Well I went against every truckers advice and became a truck driver 6 months ago. Been the best decision I've ever made. I lucked out and got me a job hauling fresh water and grey water in the oil field. I'm driving for a small company and couldn't ask for more. As I've been working I'm still got my heart set on running a one man dirt hauling service, thought about doing dirt work as well but maybe one day if I was successful in hauling dirt alone. My problem is I'm not sure where to start. I know you got to get a dump truck, but how do you get work? What sort of forms and permits would I need? I'm having a house pad built and the man doing the dirt work suggested I but a cheap dump truck and haul some dirt when I'm off to get myself started. But that's the question, do I just go to gravel yards and dirt pits and ask them if they need an extra truck? Lots of unknown on my part but it's a dream I don't want to let go.
I wouldn't focus just on dirt hauling. Go where the money is. If there's a demand for oil, haul oil. If there's a demand for grain haul grain.
Well that's the problem I don't know what the demand is. How do you find out what's in demand in your area? I would guess that saltwater hauling is in high demand as we have lots of oil rigs where I live but I would assume the major corporations have that. But say there is demand for grain or oil, etc, how do I go about getting work? Is there some sort of book or website that has information so I could research more. I want to research but just don't know where to start.
If anyone has some words of wisdom do share, I'm all ears.
find the trucking companies doing the oil field work and ask if they use owner-operators. If you see a truck that looks like an o/o or small fleet, ask who they are contracted to.
Owner operators usually run in packs to stay busy, just ask around, try to hook up with a pack. If you were in Seattle I would give you a number to call, but you would have to quit your job.
Since you're looking towards hauling dirt... I'd talk to a few friendly owner operators and find out if there are any brokers in your area. If you find a good one, they can keep you busy. In our area there are also gravel companies that are actually brokers...no trucks of their own. One that I do work for from time to time is always looking for dependable truckers. Come to think of it, you can also check with local concrete companies. The material hauling company I use most of the time has over 60 trucks, but they also have a concrete plant. When it's busy they have some independents that haul for them too.
Yea I appreciate the responses. So do you call the dirt pit or gravel yard directly to see if they have any work or do you call excavating companies.
Grizz. Put the truck part out of your mind for a moment and focus on the business side. Capital and Management. If you were asked about hauling cow manure for pennies and pumping septic tanks and proto johns that would net a lot more but involve fewer miles would you pick miles over dollars?
I would take the septic route for more money, what are you trying to get at.
I'm getting at? Why focus on hauling dirt in a dump? Stone slinger rig doing driveways or a hook lift and dumpster route (or even your own gravel mine) may build more equity.
Vulcan and the other local quarries hire out their deliveries in my area. I know several guys who have dumps that work for them. From talking with them it's more of a way to keep steady cash flow than making a killing - IE it's a decent rate (per ton) and steady, not going to get rich at it unless you have a fleet and brown nose the dispatcher. You have been given some good advice for starting any small business and I'll add my $.02 - know your market, rates, customers, pay schedule (cash flow is incredibly important) and your competition before ever getting a business off the ground. Now most of the above is going to take knowledge of your local market and research. One of the most important factors is the pay schedule. How do they pay and how fast? You can be making a huge margin but if the pay schedule drags out 90-120 days or longer it can sink you even though you have a nice schedule of receivables on the balance sheet. I can't stress enough the value of working capital. In order to get better paying jobs you'll have to be able to carry the costs of operating your business during the pay cycle. Bigger jobs, more work means you need more capital to fund it. Which gets to the next point - capital. You need to determine how much it's going to cost you to operate per day, week and month. Then you need at least 6 months of capital in cash on hand before you start your business. This relates directly to the pay schedule of your customers. Don't forget your start up costs and this goes well beyond purchasing a truck or a piece of equipment. You'll need to start a company, register it with all state and local agencies, purchase business licenses, obtain insurance, tax ID #'s, etc. Some of these don't cost much but it does take time and money. You'll also need an accountant to file your tax returns, I would not suggest doing these yourself. If you'll want to work in the oil patch or any commercial site, you'll also need a safety policy and the associated certs. for the field you'll be working in. A good understanding of contracts and contract language is an absolute must.:cool2 You'll be signing contracts that are written by your customer and they have paid a very good lawyer to write them, there will be very little in your favor contained within them. You have to read the entire contract and understand what the terms mean. A good (in the favor of your customer) contract has bitten more than one good contractor that didn't read the fine print. I am not meaning to discourage or scare you, this is the reality of running a small business. It's very doable, thousands of small companies thrive and make good money in this industry but you have to know what you're getting into. There is a lot more to it than just completing the work.
I thank you for all the advice. I very clearly have many years before I even seriously start a business of my own. Guess my first step is to figure out what kind of company exactly I want to be. Something that has always really killed my dreams is the whole "it takes money to make money" and I don't have a great deal of it. Gravel mine though sounds interesting, I'll have to read up on that. I've also thought about getting into propane or septic services as that's kind of part of my job right now.
I'm also thinking since I'm gaining experience in pumping out sewer tanks maybe I should strongly consider the septic/porta john route. I'll have to do more research on that. Thanks for the ideas.
Just do what makes you happy. Every one has a dream, but not all are brave to seize them. Good luck.
I'd love to have an excavation business but I have 0 experience. I think that would be suicide to start an excavating business with no idea what I'm doing. So I know I'd need to get experience. I thought about trying to get a part time job at a company but I work long hours. So how does a full time trucker get heavy equipment experience and start a business?
I don't know how old you are, or what your past work experience is, but you need to do far more research before ever attempting to get your own rig or start your own business, chat with some bankers, see what they'll tell you, ask questions and a lot of them, they should be able to point you in a direction to go towards if they are worth anything in terms of a lender. If you could take some online or night classes involving business that would be great as well, anything to get you ready for the day when you do go off on your own. Now that said, I have no clue as to how things are done in your area, but an owner operator needs to be busy, this one load a day or driving a few hours a day isn't going to generate enough cash to keep you going, around here some of the independents sort of work together, and find someone to broker loads for them and have their own dispatch sort of thing, so they can stay busy hauling or work with a larger firm who brokers loads for them, but with that they get the loads nobody wants to haul or the ones that are the least profitable to haul, something to keep in mind. The biggest thing to remember in trucking is diversity, you need to be able to haul many types and kinds of products, flatbed, grain trailer, dump trailer, cattle pot, whatever it is, you need far more than just one thing to haul to keep busy. Chat with independants in your area and see how things are done there, every area is different. In my area the hard core independents are all but gone now, the driver did it all, took the loads, hauled them and did all the billings and did it all from within his own truck, most have gone to some sort of dispatching system and hire out the bookkeeping end of things or have a wife to do that for them or have gone to strictly hauling one thing, or a dedicated run sort of job, but can also afford to do that and that alone, as they say their rig and house are paid for, their kids are gone and they want some time off rather than live in the truck. Best of luck is my last statement, if you have the desire and pay attention to detail and learn as much as possible beforehand, you can succeed at anything you do, but in order to do that, you need a clean driving record and keep it clean, always, something very hard to do when working for others, even yourself at times with fines and violations that come along.