I am 17 and I want to start a career in earthworks/heavy equipment. If anyone would like to share any tips, books, advice, rules of thumb, or stories they have, I'd be extremely grateful. I'm reading Pipe and Excavation Contracting, and I've ordered Moving the Earth and Excavation and Grading Revised. My long-term goal is to become a large regional contractor here in Texas, and I recognize the weight and requirements of such a dream. Over the summer, I tried very hard to get a laborer/entry-level job for months, but I couldn't land one. After tens of Facebook group posts, I was finally able to get an opportunity to shadow a superintendent at a large mass excavation company for a day at a 500k yard mass grading job. It was an amazing experience, and I got to learn tons of new things (much more than I have from watching YouTube). I am incredibly grateful that I got to go, and I'm excited that one day I might be able to do that for a living and get paid. I graduate HS this year, and my plan is to go to college in Texas for construction management/construction science while working during the spring semesters and in the summer. Since I've taken all honors classes all 4 years, I have about 1.5-2 years worth of college credits, so despite only going to school in the fall semesters, I can graduate within 4 years while also gaining 4 years of field experience. During this time, I want to learn as much as I can about actually operating the machines, how projects make and lose money, how to get the highest production rates, and generally understand the business at a high level. My plan is to work as a PM for as long as it takes to truly understand the business, the market, and the people. I don't want to get a degree, learn how to use a skid steer, and then "start a company" doing $10k jobs here and there (not that there's anything wrong with that or that I look down upon people who make a living like that). I want to be bidding and winning million-dollar contracts all over Texas and to make a name for doing high quality projects. Right now specifically I'm eyeing excavation, grading, land clearing, demolition, utilities, and maybe concrete work. Anything with big cool machines!!
Welcome to the Forums ACo8! Glad to have you! There's a lot to unpack in your first post but you have came to the right place to ask these questions. Here on HEF we have owners, managers, mechanical gurus and retired folks that have a wealth of knowledge willing to share the younger generation. Where do you plan on going to college and what type of degree? Personally I have a degree from Auburn in Building Science from many moons ago that has served me well over my career specifically estimating, putting a bid together and the business classes we were required to take. My wife and I own our small company here in AL for reference performing grading, storm drainage, site demolition and erosion control. So ask away!
Keep trying for that laborer job. You'll learn stuff on the ground that you can't appreciate otherwise, plus it's easier to get respect from guys who started at the bottom the same as you when you're running jobs.
I think you have to start small. There can be big risks the larger a company is. You know the saying, "The bigger they are the harder they fall" it applies to construction companies too. My dad was always of the mindset that if you have your own company and can make a comfortable living you're doing good. Some businesses keep expanding and if the economy takes a dump so do they. Many don't want to own a business and deal with all the crap that goes with it. They'd rather just be an employee and be good at what they do. Good employee's can make good money.
Welcome to the HEF. Kudos to you for having a plan. I’m sure it will change as you move forward, but it’s a great place to Start. I sincerely hope you stick around and hang out with us.
Thank you, I'm planning Texas A&M right now for a bachelor's in construction science. I don't have any other schools in mind since they have a solid COSC program and I have good chances of getting accepted, although Auburn is one of the other schools I was suggested to look into. Are there any lessons or insights you gained at school that you think were unique to school and that you wouldn't have learned elsewhere? I was recommended by the superintendent to make serious considerations for college if I wanted to run a big company, but that field knowledge was equally if not more important and that learning out on the job teaches you a lot that you don't learn in a classroom. Would you mind sharing what kind of jobs you usually take on, and how you pick out equipment? When is it better to consider a backhoe over an excavator and skidsteer for certain jobs? How do you find new customers being a smaller company? Thank you for your time, I've read quite a few threads and your name has came up quite a bit.
100%. I'm going to try and get a job lined up before I graduate. Everyone I talked to said I was too young to get a job or that I called to late into the season. I'm hopeful that I'll find a gig as a grade checker, flagger, or whatever manual work someone needs done.
That's a different perspective I haven't really considered. I know there are a lot of positions in construction with benefits and that most people wouldn't risk a good paying job for something unknown, but I'm a very ambitious person. I would regret not doing as much as I could have. When I'm old/retire, I'd like to be able to look back on a career where I took risks, failed, learned from my mistakes, but ultimately made something meaningful. We'll see in 20 years
Thanks for having me! I'd agree that I might have a slight change of course later on, but who truly can predict their future spot on? For me, construction seems like the perfect industry--I build new infrastructure, I get to work outside, I create a battle plan, and each new job is a brand new optimization problem or puzzle. If you solve it correctly, you get rewarded handsomely. I also like seeing the countryside and rural parts of Texas. I live in Houston, but I'd much prefer living in a more secluded part of Texas. Maybe I'll read this thread again in 15 years time and realize I was spot on or not! Life is weird but very exciting
Making bucks, getting exercise, working outside,…….
A few years ago there were 2 or 3 very large construction companies with long histories that went into receivership. One of them was about $45,000,000.00 in debt! The other was a very successful company that was bought by I think 3 employee's. They were news stories where they were saying business was great and they were able to buy a bunch of new equipment and everything was going fantastic. Fast forward a couple years and they ran it into the ground. There's a lot of hidden costs and unforceen things that can happen that some people don't think about. Not so much in construction but a lot of companies struggled and went under due to the covid outbreak. I'm not saying this to scare you just that it's a lot of work and a person has to have good people working with them. You need to work ridiculously long hours and trust the people working with you. You don't want to be a tyrant or micro manager of everything. You won't keep good employee's and will get a bad reputation. Maybe with your schooling you will get some work experience at a company(s) working with project managers and other people involved in the planning and execution side of construction projects rather than the equipment operations. Good luck!
What companies were they, if you remember? Was it because of management issues or did business just slow down and they weren't prepared?
If you can get into A&M with in-state tuition I would highly suggest that route. Auburn is expensive and out of state tuition is even more. What a 4 year building/construction science/management degree will teach you is the tech along with solid business management. You will be exposed and taught how to use the latests tech in BIM, estimating, surveying/GPS, drones, etc. Well worth the time and effort. After all it's just 4-5 years. X10 on learning the field - that super gave you excellent advice. If you want to be a business owner then you need to know and be willing to do anything and everything it takes to run a small business. No matter how big you want to grow you'll have to start small and wear many hats. For the last 15 years we have been in the commercial site work business. Prior to that it was real estate development and home building. Our typical project is a QSR (quick serve restaurant), strip retail, light industrial and some institutional projects like schools and colleges. Our average project consists of erosion control which we usually sub out, site demo, grading and storm water control. A typical QSR or small retail site will be a $250-300K contract for us with a 1 - 1.5 month duration with 3 mobilizations. I prefer larger projects in the $750K-1M range for the longer duration with less mobilizations. For equipment our 3 work horses is a 60K excavator, D3 next gen dozer and CTL. Also have mini-ex's, 84" roller, track loader, trench rollers and other support equipment. Excavator and D3 are full auto GPS which is something we could not compete in the commercial market without. GC's expect us to come on site with the ability to do our on-site layout and grade the site quickly. As far as choosing new equipment it is a function of what types of jobs we have been doing since they do change, how old is one of our workhorses in relation to it's useful life cycle and which machine is paid off. I like to put trucks and equipment on a replacement schedule. Mainline/everyday pickup trucks - run until 100K miles and keep them under warranty. We'll semi-retire a truck with 100K miles and keep as a spare. This year we made a service truck out of a 3500 that was retired. Excavators - run until 5-6K hours on the newer DEF machines then trade out. Dozers - run until 5-6K hours on DEF machines. UC replacement/wear is also a big factor in replacement CTLs - run until 3K hours and evaluate. We have 1 over 3K hours at the moment that I am looking at replacing this year. Minis - run until 3-4K hours and replace. The minis we run are non-DEF so they stay around longer. Also have a 533E roller, 321DL, D5G dozer and 953 track loader - all tier 3. These machines are worth the money to repair and keep rolling due to be non-DEF and no DPF.
Probably all of the above you mentioned. Mostly management issues I would guess but probably a lot of bad decisions and not having a plan for if the economy takes a dump. You wouldn't know the companies but anybody in Alberta especially around Edmonton would, Sprague Rosser and Voice Construction. Both long established companies that did some major projects. Sprague Rosser was further back than I thought in 2014 but that makes no difference. 58 million in debt is no small amount! Voice was finalized in 2021. There isn't a simplified article about Voice I could find but I remember they were 40-45 million in debt. Big established companies can go down just like smaller ones. The difference is they go down harder and put a lot of people out of work! Construction company Sprague Rosser in receivership In a move that could mean the end for a construction company behind some of Edmonton’s most iconic projects, Sprague Rosser has gone into receivership in the wake of mounting debt. www.ctvnews.ca
Being in Houston, you are in the API storage tank center of the universe. Storage tank construction is a nice niche to be in. Same as refinery construction and turn-arounds. Matt Boyd produced a fascinating and accurate documentary about that industry. https://m.youtube.com/@BoydAnimation?ra=m
What do you Texans think of Lamar in Beaumont? That’s where my DIL graduated from. She says good things about it. Idk? She builds small modular reactors and nuclear stuff for Bechtel. That’s a lucrative segment to be in at the moment with the data center buildout.
No clue about Lamar but my wife grew up in Beaumont. Bechtel is a huge outfit to be with in such a specialized market. Her potential is through the roof!
There used to 5 or 6 big oilfield tank manufacturers in Nisku. I started my apprenticeship right out of school at one. They are no more in Nisku that I'm aware of and it's been that way for quite awhile. Nisku used to be the oilfield fabrication and drilling rig capital. There's still a lot of drilling companies and some big oilfield fab shops but it's nowhere near what it used to be. Many fab shops went under or just closed up. Several years ago after the last recession Nisku was like a ghost town. Ritchie Bros. biggest auction site in N. America (by sales) is in Nisku.
What documentary, I briefly looked into his channel last night after I got off work, but I couldn't find any documentary video. It just looks like a bunch of small 10 min vids on various work stories. I'd like to watch it, do you have a link? Thank you for your insight on storage tank construction and your recommendation
Wow, that is very useful knowledge! Thank you for sharing about you fleet management and all the work you do. I'm definitely going to write that all down. Do you run excavators and dozers for more hours than CTLs and minis because they're more expensive, or because they can handle the wear and tear better? Correct me if I'm wrong but the machines get the most out in terms of work but still have enough resale value at these hours too, right? How does the trade out process work? Can you go into the dealership and walk out with a different piece of equipment the same day? If not, how do you coordinate working and getting a new piece of machinery? Also, I posted a new thread on scrapers in the scraper channel if you have any knowledge on scrapers. Thank you for sharing so much already!
Both - the larger iron is more expensive, lasts longer and holds it's value longer than the smaller stuff. Most of the time my salesman will find the piece of iron we want then bring it out for us to demo. Usually get 3-4 days to demo. If we take the machine they will value a trade if there is one. 90% of the time we go through Cat Financial where we have a long payment history with so financing is just waiting on paper work. So long story short unless the machine needs something added we keep the machine they bring out to demo then when the paperwork is finalized they come out and pick up the trade in. It is much easier than buying a truck that's for sure. I can't stand car dealers.
The documentary is broken up into 34 segments. It was produced over an eight year period because it required a tremendous amount of research. The short segments allow for deep reflection and the comment section provides a two-way conversation with industry experts. Boyd goes deep into the regional nuances of project management, the people and the local socioeconomic conditions of the work force. Because, at the end of the day, it’s about relationships. You will learn about clear job site communication using the parlance of the day. It’s an incredible journey. Please watch and report back.
Alright, something to do instead of paying attention in class!
You either need to be able to wear a lot of hats, or hire people you can trust. You need to understand business, law, engineering, survey, environmental, mechanic, welder, truck driver, dealing with customers other contractors supply chains. HR . We have been having supply issues this summer. Machine Parts, they have been waiting on an oil separator for a parking lot for a month and a half
Hmmm like on Karate kid, learn by book! I as a kid always wanted to do tractor work, I had to wait till I was about 28 or so before I got the opportunity. I started out riding with a hot shot kid about 22 on a friend of someone I knew D155, doing a clearing job, I learned alot in the few days or so that I spent with him, I learned the feel of getting stuck in soft ground with a big dozer and when to stop, I guess the kid didn't have said feel. LOL I think the bank got that dozer some months after my time on it, and all that was left dozer wise was a Case 350, so I learned how to do big dozer work with a small one, sorta. I got a good friend out of that dozer experience, the owner. Ended up with my own D155 same vintage a year or so later, figured that was the only way I could learn more, as well as the mechanics on the same. So my advice to learn to move the machines around would be find someone that will let you train with them. Learning to operate takes years, that is how to do the work and job with said machines.
this is a good point. you are young enough to see and experience different jobs. try to work for some time in a repair shop and also as accountant. sounds contradicting? yes but you will have to have a lot of knowledge in these areas. once your business is growing you can hire people for that but in my opinion you have to be able to understand if their work is done correctly.
I did not do the school route and I wouldn't change it but I can say its just as expensive as school cause I have definitely paid for experience learning contract and bookkeeping things that are fairly basic CM runs a top notch set up but his model runs a lot different than mine i buy new stuff and keep it for a long time I also buy older stuff that is a good deal but needs work I have 2 full time mechanics and 3 other guys plus myself that can wrench decent we always have something in the shop torn apart Running about 5 excavators all were bought used for cash there of a vintage that is really reliable i seem to have accumulated around 10 backhoes some were bought brand new some were bought used 1 has over 15000 hrs and still gets used on jobs when something else is down Bought all the minis new and skid steers no joke on those they don't last near as long as big iron at 5000 hrs you had better have your money out of them cause you will either trade or put a bunch in them I have 3 fully dressed transports all 3 are a different configuration to accomplish a different task and need If something goes down I have a backup or I own a machine that can be a work around for a few days while the right machine is fixed I hate renting and because I own my trucks and don't hire out transport I have a lot of flexibility I can have a truck under a machine in an hour if I need to and swap out a job before lunch if need be The mechanics have fully dressed trucks with cranes and welders one truck has a small lube system I can do everything that my outfit requires to operate I have flat struggled on the office side because of my field background and there was no one to teach me past the basics in the office What i have just described is a buissness model that is very self reliant it's also expensive to set up my payments are on the down hill side from the high mark at almost 30 grand a month in another year they will be less than 10 if I don't get an itchy trigger on new iron You can operate 2 models in my opinion in the grading and underground world One with fixed cost of operations where your always keeping things under warranty and trading it not long after it's out down time is minimal with new iron but it's tougher to afford your own backup equipment and a full time service guy or mechanic is a stretch because that budget gets spent in payments but you can always have the latest and greatest and if your a lean outfit it's not a bad way to go The model I run we don't care about depreciation the way the other model does if a machine flat wears out and is not worth fixing we part it out to keep the others going while I don't have high payments for my size I do spend overhead on staff to support all this so I pay the payment cost in a different way but if the market gets soft I can park most of what I have and not worry about it cause it's paid for and owes me nothing Both models have pros and cons and nothing is perfect your milage will vary