Starting a Dump Truck Business

Dirt trucking is cut throat to the max. You can work for a quarry, there’s several where I live. The more you work the more you’ll get jobs from other trucking companies. The problem is if trucking company A wants you on Tuesday and the quarry also wants you on Tuesday, you have to tell one of them no. And if you do this a couple times they will get mad and refuse to give you work later. Sometimes when it rains they expect you to show up anyway and get pissed if you don’t.

To sum it up the job is fun I enjoyed it but you will know the meaning of broke.

 

In my opinion, running a solo dump truck can be a great business, but you need to be creative. The big guys will have truck with pups or transfers or super dumps and will be able to haul more material (we're talking 30 tons at a time compared to the 12 tons or so you will get with that 10 yard truck) so will be taking most of the work. You would need to find the small, niche markets, which will probably end up being more lucrative. Here are some ideas on who a truck like that would be suitable for:

1. Landscape companies that don't have their own truck. They are always looking for someone reliable to haul them material.
2. Homeowners. They are also always looking for someone reliable to bring them a load or two at a time - usually the big guys don't have the time. And word gets around, so if you treat a few homeowners right, they will tell their friends and your business will grow.
3. Excavating companies that need an extra truck now and then.
4. And I wouldn't hesitate to contact your local gravel pits - they often will throw you work they don't want, such as the homeowner looking for one load of rock. And talk to them face to face, don't just make a phone call. And present yourself as a professional.

It will be a slow start, but if you are fair and have great customer service and answer your phone, your business will more then likely grow. A few other thoughts:

1. You said you're in Oregon. That would be a plus, because maybe you can run most of the year? Where I live you have to count on four months of down time a year, which can be tough if you're not a saver.
2. Rates for a solo truck will be in the $100-$140 range. I would recommend starting at the bottom of that range and bring it up if you get busy.
3. The mark-up on materials can be a good way to make some extra money. If you haul for homeowners or landscapers, you will be buying the materials on your account, and then charging the homeowner for the material + your truck rate. A typical mark-up on materials is 15%. So, lets say you haul a load a gravel that cost you $150. When you bill you will charge $172.50 for the gravel, a net to you of $22.50. Let's say you haul eight loads on the day, that's an extra $180 for the day on top of your hourly rate, which really will help the bottom line.

Biggest thing is just don't get in the mindset that you have to be on big jobs running with the big guys - there is better work out there if you're willing to look. And, also keep in mind that housing is starting to slow down, so there might be a lot less work out there than there has been over the past few years. I wouldn't buy the truck unless you're okay with it sitting a lot as you get started. But it can be a great little business.

 

I just started local end dump (1/2 round steel & no tarp) work with my own authority this year, and for not getting started until the last week of April I did ok. I'm in the midwest so OR may be different, but here is what I found. I got linked up with a pavement milling contractor that has 4/5 crews all over the state and worked hourly from April to Nov. If you get on with somebody like that, get to know the foreman and communicate, bring the crew doughnuts in the morning, buy them beer at the hotel afterwards....money well spent, they remember that.

As far as what to charge, ask around. I've found hourly rates are pretty consistent in this area. Hauling out of quarries can be a challenge to figure costs, but again, ask around and you will figure out general rates and can adjust accordingly for your operation.

Honesty and integrity will put you above a lot of your competition. Don't hide out on hourly work, don't steal loads and be on time. Your ears will be a big asset as well, guys talk too much.

 

Here in the Cleveland Ohio area we have one broker that seems to run the entire show! Inherited by the kids and probably have God money. Zero trucks. Cuyahoga valley trucking. Out of site. Unscene. Unknown. Ask a local guy with dumps.....but no one talks about it. I only know because I always listen when no one thinks I am.

 

Visit every quarry, job site, cement and asphalt plant in a 100 mile radius of your base of operations. Watch and record the names of dump operators who go in and out. Figure out who is approachable and strike up conversations. Visit local nurseries and Landscapers and solicit top soil and mulch hauling business. Contact your local politicians to find out who are the general contractors for government road and building projects . Good luck!

 

I can tell you from the customer side of things, this is very true.

 

Sharp truck, nothing I would work every day though

walk into your local scale house with 2 cases of beer and tell them you will work $5 an hour cheaper if they put you on the top of the list

if we didn’t have our own use for a dump trailer and the small pit that my grandmother went to school with the owners, , and another good friend of my uncles forever I probably wouldn’t own a dump especially with a season like this last one with a bunch of work getting canceled due to inflation

 

I thought you were gonna end with “and haul away all the BS they’re always talking” lol

 

I'm assuming you have never driven a dump truck based on the questions you're asking.

If you're serious about this I suggest your first step would be to get a job driving one for a guy that has 2 or 3 trucks. The reason for that is they normally have older trucks and expect the drivers to help out with the maintenance. I recommend you volunteer to help out working on them as much as you can both for the experience, and to help you decide if that's how you really want to spend your free time. Absolutely no one is making a living with a 50 year old truck like you posted a pic of without being a very good mechanic.

My second suggestion is to change dump truck driving jobs every 5 or 6 months with the goal of working for someone who hauls for different quarries, or contractors, and material suppliers than the last employer. Ask if they have a price list at every material supplier or quarry you haul out of. You need to be familiar with where to get any kind of material, and what it will cost if you want to eventually have your own customers.

If you get your own truck you will most likely have to start out working for a quarry, large contractor, or broker. You won't have to worry about what to charge at this point because they will set the rate. Like all types of trucking the bar is set extremely low by your competition so there is no need to take the terrible advice given above to cut the rate by $5 a hour. If you show up on time, don't leave early, and your truck is mechanically ready to work all day you're already ahead of a lot of your competition.

If you never make it past the point of someone else deciding how much you're going to haul for, and them taking a percentage of what you make for allowing you to work for them, the "can't make no money with a dump truck" stories in this thread are going to be pretty accurate. Acquiring your own customers is the only way to make good money, and that takes years to have enough to make it on your own.

 

Is that what they run for dump trucks (10 wheelers) in OR….? Around here it’s all tri-axles .