Class A and heavy equipment work

To answer the OP, a guy that can haul his machine, go do a job, do said job well, and take the machine to the next one is worth a good bit around most parts.

 

There's nothing like time in the seat. Hoe hands and backhoe best jobs. Unless u can run a blade.
Those are the jobs u want. Dozer hands boring and a rough ride at minimal. Unless ur pioneering a haul road in the mts. Crazy ####

 

That's the thing that always gets under my skin, new guy shows up "Oh yeah I can run this" and hell I'm the truck driver getting loaded or hauling material in, and seeing what they can do I can run one better than them, but myself I don't claim to be able to 'run' a piece of equipment unless I'm can go and do finish work that doesn't have to be gone back to and re-done.

 

I'm not an operator by any standards. I was getting decent at running an excavator after a few hours of seat time but there's no way in hell I'd even be able to keep up with an experienced operator. Getting in the cab and moving a machine around the yard or on/off trailers is pretty easy. Throw me in a pit and ask me to load trucks if you want a good laugh lol.

 

I spent a year pulling a Rodgers Croucher, the always loaded the D8 and Big Cat excavators but I would off-load them at the yard or next job. I loaded everything else. [The larger machines; especially the excavators with an 'oiler' were a union problem, I worked in the shop and ran the fuel truck and wasn't an 'operating engineer'...I often moved stuff where we were a sub on another companies job that I was told to deliver 'after 4' so I wouldn't run into the union guys]

I really enjoyed watching the 'pro' union operator run the cats. the skills the get are amazing though the newer stuff is using GPS now for grades.

Watching a guy open the street being told the water main is here....down so far and the sewer is over here...down so much further and watching the guy dig and 'feel' the pipes enough to send a laborer down with a shovel without ripping things out by the roots. That's the difference between an 'equipment mover' and an 'Operator'

 

Got an interview for a concrete pumping job this week.

I really like ready mix but the owner called me and wants to talk. I can’t pass this up... it would be a big step up in the career game. Plus I could learn to operate anything I want in my off time for free, from tower cranes to street sweepers.

 

A concrete pumper wouldn't be my first choice but if it's a foot in the door you ought to try it. If you get a chance to train in cranes I'd be all over that. Is it still a union job?

 

Yeah it’s just operators union instead of teamsters. Better pay and pension. This company is in the building and trades scale so it pays as much as a crane operator or any other big iron. Once I’m in I can move around in the union but this company actually seems pretty sweet. Only about 10 guys and 55 hours in the summer and 30-40 in the winter.