switch from 18wheeler to dump trucks?

That's one area I've never done, but from observation most dumpers get paid by the load and work the guts out of both the drivers and equipment. 9 times out of 10 if you see a truck speeding and cutting in and out of traffic lanes in New Orleans it's a dump or a container hauler.

 

you make $2500 a week home weekends and thinkin about leaving to make $600 a week? both company jobs? what am I missing? $600 a week = about $2400 a month. if your down all but 1 week every single month your still $100 ahead. Hell for that kinda money pay to get the water pump put in yourself and run it driver!

 

Driving a dump truck you will be off road meaning off the asphalt a lot, either going into private properties to spread gravel sand etc, or doing subdivisions where you have to watch out for water valves man holes that are sticking up out of the ground till you get the pit run and 3/4 road mix leval with it. it can also be long days or short days, some days will be real long 12 to 14 hour days and some days work till noon depending on the work. Right now in my area the only construction is on the highways being made bigger or just redoing highways that suck and are badly broken. Its all up to you but i think the larger paycheck would entice me a lot more then the smaller one and when winter sets in usually there is no work for dump trucks and your off all winter on unemployment.

 

Hell, if I was making $2500 a week I'd have the truck fixed out of my own pocket, forward the bill to the office, and keep on rolling.

 

I did dump trucking back in 96-00 for a paving company, funnest job I ever had. Depending where you live it can be seasonal, that means unemployment in the winter. If you haul asphalt you will learn how to roll with a paver and not roll away from it. That gets the paving crew really excited. On rainy days I hauled stone mix for a grading crew, had to know how to set chains on the dump box to spread gravel. With that job always keep an eye out for overhead power and cable lines. Plus all the things Peanut Butter said is true. I should have never gotten out of it, now here I sit going otr as student because I was out of the game to long.

 

My $.02.....

Dump trucks used to be a great biz....

You could make it just on 3 days a week.....

Depending on the job.....you could sit most of the day and just dump one load....or you get on a job where you're short hauling and expected to get 10-20 loads per day...

The biggest enemy of success in the biz is much like running freight:

When times are good and there is plenty of work....Just about anyone and everyone crawls out of the woodwork to get a dump truck or a dump trailer....

When times start to slow down....the bottom-feeders take hold.....

It pays to know what your customers do.....

Many times the customer will hire on/contract bottom-feeders because they run cheap....


Where I had my biz....I knew where I could dump "clean" dirt, "clean" concrete, and "clean" asphalt for free..... I also knew where all of the Hot Plants and all of the mills and where they were located...

It was bull sheyat that I had guys running $20-30 cheaper than me asking me where everything was located.......or how to do something......

Those were the same guys who couldn't "line-up" on the ditch with a "Weed-hopper"......