Alternate trailers for flatbed loads?

Hi all.

Ok, first let me say that I'm ignorant and new to all of this so please bear with me...

I am trying to start my own single truck company to make a living at.

My experience prior to this is as a machinery dealer (used) and I feel comfortable in that environment (machine auctions, heavy equipment yards...etc.) I have done a lot of rigging and heavy hauling prior to getting my CDL-A 9 months ago.

I own a 2001 Freightliner Argosy sleeper with a 600/2050 powertrain.

Through a lot of strange life circumstances, I have ended up in a position where driving for a living for the next couple years (or more) makes sense, and I've looked at a couple of the load boards and gotten the idea I could take some of the loads offered.

Ultimately though I'd like to go in the direction of doing more local specialty hauling so my question is this...

If i am on a limited budget and can only buy one trailer, would it be smarter to buy a regular 48' flatbed and use it to take flatbed loads off the boards until I can afford an equipment trailer, or could I still make money taking flatbed loads on an equipment trailer if I bought only that?

I guess you see the dilemma? A regular flatbed has little "specialty" value compared to say a hydraulic beavertail type equipment trailer or even say a low 3 axle step deck, but on the other hand is lighter and probably what the shippers are used to loading for generic loads.

Frankly, I don't even know if the shippers would load say a 43'/10' beavertail with lumber or whatever, and the trailer weight becomes an issue. Are they flexible in weights at loading time, and if so, would the heavier trailer / lighter load ratio kill the profits?

I'm sorry if this all sounds pretty dumb. I'd just rather own a trailer that gets me toward my end goal, but I don't know if that is feasible to do and still make money hauling generic flatbed loads with it.

Thoughts?

 

In short, what are the pitfalls of taking flatbed loads off the boards on something like this:

 

Thanks all for your responses.

I'd like to touch on a few points made here so far...

First the load boards and their low profit margin...

Well, like I said, I'm new to the whole game and have never made a dollar driving a truck. Having said that, I've driven a lot and owned a lot of trucks, but never for hire so I guess I'm just looking for somewhere to step in even if it isn't very profitable while I learn.

There are a few "special circumstances" to why I started thinking about the "boards" first...

First, I smoke, and as an addict, I don't like the idea of spending hours behind the wheel of someone else's truck where I can't.
Secondly, I plan to be building (and advertising locally) a heavy hauling service. I also have a roll back tow truck and a forklift...and tons of heavy rigging equipment from my prior career so I'm hoping to put that to use.
Businesses take time to get off the ground though, and I need to make $ while it grows so I'm needing something where I can pick and choose when and what I haul with less than two years on my CDL and zero documented road time.
So far all I can find where these issues can pass is the load boards. Then again, I'm new and I'm certain if there is something else, that I will discover it shortly....or at least get my 2 years in.

That said, I have definitely read that the load boards are bottom of the barrel and that gets me back to the trailer investment...
I am wondering if investing in a trailer like the one pictured above would limit the loads I could take (because the shippers are set up only to load for lighter flatbeds), and if the additional weight of the trailer vs the lower payload would put me in the negative overall?

I should mention at this point that I'm sorta homeless right now after my home burned down and living a great deal of the time at rest areas and truck stops in my RV, which makes my overhead a little lower.
I am hesitant to lease a new home or shop until I have steady income that relies on nobody but myself.
I probably have some form of PTSD from the fire and its' aftermath, but without going into the story, I have some trust issues placing my survival on a single company (i.e...driving for them solely).
That is why having my own authority and the load boards seem interesting unit I learn about something better.

Keep in mind, I have never taken a trailer somewhere, had it loaded, and delivered it for money, so I don't have any clue what's involved in that experience? Living at truck stops, I observe thousands of loads every week and try to figure out what fits on what?

My preference would be to find an equipment trailer similar to the one posted above because the investment goes towards a specialty service, whereas the regular flatbed doesn't as much.
The problem is that I have this fear that if I spent 20k-ish on one, that I'd show up as a newbie for a flatbed load at the shippers and they'd go "sorry...can't load that" for one reason or another...which would leave me in big trouble financially.
At the same time, a regular used combination flatbed seems to run in the $10k range, and certainly are ready to be loaded by the shippers (I see them daily), but they would leave me less-than-competitive in the more specialty market (such as loading forklifts an bulldozers after a machinery auction).

I do agree with MM71's assessment of the beavertail, but loading several things a day is often a requirement in the core business I'd like to grow, and frankly, a hydraulic beavertail is more impressive and faster for the auction goers when you're trying to hustle work vs the other guy who has one.

The problem is that if shippers won't load an equipment trailer, or if for some other reason that completely wipes out the profits, then I would have no choice but to choose the standard flatbed and fight it out over time to buy a specialty trailer. Bottom line is that I need to make at least enough money to pay for the equipment itself, insurance, and food. I need something that starts working right away, and I know that it will take some time to build a clientele in the heavy equipment hauling circuit.

I guess my big shortcoming (or I should say "biggest" shortcoming), is that I don't have experience with the way shippers work.
My imagination tells me that they probably have loads "pre-bundled" to max out certain standard types of trailers either in weight, or length.
Because an equipment trailer is basically a step deck, I'm presuming that length would 't be a problem most of the time...at least taking loads advertised as "step deck".
Weight however I am wary of because if they are ready to load on what they set up for a step deck, then the additional weight of the equipment trailer might put me over, and I can see them refusing before breaking up a load to fit my non-standard trailer.

<sigh>
On the other hand, if there were available loads for an equipment trailer that were plentiful, having one would allow me to get at least started in the heavy equipment game the other half of the time, and be $10-15k ahead from not having to buy a regular flatbed or step deck without hydraulics.

I wonder about things like getting the equipment trailer and then registering the truck for 105k so they could load as desired, but then wonder if the extra weight registration fee makes it pointless...etc.?

I know I'm long winded. I'm just trying to explain to the best of my ability.
I guess what I'd like to do is:

1. Advertise heavy hauling locally. Like I mentioned, I own a forklift as well and being able to haul it on the tail behind a machine, and load/unload it quickly is advantageous.

2. Hit 3-5 heavy machinery or machine shop auctions per month and offer my services.

3. Pay the base bills and some food by being able to find loads to take OTR once or twice a week.

Can this be done with one trailer?