Starting a Dump Truck Bussiness
 

Hey folks......I'm new to the forum ....

My best friend is starting a dump truck bussiness in the Washington Dc area..... There is so much work here, and he has a in to keep his single truck operation plate full. His hope is to have one truck pay for the next and on and on. I just retired and I'm looking for some extra cash. He thinks me working for him 3 days a week would be perfect. My question is what could I realisticly expect to make as a driver three days a week? He also said i could become his partner if I wanted. Keep in mind I've known this guy 26 years and he is closer then family. ANY advice is needed and welcomed. BTW...the CDL manual is VERY dry material

-Alan

My family has been in the dump truck business for over 70 years. My dad had a dump truck for over 25 years I even had my own for 2 years. Dump truckin is a ruff business. If your friend thinks 1 truck is going to pay for the next he is mistaken. The profit is very VERY small. Around philly PA a driver can get anywhere from 18-21hr.

wait until you read the DOT regs :)

My friend was told in the D.C. are the "average" dump truck earns around 600.00 a day in season........200 for fuel, 200 towards the driver, 200 towards the company. If those figures are correct....what would the company's profit be after vehicle coast etc etc??????

Tell your friend to go and drive some one elses truck and learn the buisness, same for you, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.

$600 a day keeps my truck parked

600 a day is about right. Thats what i was making. I hauled out of the local quarry and getting paid tonnage. Some days i made close to 800 and other days were 500. If i did do hourly work we were getting 80/hr for the truck. Its sounds easy on paper. But once you jump into it you will see the light. 200 for the driver, 200 for fuel and 200 for the company. If it were only that simple.

that 200 to the company will get eaten up real quick. Tolls, insurance, tires, brakes etc etc. By the time you pay all that there may be enough money left over to buy a case of beer.

I always tell people. With 1 truck and you being the driver you can make a living. You will not get rich by any means. If you try to get 2-5 trucks on the road you will go broke. Mosy guys around me have 1 truck or 15+. Its hard to try to make it with 2-5. I can go on and on. lol

Exactly.

Like Mackman says all you are doing is buying a job with maybe average compensation and alot of BS.

Plus with most dump truck work when it rains you don't work. In the winter you get real slow. There is work out there in the winter but it pays peanuts.

Hey Ox i didn't mean to scare you away lol

Sorry to bring back old thread. I'm in the Philadelphia area and looking to get started in the Dump Truck business (tri axle), owner operator and will be the driver. I've heard the money is decent in this area whether driving for quarries (tonnage) or hourly. The one person I know in the area doing this says he's busy everyday and average gross is $600 and average daily mileage of 120/day. Seems pretty good even with all the expenses one has (fuel, maintenance, truck payment, insurance...etc), obviously there are always unforseen maintenance costs that one needs to take into account.

I know some days will be better than others as you mentioned and also need to take into consideration no work when it rains and slow winters. I'm trying to do as much research as possible and from multiple sources. Any and all insight would be appreciated. My plan is to get my CDL now during the winter and train with my friend during the winter without quiting my day job. So by end of winter (Feb/Mar) I can started on my own. I'm not getting into this with expectations to be rich, but to earn a better living than I'm making now.

Here's the trick for winter down here in VA, the dump trucks hire on with VDOT and do snow removal. If you have your own plow and slide in spreader, then you get around $120 an hour working or $80 sitting. Rainy days aren't always a complete waste, my company works in it normally. Gravel still needs hauling!

Biggest expense that will keep popping up is the pony axle tires always getting worn out quickest. I've seen drivers at the local tire shop once a month getting new pony's......or always picking up a flat from deliveries to construction sites. DOT is another expense that keeps on giving, they love to pull the rock haulers and put them on the portable scales around me. They know they can't get you for overweight so instead they go for the overaxle charge on you. For example, I'm legal out of the quarry at 12.5 tons, but I'm overweight on my rear axle at 7.5 tons. Quarry only worries about your overall weight not individual axles.

Depending on how much running your doing, on slow days, shut the truck off and save on your fuel bill. The quarries here have a little shed/house where the quarry haulers can chill out while waiting for the next run.

Thanks for the winter tip. That does sound like a great idea and something to invest in. What do you mean by $80/hr sitting? Sorry rookie questions here...

I've read that tires run average of $400/ea. I thought pony tires are mostly when riding heavy on straight runs,why would those get worn out quicker than others?

Thanks for the feedback.

If you do snow work for Penndot they pay the same rate the whole time. Sitting or plowing..

Where about in philly are you?? Im South of philly right at the Delaware county/ Chester county line on rt1 in glen mills. I used to work for hanson out of glen mills and sometimes hauled out of the downingtown quarry as well.

Do you guys that do PennDOT or VDOT get paid on time? here in MA some people said it took 9-12 months to get paid.

I'm in the northeast, Cottman and blvd.. So pretty much between lower bucks and Montgomery co. Chester is a bit of a way but in reality it's around the corner. How is work in this area? I'd love to get a local perspective on the business and where to look into. Any insight would be great. I'm looking into getting started by March to not start in the slow season.

VDOT is usually a few weeks before the check comes in. Are you direct with the state or work for someone else doing state pushing? Could be the boss holding the pay.....

Hauler, the lower pay in VA is if your sitting waiting to do something with the roads. If your out actually driving/spreading/pushing then you jump to the higher pay. Sounds like PA is different. As for the ponies wearing quicker......hard to say if its the driver who is the problem. Some don't pickup their ponies before making a tight turn so it really grinds on those tires. While loaded though they take serious abuse just going down the road. Those tires are single and aren't rated as high as your normal tandem tires. Some tandems are bigger tires than the pony's and can handle the stresses of rock hauling better. The pony's are just helper axles for your weight.

I don't do either. I was just curious about how quick other states pay.

[QUOTE=Mr. Ford95;532479]VDOT is usually a few weeks before the check comes in. Are you direct with the state or work for someone else doing state pushing? Could be the boss holding the pay.....

Mackman, can you give me any insight on work or the outlook on dump truck business in the area? I hear winters are bad, and just starting, not plowing, I want to get an idea of how 'bad' it gets, especially after a snow storm.

Any contractors/quarries around me with good rates you can steer me towards?

My plan is to get started by March after the winter.

Thanks

There is dump truck work in the Morrisville Pa area, just around the corner from your area, hauling dirt to the landfill, allways advertisiung in the TNT magazine for tri axles...........how the pay is I dont know BUT the landfill can be pretty bad, especially in the rain, lots of flat tires too.

YES Maniac, I had to do that last winter for about a week down here. Saw lots of little snakehead like pieces of metal sticking up all over the place. Did my best to avoid them and hoped for the best. Mucky.......ugh, hope you don't get stuck in that soupy watery mess. I go thru the same at the scrap yard when I haul junk steel, as the body raises and still has the weight of the load, got it in gear and moving forward to help alleviate a spin out. I don't have a locking diff so I have to be creative to not get stuck.

Thanks guys, I'm just trying to gather as much information as possible before I jump into this.

Another rookie question...how easy is it to get stuck when driving in rainy/muddy quarries and landfills?

Any recommendations to get started driving dump truck? I do prefer to get in right away as owner operator and not start driving for a company. I will be going out with my friend when I have the chance and once I get my CDL I will train a bit with him, but can't quit my day job until I'm ready to get started on my own.