching of his own. Mechanic was paid an average wage and that was it. No pay for boxing day off because it isn't an official holiday and I don't believe any year end or Christmas bonus. Mechanic ended up going to work for his brother doing HVAC work. This was several years ago and the shop has gone through several mechanics, none are even close. I think if you find the right employee you pay them an above average wage and give a bonus or profit share if you're profitable. Otherwise it will just be another job until something better comes along or they don't feel appreciated. Make it hard or almost impossible for them to find something better and you will be rewarded.
Try to make sure you're putting enough away to replace your equipment with cash at end of life. Always make sure you have a good exit strategy which shouldn't be tough as long as you don't borrow a lot of money.
I'm 69, still working for the local county highway department becasue i enjoy working. I've done a lot of different projects and even managed 125 employees at one time. I've always kept an eye on the dept finances from a "business" point of view. When I was in my mid 20's I got the "own my own business" itch. i was admiring all the local road contractors and their success. Then it dawned on me that either dad or grandpa had worked sun up to sun down all kinds of hours to make the companies successful. They then semi retired or retired and the kids were used to new every thing living the good life and basically run the companies into the ground. So I stayed with the county, have had a good life, spent plenty of time with the family and have no regrets. Do a full analyses of where you want to be and go for it
Something that dawned on me about growing a business today when a perspective new customer called and said I was highly recommended but am really expensive but they figured they would try us out my response was sir you miss understand I have not decided if I want to try you out as a customer I dont need the practice or the experience to take care of your work when you have a job you want done call and schedule it if not dont waste my time fishing me to straighten out the guy you have used for 10 years Point is most customers act like they do you the favor of using you and therefore rates are negotiable in there opinion as well how much of there work goes to you as holding that over your head If your not prepared to be able to walk away and see a crews equipment set at the yard for a week then your not prepared to add that crew or employee this is the reason I see many acquaintances get in a bind with customers they can't afford to walk away and they mentally cant walk away and growth is where most of this becomes a factor Food for thought
Good point Aziron ! Ran in to one of those last week …. Feller was asking what we charge per hour on the phone call ? Then he proceeded to tell me the job would take 3 day's . I'm like hey baby bubba ……. We come scope the job out and shoot you cost up front . I don't take every job that comes down the pike . LMAO ! Like # 45 would say …. " Sometimes you have to walk away ."
That is the attitude of virtually everyone here. I have a few customers who are *ahem* the type many complain about, they are exactly like that, it's all about who is cheapest. They got someone else to do the last dig because they undercut me, although for demos I seem to be the cheapest. But at the end of the day, I quote what I want for the job, if someone wants to work for free go ahead. They aren't all bad, I finished a demo on wednesday and got paid thursday, getting paid quick hassle free goes a long ways for me. I learned my lesson last year. I did a few jobs where someone was cheaper so I matched or beat by a bit and lost my shirt. I did a few where I couldn't have even afforded to pay a guy to run the machine and cover fuel, largely because it was winter and backfills take so long it's really tough to make money on them to begin with, never mind doing it for cheap. Will never do it again. I trust my estimating and anytime I come down I regret it.
Might end up working out with the builder anyway, they use 2 of all trades so it would be around 20-25 a year which I could handle, even if I don't expand. Will see if the rate is there. But it is tempting not have to do quotes, deal with people who think they are builders, chase money, etc.
You can always call the Operating Engineer Union hall for a trained operator when you need one. Let him go on the out of work list when you don't have work, and call him back by name if he is the guy you want. Fair wages and benefits and a trained employee for what ever machine you need one for. Another plus is that you can sleep well knowing your employee has health coverage and something more than SSI when he retires.
I've never heard of that here for operators, only stuff like welders, pipefitters, etc. I don't think i'd be interested in that anyway, just because they have experience and tickets IMO doesn't mean they are a good operator, or take care of equipment. I've seen enough "operators" running equipment for big companies that I wouldn't trust on a $20 shovel never mind an expensive piece of equipment. I am going to hire 1 guy in the spring and see how it goes. I know I will have enough to keep 1 guy busy full-time even with the equipment I have now.
Hard to believe that anyone in the business could exist without knowing there is a operators union. You can believe me that the unqualified that don't take care of equipment wash out quickly.
I looked it up and turns out there is one here, not much action though. Honestly just looks like a job posting board with only a few bigger companies posting stuff and it seems to be permanent or at least a few week jobs, nothing for the day sort of thing. I know i'm not the only one, when I was trying last year I asked around a lot and no one ever mentioned it to me that it existed here for that sort of thing.
Union operators usually are a lot more expensive and aren't Jack-of- all-trades type. They will only run whatever piece of equipment u called them out for. They may be able to operate but not run a job or small project.
Usually your company has to be in the union to get union operators. Also union members taking side jobs with non union companies can be booted from the union. Unions will boast they are better, faster and safer but there are non union companies that are just as good or even better. Being in the union isn't the be all end all but can have certain advantages. Like anything else there are good and bad unions.
Just remember that you gotta pay to play. My boss at the moment is having a hard time with that. Always wants cheap that he can buy in cash then wonders why he cant find truck drivers who will drive all day with out AC or a good radio. Wonders why guys dont want to run a open cab ctl and huff dust all day for $16 a hour. You gotta make it worth it to guys to work for you or they will walk down the street and work for the next guy. If you are not willing to do that then do not bother expanding or you will always be training new guys and doing all the work yourself and probably making less money.
Depends a lot on the economy. When things are booming employee's can pick and choose where they want to work. When things are slow the A-hole bosses take advantage of the employee's. You don't like it, there's the door. I worked in a shop that went through 9 guys a week when things were busy. They advertised all summer long looking for welders but were so well known for treating their employee's like crap, the only people applying were from out of province. One of the guys working there figured every welder in Alberta had been through that shop. One guy was fired and rehired the same day because they couldn't get welders. I didn't work in the main shop so didn't get the brunt of all the yelling at screaming from the owner. After 5 month's I had enough. A lot of good guys worked there but going in in the morning you always wondered if the owner was going to be on the rampage. I was working on a mud tank in the main shop one day. The owner starts yelling because he wants the grating on top to be welded every 2' instead of every 4' feet. Nobody did anything wrong. All he had to do was say to put more welds on the grating. Surprised no one had shot the owner. A lot of people thought about it and would have cheered. He sold the company to a big oilfield outfit for about 45 million and stayed on as big shot there. I heard from a guy who's son worked there that this a-hole went up to a welder who he thought was abusing a grinder, took a $100 bill out of his pocket, threw it on the floor and said "You think I have $100 to throw away every time you wreck a grinder?" and fired the guy! I think the grinder was acting up because the brushes needed to be replaced.
I think there's a happy medium depending what you're doing. In the climate here I would absolutely expect an employee to run a truck or piece of equipment without AC, it's not a big deal plenty do it, including me. No AC in my dump and it doesn't work on my mini and I couldn't care to fix it as it's not a priority. But that's a whole lot different from running old junk equipment without the basics. I wouldn't expect a driver to drive my dump as is all day, without a air seat for example. But people also need to look after stuff if you expect to run nice stuff. I'm kinda getting a test run of employees now, and I don't like it. It's my dads dump but i'm basically looking after the driver. No complaints about the truck, well shouldn't be it's a 2015 automatic it's a nice truck to drive. But doesn't look after it. Smoked in it without ever asking (only been my family that's drove it before him and none of us can stand the smell of smoke), wasn't doing pre-trips physically pre-trip or the paperwork, basically just getting in turning the key and going, carelessly backs over things, didn't know what the wait to start light was (I wanted to strangle him for that), and on and on. Now this isn't some 20 year old, this guy is around 70 and until a few years ago ran his own truck for 10+ years, so you shouldn't have to tell him much. This is in addition to the fact that every second day at least, he goes to the wrong place at least once. I told my dad already, I would have fired him 2 or 3 times over, but it's not my truck so his decision other then the fact that i've had enough with his mistakes costing me money and it won't happen anymore. I'm on sites a decent amount with my brothers guys too and I don't bother saying much anymore. He seems to think it's the best that's out there, which for concrete probably isn't far off. The worst he threatened one guy was if the oil in his crew truck got below safe again he wouldn't be driving it anymore. It is pretty common and I don't get it. How can people treat things like ****? I mean if it's a $100 drill it's a lot different then a $30k truck or skidsteer, etc but if they abuse one chances are they abuse everything. I don't think I will ever go beyond 1 employee. Once things are back in swing if there is a fair amount of work i'm going to try and find someone who can run my CTL and dump truck, maybe even semi-retired who only wants to work a bit. I don't care if someone is a bit slow. But I absolutely will not put up with anyone abusing my stuff.
Ya you shouldn't get employees you wont be happy.
I would be with a good one, but they are so few and far between. Part of the problem with my business is from day 1 i'd have to trust someone with a truck or piece of equipment. It's not like others where you can start them laboring, or at least have others around constantly to see how they do. One dump truck driver who went from one guy I know to another couldn't understand why she got fired. She backed a slinger into a tree and crumpled the conveyor. For a small business having a huge expense and having a very expensive truck down she couldn't have cared less. Stuff like that absolutely drives me crazy. Too many employees think just because you run a company you're a millionaire and have endless resources and make stupid amounts of money. Not the case at all. Employee screw ups mean in some cases the company is loosing money on the job.
In the case of the grinder, the employee didn't do anything wrong. Drills, grinders, circular saws and other tools can wear out brushes. Some of the higher end tools will stop before the brushes are completely worn and damage the commutator. I think rules and/or training on how employee's are expected to conduct themselves should be established well before they hop in any vehicle or equipment no matter how much experience they have. If you don't want an employee to smoke in vehicles tell them from the get go otherwise how would they know? Considerate people will ask but some are just ignorant. I had a guy in my pick up know not to smoke but lit up and figured if he opened the window and didn't use the ashtray was OK. I was so close to stopping and kicking him out on the side of the road. Have no use for people like that.
As others have said the key is finding a good one. My last 2 guys have been really good. Some of the things I look for while interviewing is do they have hobbies, motorcycles, restoring cars, just doing something. To me it shows some self motivation. Do they keep there personal car in good shape? A beater full of garbage is probably how they will treat your equipment. Other people will do somethings a little different than you. I try not to micro manage. but will give advise if I don't like the direction someone is going. Remember everything you teach someone else to do is one less thing you have to do yourself. Freeing up time to bid more jobs, or do another operation that makes more cash.
Hire slow, fire fast!
the work force is retiring and the number of people entering cannot fill the number of positions. That mentality will have to be dropped if people want to stay in business. Take someone on and spent the time and money training them the right way and make lots of money off the work they do later.
Some places prefer to hire apprentices so they can train them how they want them to do things. Better than bringing people in who have developed bad habits.
The apprenticeship process has been dead for years in the US and it is more likely than not that it will ever return in any form. It became nothing more than cheap labor anyway and not a method of training on the job that it was purported to be. Hiring bodies has never worked and made lousy companies even worse. Hiring takes time along with someone who has a good judgment of character to recognize those characteristics that indicate a person's degree of integrity, attention to detail, willingness to take on tough projects and can demonstrate critical thinking skills. People who violate terms of employment have to face timely consequences as an example to the rest of the employees. As a manager in the past, I found out the hard way that people with bad attitudes are nothing but poison to the rest of the company and are in essence only begging to be moved out the door. "Hire slow, fire fast" was the mantra at all the best companies I've worked for.
Guess it depends on the industry. If I'm at 31,000' going 500 MPH, I sure hope someone who's licensed was doing the maintainence and repairs on the plane. Mind you I think they should scrap all the 737 Max 8's and hold Boeing accountable.
So what do you think will happen to teach new employees now? People are getting less and less hands on and it seems like common sense is the least common thing these days. I think we are screwed. I also am a firm believer of pay the minimum expect the minimum.
I think part of the problem is less and less people are interested in the trades so they are making it easier for the ones that are going into the trades. I went to a trade school and got credit for 225 hours of each year of apprenticeship, 1575 hours per year instead of 1800. Now students can get credit for their entire 1st year and I think a year is now considered 1575 hours. At school you used to learn more in 6 weeks every year than you do now in 8 weeks every year for 3 years.
Went to trade school in 75/76, learned a lot but did not really learn until thrown to the wolves in open flat rate shop. Learned to cut my losses and moved on.
There are no apprenticeships for flying at 31,000 feet. Pilots are advanced through a meritocracy that proves they have the ability. The bulk of that training was done through military service for the largest share of pilots today. As far as trade schools go I served on an advisory committee for several years and as chairman of that committee for two years. Students came out of that program knowing how to strike an arc, light a torch, look something up in a parts book and could recognize some of the parts in an engine, transmission, differential and maybe parts of a crawler undercarriage and truck suspension. Most came through the program with unrealistic expectations of the industry and their abilities to actually fix something. I was in the navy from 74/78 and learned character, ethics, how to follow directions, how to listen to experience and developed the attitude that just because the job is hard doesn't mean that it can be ignored and forgotten. That is called character and is what is missing today in potential new hires. Hire slow, fire fast!
Almost as my Training period at the Nuke, 16 months between Classroom and Hands on with a qual ticket for each Watch Station(Seven in all). Was NOT a walk in the park for a older adult been out of school a LONG time and never in a power station beyond working coal pile disasters.
I was in the USAF from 1968-72, Vietnam 71-72. The military turned this crazy kid into a responsible adult, most of that happened during basic training and 18 weeks of tech school. The kids now think it's all about them and don't get the big picture. In the military you are part of a team
Not necessarily. I know of a lot of guys who have said screw expending, a guy who is competition selling a bunch of stuff so just him and his son are left said he got tired of dealing with idiot employees (his words). Who says they will learn though no matter how much time you spend? Who says they will stick around? Even if you have brand new equipment and pay really well it's no guarantee you'll end up with good employees.
Just my opinion but I think being a excavator makes it one of the more difficult areas to hire people in. I mean a plumber? Easy. They have a ticket and what is the most expensive thing they will run other then a company vehicle? A $500 tool maybe? Big difference then a few hundred thousand dollar piece of equipment that can bankrupt your company in a matter of seconds with the wrong move. I don't think it's much to ask to find a decent guy to run a CTL and a dump truck and not abuse it. I mean you work by the hour, I will never understand guys who speed, or go crazy fast in those cases. It's a different story if the boss is bitching things are too slow, then I can see guys abusing stuff to get the job done quicker. We'll see what happens once this crap is over. I've been on my own for 3 years now and not afraid to do it another year. Just would rather not see the dump truck sit and only get used to move the hoe when i'm nearly $20k into it. But it's paid for, and beats having someone destroy it.
Years ago was a time when a Dump operator ran Dumps ONLY, same for Dozer or Friction cranes etc. and all the shops took care of the machines down to cleaning them regularly. Those days are pretty well gone and I am aware those will not change soon where the operators either have to be educated into respecting a Company Owner's machines or sent packing. Local here has Excavation, trucking, materials supply services and farms, his employees are given time each day to clean equipment, are EXPECTED to where if they do not they are told to hit the street and find other work. Some damage can just happen but routine damage is abuse and NOT tolerated. Can get mad or be angry with him all they wish but they were explained is THEIR Duty to attend the machine they made their mess in and they were paid to clean it up or be careful of it, can only be angry with themselves.
It all depends on how many holes you have left in your belt.
Well my dad is finally on board with a new driver and fired the current one as I said should have happened at least a month ago. One of the last nails in the coffin was he went to start the truck and couldn't figure out why air wasn't building up, my dad happened to be going to the yard and showed up to have to show him that the tank valves were open. Always had the habit of draining the tanks every single day, driver was told to do it like a million times but anytime we checked it was left aired up. It's also good safety as one time he parked the truck without putting on the brakes, thankfully it didn't roll into anything. The horn goes off if you open the door without the brakes on, but guess he just ignored it. The reason they were open is because I was driving it prior. I was blown away, i'm sure his hearing isn't near what mine is (I can hear the air instantly from inside the cab if I start it with the valves open) but how the fawk do you do a pre-trip without ever going to the passenger side? Or not have the common sense to go check the tanks if no air is building? But the final straw was him trying to clean out the box I guess, he tagged a overhead crane with the top of the box cylinder. No damage to either thankfully, but enough is enough. Do a ton of work in older areas with overhead power lines and not going to risk having a driver who just puts the box up without checking for overhead stuff. It's a fairly big site with ONE overhead obstacle and he manages to hit it. In my opinion maybe he was a ok driver years ago, but he shouldn't be driving anything more then a regular vehicle anymore, it's just a matter of time before it's a massive accident.
Just remember, when your are lying on your death bed, are you gonna say to yourself, ( I wish I could work just one more day)?
I only repair equipment and couldnt cut a grade with any machine if my life depended on it, but based on past experience for myself, hiring more people to do work for me only put me in the red even more. I went back on my own and was much happier when I knew exactly what had been done and could back my work up.
Well if it's the same bed I've been sleeping in the last X amount of years, then that's my death bed and for some reason I keep waking up and end up going to work.
Thought I would work until they requested I finally lay down, then beatup started beating on me and had to give it up.
I totally understand, cause sometimes I feel like I sleep and work only during my entire life. Some people say that making predictions and looking them to happen can make their lives more interesting ad exciting. I usually don't like to read those numerology articles, but recently found one 777 angel number article, which helped me in some points.
Some days wish I could get more than 3 hours in a stretch but then may not wake up either.
for what its worth, this is an issue ive been wrestling with at the company I work for. My previous company did all their business (wet utilities) for large publicly traded home builders. we averaged about $15m a year in contracts and made a decent margin, but when COVID shut things down all our business basically stopped. we were able to keep about 3/4 of the field crews working but had to furlough all our estimators and project managers except for one. Had this company been diversified better by doing work for commercial/industrial and public works jobs we wouldnt have had any issues as those sectors kept moving. down here they say there is no such thing as a $10m contractor. Once you hit about the $7m mark you need to hire full office staff and estimation/project management people and you need to all of a sudden be around $15m just to cover the overhead that creates. the companies down here (SoCal) who have weathered the storms are the ones who stayed small along the lines of where you are now or went full blown corporation and bet the farm on scaling up and going hard. all that being said, getting a second machine and 1-2 other employees is a totally sustainable model if youre committed to it.