Trying to start local tandem dump truck company, need info

never start a business you're not going to work at. Make the jump or don't, or as miagi says...
middle of road? squish like grape.

 

The average local dump truck outfit makes about $75 per hour here in northeast Pennsylvania, maybe more or less in your part of the country but that is not a whole lot of money to be making payments on equipment, insurance, wages, taxes, workers comp, etc. You will need to pay your driver $15 to $20 per hour which will cost you about $20-$25 per hour with your share of taxes and workers comp, then you have the days that the job gets rained out, seasonal layoff, driver damages, etc. Insurance, registration, parking, among other things don't stop just because you do not have work for the truck for the day. There is barely enough money to operate the truck yourself, let alone learn about trucking while having a driver that may or may not be good running your truck. Not trying to crush your dream, just giving you the hard facts, my family has owned dump trucks for about 25 years, it is a tight market but can be profitable if you do it right. Not a large margin, maybe 5 to 10% return on investment. I won't own a dump truck, I chose to go into towing and auto transport instead of having half of my fathers company handed to me, not worth the effort in my opinion.

 

I've been a dump truck Owner operator for almost 20years. The guys who do make money have multiple trucks and they cover drivers who can't work, or do the mechanical work on the trucks and paperwork offsetting the overhead. Even then profits are slim.I baby my truck and drive carefully. My take home is about 50 percent. IF you do things legally and get worker's compensation and insurance And everything goes WELL you probably take about 10 percent of the gross.Then a payment and a depreciating piece of equipment that could be worthless by the time you pay it off or next recession. IF you run the truck yourself you can make a Living but I recommend you drive someone else's truck part time when your off in the evenings or weekend .Save your $ and headaches .In the dump biz there is a lot of competition., guys who are upside down working their trucks for peanuts to stay busy. CUTTING the rates. GOOD LUCK BRO. I have work every day and Im trying to get out of it and into something a little more profitable.I live in So California. Good weather and PLENTY OF WORK, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T WANT TO GET PAID

 

Buy one and call 'Pinkys' aggregate in New Town ND, send it there and find a driver..It should do what your wanting to do, meaning, have it make money for you, without you actually driving..There you could double your money if you buy a transfer..Two years ago, a standard 10 wheeler made 125 an hour, 225 for transfers...And theres an oilfield exemption on HOS, and basically no DOT there anyways, so you can run all you want...hire two drivers and run em in 12's, you'll make 5k a day with it..give the drivers each 400 for thier shift, your still good!!

Anywhere else? naw, you gotta be driving it to make it worthwhile...keeping busy aint easy, you gotta be "in the know"

 

I might check into myself thanks. Went to Colorado last summer. Work was nice but rates were crap.Been thinking about it but thought the boom had slowed down.

 

Ya, boom is over..IMO

Still tones of work though..No more starting at 35 an hour for a company driver. now its 18 to 20, working up to 25-28 an hour...
Still doin 80 hr weeks at least....

Ya, I recommended him for gravel, not crude oil, or frac water...them jobs all still there, check craigslist for ND...New requests for o/o's all the time...couple a day

Also, MBI....thier pay is low, but the work is solid...The bigger solid companies still bumpin along....The smaller guys in trouble...

 

ND is a buzz...I loved it...My mancamp (lol) was on a beautifll grass prarie hillside overlooking lake Sakakawea...The 6th largest supposedly...
It was barren....spooky...miles and miles of the most preacefull land we have...then BAM big ### ####in methane flare venting into the sky from an oil pad...
If you spun in a circle, you could see 50 sites blasting fire into the air...
Only vehicles you see, are other rigs..mostly tri axle everyting, sometime 4 axle trailers....everybody running 80 mph on dark ### 2 lane highways...running 105k...lol..two gangs you can pick to join...hourly guys, or percent of load guys..we find eachother pretty quick on the road..lol