My best advice would be to make sure the truck you plan on buying is something that can be put to work and even try to make some good contacts before jumping the gun. I'm on the opposite coast as you, but things are in the toilet right now for the type of work it seems you are interested in. My previous employer (paving/excavating outfit) seems to be on a sinking ship. They have sold off all of there extra equipment (2 transfer trucks, excavator, backhoe, sheep's foot compactor, heck even their office/shop building). They are not alone, either. Most paving companies are barely working anymore.
My current employer has two semi tractors, only one of which is registered, a 10 wheel Mack (for small loads), a couple of flatbeds, an 8 and a 16 wheel lowboy trailers and he cannot even keep me (only driver) busy. We will pretty much haul about anything, but work is still scarce. One limitation he has it that his trucks are daycabs so long haul isn't really possible, but we still to the occasional trip to Lancaster, CA area (near Los Angeles & for a good customer).
Profit margins are slim and the slightest hiccup or miscalculation can cost you dearly. For example, I did a load last week that the boss quoted the customer for 4 hours to move a small tractor and an attachment. It would have been enough time if everything went fairly well, but customer couldn't get it started to load when I arrived, then I couldn't get it started to unload it. I had to wait for a battery then I had to install the battery, because it was an older couple that I was delivering to and the last thing I needed was to have one of them injured getting on or off the trailer. Then thanks to a plugged fuel filter I had to wait on the side of the road for about 1.25 hours for the boss to bring some filters. By the time I was done, my 4 hour load became 8 and boss was a little peeved, to put it nicely (but he knows sh*t happens).
I wouldn't say it's impossible, BUT I'd put in a serious amount of research into it before going too far.
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