Jobs in ND Oil Patch

i would like to know your expeirince with old west

 

Hello AC22,
I followed a few of your posts and thought I might post directly to your page to seek a little wisdom from you.

I own a 2006, 9400i International and a 2008 Reitenauer, 52' step deck. I am currently leased on with Whitewood Transport out of Billings hauling mostly heavy equipment and crane parts up to Northern Alberta to the oil sands and mines. I have a Tankers, Triples and HAZMAT endorsement and I don't have any felony convictions and also have a clean MVR. I have driven approximately 750,000 accident free miles.

My questions are this? Who might I talk to about leasing on to haul H2O or oil? I don't have a wet kit on the truck as of yet but that can be fixed in short order. Do I need to buy a trailer? I live in Denver and have two young boys and a wonderful wife that I would like to keep so is working 3 weeks on and flying home for ten days an option with any company you might send me to?

I would be living in the truck (as I do now) for the three weeks and so I would obviously need a place to park the truck and a place to shower when not working. I would probably just bounce to Billings for regular maintenance and repairs but would most likely fly out of Dickinson to go home when no repairs are needed.

What can I expect to gross per hour with the truck pulling someone else's trailer and what can I expect to gross per hour with the truck if I pull my own trailer. How far out on the money can I expect to be?

As much as I hate to leave Whitewood, it might appear there is more money to be made in the Basin but it certainly remains to be seen if I can find a company as fine as Whitewood when it comes to treating me with respect, making good money and not screwing with that money. Last year the truck grossed just under $200,000 on a little over 110,000 miles, with not a lot of gripes along the way, so if I make a move I want to be sure the money is a whole lot better for the amount of B.S. I know I am probably going to have to put up with.

I certainly have a lot more questions but any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Look south... I hear tale of $100.00 and up, per man hour on O/O trucks, that is 800k + per year if you run it 24/7. Texas wont destroy your trucks nearly as quickly as ND... mind you, they will never be fit for OTR use again, but who cares with that kind of $$.

 

Paradigm, BlackCat is hauling crude in Texas. I have been following both the Texas and North Dakota Oil patch threads. I was looking at ND until I realized that there was very little, if any difference, in the money in TX. IMHO, the conditions in ND will be far more brutal for both equipment and drivers.

If you have read both these threads, you will see that about $100 to $120 per hour for you truck is about what you can expect. While I have owned two trucks, I am looking at driving instead of purchasing equipment for this job. Even if I owned a truck right now I would think hard before I put it in service in the oilfield. I am not an expert on anything and I am just sharing my thoughts with you for what they are worth. I do know the conditions a little having lived in Montana and I am good with all kinds of equipment. The one thing I try to make sure everyone knows is that, IMHO, equipment put into this kind of service will never be fit for OTR again, especially in ND. Now BlackCat is the first driver that has confirmed for me what I knew about the toll that this would take on equipment.

Some other things that play into my decision. The cost of a pump, especially a vacuum pump, if that is what is needed. The cost of a trailer and the lack of availability. With the boom going in more than one location, I understand trailers are getting hard to come by. To really reap the rewards available you need to keep the truck running 24 hours a day. The repairs and maintenance for equipment running 24 hours a day in this type of service will yield high costs and downtime. It is my understanding there is a shortage of mechanics in ND. I'm guessing this isn't so much the case in TX. Same thing with housing. Housing costs are beyond belief in ND and waiting lists are a year long. There is a ND fleet operator on this forum and sometimes this thread. I think I have seen him say about 10% of the OTR drivers he recruits stay for anytime during the winter.

Living in your truck will solve the housing problem and I'd guess you could find a place to park although you might have to work a little harder for the shower. You say three weeks on and 10 days off. Let's assume you do three weeks on every month and 9- 10 days off depending on 30 or 31 days in a month with only 7 days off in February. We'll assume no breakdowns and that your truck produces income for every hour you can legally work (I can't see this happening). I'm not going into the cost to set up the equipment because I don't have accurate figures. With the oilfield exemption, you can reset with 24 hours off and I think it's 12 driving and 15 on duty. So 6 days on 1 off will work well with your plan.

Here's my math for what you want to do. Running your own truck and no second driver to run around the clock. 12 months * 3 weeks = 36 weeks * 6 days a week = 216 working days a year. 216 days * 15 hours a day = 3240 working hours a year. 3240 * $100 an hour that would give you a gross of $324,000. Personally, I think, an 80% in service figure would be more realistic. That would be 324,000 * .80 = $259,000.

Now some assumptions: Miles would probably be less than half. If you live in the truck, it would run 24/7; 3 weeks a month for 7 months out of the year to keep you warm. Summer would be less idling due to moderate temperatures. This should net a savings in fuel with more idling, less hauling and less A/C. I would expect to double my maintenance and repair costs. While you are away during cold months you will need to keep the engine and fuel warm and plan on working on frozen brakes when you return.

Fuel savings might offset repair and maintenance costs. What I see is an increase in gross of maybe 25% (~$50,000), which could net as much as 50% additional depending on your situation. In return, you work harder in harsher conditions and have worthless equipment when you are done.

If I were doing it, I would check into Texas. Housing, drivers and mechanics would be easier to come by. Working conditions would be more conducive to retaining a driver. I would look at running the truck 24/6. If you did this the numbers might be something like this: 12 months * 3 weeks = 36 weeks * 6 days a week = 216 working days a year. 216 days * 12 hours a day = 2592 working hours a year. Now if the other driver ran the same schedule that is 5184 working hours a year * $100 = $518,400. At an 80% in service that would be $414,720. The second driver's wages and benefits would be about $81,000 (working 36 weeks a year). Miles and fuel costs would be close to what you have now. I would figure maintenance and repairs at four times what you do now. According to my calculations, you might gross another ~$50,000 over just you operating the truck. This could double what you are netting now. My thoughts would be to get the most out of the equipment and save some to purchase another OTR truck when the boom goes bust, and it will.

As I said, I'm not an expert on anything. I understand equipment, I'm good with numbers and I have done some research on this. I would welcome anyone who could offer better data to do so. I'm only sharing some of the thought I have put into this. I would encourage you to do more research and plug your numbers into my estimations. The more I think about it, the more I think if I had a truck right now, I would go for it if I could find a good company to lease to and use their trailers. Having a second driver would add more work and stress but I believe it would be what would make it worthwhile. This would present a challenge for living quarters though. Spending $10,000 a year for an apartment would still leave a tidy profit. Since your second driver would be gone when you were in, you could share the living quarters. He could share in the cost or you could use it as a perk to keep him content. If he wanted to run more than 3 weeks of the month there would be more revenue. My biggest concern would be, having never tried this, if I didn't like it or it didn't work out would my truck still be fit for OTR service?

 

ND is around $110 per hour on average. I don't have time to read the rest of your post but I will. I'd head to TX if I were you.

 

By the way no one runs 24/7/365. No one. Better sharpen your pencil for down time...

 

Sorry about the random thoughts here.....

Most people from the upper midwest do not want to move to TX. I'd rather have a harsh winter here and there to keep the riff raff out. You do "earn" you money up here but in my opinion the quality of life is much better here.

 

Thanks to BigJohn54 and Blackcat for the info. I am not interested in running the truck 24/7 with another driver. Too many headaches for me. I grew up in Williston and have run the highline for years so I am no stranger to that land and the woes on equipment. If you know the area my Father owned the truckstop at the jct of 2 & 85. The sign still stands bearing his name.

The numbers Bigjohn54 quoted seem pretty legit and I figured the truck would be wore out in about two years- maybe three with some luck.

The interesting thing is I never really thought about Texas. With family in Billings my support network seems to be a little better but if the right opportunity presented itself- who knows?

I have a wet kit I purchased from an O/O that was getting out of the business and I found a set of lower geared rear-ends that I could put my hands on in short order. Any names either of you might be able to drop for opportunities in the Basin or down in Texas?

Thanks again for the info. It sure beats tring to google for an opportunity.

 

AC22, I understand your thoughts completely about the weather, it's advantages and being used to it. I grew up in Missouri and have spent nearly 40 of my 54 years here. The rest have been in a variety of locations. As I get older, I can't put enough clothes on to keep warm and still waddle around in your climate. By the way, my figures were for 6/7 days and figured 20% downtime. I think they were realistic and achievable but they are just projections. If you are up there, I'll be you can offer some real facts when you find the time.

Paradigm, I wondered with your location if ND wouldn't suit you better. I see Texas being a little better on equipment. Fewer times of winching the truck into the location with a cat. You are one of the few owner/operators I have seen come on one of these threads that had an idea of what they were looking at. The comment about the wet kit and especially the rear-ends tells me you didn't just see oilfield and dollar signs. Plus you grew up in Williston.

If you read these oilfield threads all the way through, about every 1 - 3 pages someone comes on and wants to know if they buy a few trucks where can they lease them on. It's kind of like the new CDL drivers that think the path to success is to go buy a truck.

I think the earning potential is there. I'm pretty certain I'm going for a driving job in the next month or so. I'm going to look at it with company equipment before I take the plunge. With oilfield work it is always boom or bust. It could be gone tomorrow but I don't see that being the case. I feel with the Gulf spill, the unrest in so many oil producing regions of the world and high oil prices there a several years of oilfield boom ahead. Lower oil prices could slow production but I don't see prices going low enough to stop domestic production.

 

I don't know any names but BlackCat would if you get enough posts to PM him. I'll try to pass along your request. If you find time to scan either of these threads (ND or TX), you will find name lists in them. Most are for driving jobs but would probably have some value for leasing too. Some were answers to drivers looking to lease.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised when I put those numbers together. Figuring three weeks a month and 20% downtime and still bumping up your gross by $50,000 with one driver. Good luck!