Dump Truck Business Start Up

The company I work for has owned the truck I drive for several years. It was only owned by one other company before that and that company had the truck built in 1994 to their specs. So there is no warranty for the truck. The brake work that was done a few weeks ago probably cost several hundred dollars when adding together parts and labor. I cannot pinpoint the exact # since the company pays for it. I guess my point is this, there are very good trucks out there and if you have time then take it and find the right one that has service records and or has only been owned by one or two people.

Yeah, my buddy that retired says that dumps are a good business in that area.

 

Good grief $2,000 a month for insurance, that's crazy. The dump trucker I talked to where I live said he pays $5,000 a year, maybe he meant $5,000 a month.

 

@grizzlycan, I cannot answer pm's yet. Not enough post.

I called the main contract truck owner that my company uses and he said he pays $263 a month for a $45k truck with a pristine driving record. I didn't pry too much but asked him if it cost $2-$5k a month to insure his truck business and he said absolutely not.

The 3-4 guys my company uses when we don't have enough trucks to fill the need of a given day have all told me to make as much per hr as I can and be a company driver.

 

I talked to the guy doing my dirt work and he said his truck insurance and business insurance is bundled together and it's about $4,000 a year. He also told me when I do get a truck to let him know and he'll put me to work. Said he have away about $5,000 in work in the last 4 months

 

Ive been in and out of Tri-Axle and end dumps for yrs, we hauled a ##### load of work by contracting with larger dump trucking companies, and when it got slow dad would put the hopper bottom on and haul grain till dump truck work picked back up, being in the Terre Haute, IN area there's numerous rock/sand quarries in the area so work is plentiful. A good place to get some leads on work is one of your local concrete mixer companies, theyll be running cement to jobs and know where work is or will be coming up.....something to keep in mind. Generally speaking in our area we would see rock / sand paying roughly 2.50 - 3.00 /ton to the truck, nearly all work was well within 150mi of a quarry, with the majority being within 50mi so 4-6 loads a day wasnt out of the norm. Insurance was nt that bad, on my last tri-axle (2002 KW) and my MVR being clean was 297.00/mo. reasonable I feel. Brakes and drums will take a beating mainly because of max truck weight and constant small town stop and go.... Quarry dust is a biotch and problem-some to say the least, so filter changes were necessary a bit sooner than the normal hwy truck. It also never seems to fail a loader will crunch your top boards (the ones you just bought the week before). DOT can and will be a thorn in your side, at least here anyway, we kept out trucks as spotless as humanly possible, however, the can see past the clean truck lol. We had a 2000 gals fuel tank on the property and bought bulk, it helped to keep our fuel costs to a minimum, I know most couldn't do this but being a family run setup from yrs back it was available. Obtaining and keeping a responsible driver is so important for the trucks welfare and keeping your insurance costs down, I found that most seasoned, mature drivers that have been OTR and now settled down and prefer to stay close to home and be off work by 5pm nightly were an asett to us, not say a younger driver wouldn't do well, experience has shown a mature driver tends to be less aggressive and take care of the truck....No flaming please, just my experiences! With all this being said, I loved dump truck work, not just hauling to a road work site but new parking lots and driveways as well. I stepped out of the end dump and now a cattle-pot.....don't ask lol Hope my 2c helps and Good Luck with you endeavor!

 

Great info, didn't think to go to concrete companies. I plan on going to every business and advertise everywhere. $297 a month ain't bad at all, is that truck and business insurance. Even though I don't really know what business insurance people just keep telling me to get a $225k-$500k policy. I'm honestly think this is all doable. Though it will be hard at the start working and day job and my dump truck.

 

Semi retired, I see that you are an experienced driver from WI and was wondering if you worked year round or if you were seasonal? I am a 24 year old driver from Minneapolis with 2 years class A experience and am considering being an O/O gravel hauler someday and was wondering if it's seasonal up here? Would it be worth it to work during the spring - fall and work some odd jobs in the winter? I have done some research and it seems like O/O make about 3-4000 dollars a week, which in theory would be around 72-96,000 gross for 6 months... But I have not owned a rig so I'm not quite sure. I know there are costs to owning a truck like fuel, truck payments, maintenance, insurance but that's about it. But I guess I'm just wondering what it's like and if you can make living doing this and any advice you may have would be awesome, Thanks -RedEyedLoon

 

somehow,i am ignorant as to the type dump the OP is referencing.Is it an end dump which will be pulled by a truck or is it a tandem/tri axle straight truck dump that has the body attached? I pull an end dump mostly and if OP is going that route,i strongly suggest a truck with heavier suspension and more heavy duty options as in clutch and rears and drive lines. freightliner has/had the SD version of the fl series at one time. things on non heavy duty optioned trucks are constantly breaking.

also purchase a scrap trailer as in a steel end dump if you are going to haul scrap.aluminum end dumps can't and will not last under severe conditions hauling metal unless it is shavings or grindings.period.

learn the end dumping procedure slowly with easy loads as each dump scenario will be different and most will truly pucker you up.a 38-40' up in the air will get moved around by the wind and the terrain and you will experience an adrenaline rush.

 

38-40 feet up sounds like one wrong decision could leave the operator on the permanent unemployment line if the wind or wrong terrain causes that truck to end up on its side.. Have you seen this happen before?

 

The old saying is that if you pull end dumps, you've either layed one over, or you haven't laid one over yet.