Tired of the oilfield

It really depends on what company you work for, or I should say on whether or not the company is local. A local company does't pay as well and generally doesn't put you up in a camp. If you get on with a company that is based say in Louisiana but has operations in North Dakota, the pay is going to be around a 100,000 a year and housing and travel will be provided. As for living in the truck, there will be days, sometimes several in a row, when you live in your truck, but no company expects it to be permanant situation. Generally housing is provided for you, or you provide it for yourself.

 

It Isn't hard at all to get a driving job up here. A lot of drivers come here but very few stay any length of time so companies are constantly in need. If you have hazmat and tanker you can just about guarantee yourself a job if you make the effort to look. The pay is the best you'll ever make driving a truck. Even if you run legal, which very few do, the money is more (lots more) than you can make anywhere else. I gross on average about $2,500.00 a week. With that said, you will work for and earn every dime. The company I'm with has backed off on running us like they once did and most companies now are trying to get in line with DOT, but you will still wear yourself out. I work a 28 on and 14 off and when I go home it takes the first week just to recuperate. When I first came up here it wasn't nothing to run 120-140 hours a week, and still do if the work demands it because "no job will ever be turned down." But now I generally stay in the 80-90 hour range. Most all companies are the same in this. As for driving percentage, it depends on the job (Whether a flowback, FW haul, production, etc . . . ), but I would say driving is about 60%, loading/unloading 30%, and just waiting 10%. Living conditions are great in the Spring and Summer but brutal in the Winter, especially if your from the South like me. I don't mean to be gross here but when your snot freezes to your face, and your lungs hurt from the cold, it's pretty bad. As for the housing, again, it depends on who you hire on with. A local company will expect you to provide your own living arrangements, or rent you a room for part of your pay (ripoff). My company is out of Louisiana and provides our housing complete with meals and laundry service just like if you worked off-shore. They also pay to fly us back and forth from our time off. A man with no family can just live here and bank his money. However, and for me this is the hardest part, if you have a family there comes a time when you have to ask yourself at what point does the trade-off of big checks verses being away from home no longer become worth it. When I was running 120 hours and grossing 3,500 a week you can kinda justify missing Christmas or Thanksgiving, or a grandson's senior football season. I know that sounds matrialistic but it's just a fact. Now, even though I'm still making more money than I ever have, that trade-off doesn't seem worth it anymore. Maybe I'm burned out, or maybe the longing for home has just become to strong. My advice, if you decide to do this, do like I did and set a time frame. My wife and I decided I'd do it for a year and that's what I've done (actually 14 months). Frankly, I just can't do anymore. Hell, I even miss my dogs.

 

Dual Transport LLC