Trying to find out about Oilfield trucking!

Yes there is still lots of work up here and there are more jobs for drivers, mechanics, construction, and just about everything else than you could imagine. Housing is of course the kicker, I don't recommend coming here unless the company you're working for can get you an acceptable place to live. If you are seriously considering it, send me a PM. I will get you my number and try to answer your questions and point you in the right direction.

 

Well i was afraid to quit my job without having another job offer and i sure as heck was not going to drive to williston and live in my car.
But another poster on this forum, cobra7479, made a place for me at the house where he lives so i quit my job was here by last saturday.

By tuesday i had a job at Power Fuels
I start training on Monday. I will be working out of Williston, that is where they need drivers and i don't mind all the men. After driving over the road for the last 3 years and sleeping in truckstops with all men its sort of normal as usual. I am working on a room to rent but if that falls thru I can live in one of their apts in watford and they will bus me to williston which is 40 mi away.
The best part of all is that they will have townhomes opening up in the summer that i can live in and will be able to have my dog, Lindsey!! YaY. She was what i was worried about the most.

I want to say a HUGH thank you to cobra7479 for helping me for if it where not for him I don't know how i could have done it. It was touch and go since i didn't know him at all but I got lucky and he turned out to be a nice guy. In fact i could totally be roommates with him. He will be getting the referral fee for it. I did also have everything already in place. My app was in a month ago and she had already ran an insurance check on me so that is why i started so fast.

As a side note i went to look at a room last night and the guy who was renting it was an o/o up here, pulls a belly dump. For the first half hour i sat there and listened to all the negative things he had to say about PF. On and On it went (i will not be living there). He had gotten hired there when he first came and quit after 2 weeks because of the trainer. The management tried to work with him they wanted him to stay but he was having none of it. He talked about them the way people talk about swift. This was the first bad thing I have ever heard anyone say about them.
I will be moving forward and see for myself.

 

Hello. Do you have to pay for the housing that Power Fuels provides? It sounds like you have a good deal either way. I was offered a job from another of the big companies up there and they have housing at a price and they said I absolutely will need my own vehicle up there. Not sure why. Their company housing is across the street from where the truck is parked.

 

Yes you have to pay for housing. They take it out of your paycheck twice a month. Not sure how much, i haven't started yet. Yes you need to have a good running car. Everything is far apart. You will need to be able to get to walmart for your shopping. And the only one around is in williston. There is one in minot but its 134 mi away.

 

Thanks. I'll just rent a car for a month till I know if I really need one.

 

i'm thinking car rentals are pricey up there...maybe $50 a day.

 

i was wondering how much people are spending on gas per week. it sounds like a lot of driving to/from work, to the store etc. sounds like quite a few miles.

 

I worked on the strongest horizontal drill rig 89-98, pulled tankers,flatbed,the drill,mud,cleaning unit rigs also. I,ve been otr,pulled all kinds of trailers for years. I had elbow surgery on 1-31,in a few weeks should be ready to rock and roll. Anyone know of the 3 best paying co.s,that are willing to pay for a driver that has experience in the drilling field. Thanks On the horizontal rig, we had miles of offroad with R Model Macks,sometimes we just drop the blade on a D9 dozer and make a road to get back to the job site.One guy on our crew broke a tank in half,it looked like the weiner mobile,no one ever broke the r model mack tho.

 

Well i am staying in culberston mt and its 40 mi away. every other day i am putting gas in my car. I have a small toyota with only a 10 gal tank. The gas here is 3.69 for the cheapest (far as i can tell, thats in williston) and i have also paid 3.74 or something like that. Most everyone around here drives trucks. I have never seen so many dodge 2500 and 3500 trucks. And everybody drives fast..holy crimminy....The room i looked at last night was in trenton and that was only about 15 mi away from downtown williston so thats not so bad. watford is 40 mi south of williston.. tioga is somewhere in the middle of williston and minot... things are spread out. If you are already working in williston then the drive is short to walmart. At 6pm the lines are long.. everyone getting off work but before that no lines.

 

If you are going to stay in Watford at the new apartments it costs $550 a month per person, two people in a 2 room apt. I believe heat and whatnot is included, I think you get an electric bill, that's it. I've talked to several drivers that stay there and they all say they are really nice places, dishwasher, washer and dryer in the apt, etc. Congrats on the new job. I have been at Power Fuels more than a year now and couldn't be happier. I am east of you a ways, I drive out of Stanley, but maybe I'll see you around. As for the bellydump driver, I guess you can't please everyone, right?