jessejazza:
Tseal:
Hi alla] Hiab driving jobs come up from time to time.
b] Is there any Hiab drivers or ex drivers who could help me with some questions with relation to class c hiab driving work.
Does the job consist of a lot of residential deliveries, you know the ones with cars parked either side of the road, tight gaps to get through lots of stress?
Does the job involve blocking roads on busy high streets causing mayhem as you frantically try and off load building stuff without killing anyone?
Are a lot of the deliveries to people who have no idea how to deal with or help either as a banks man or with unloading without causing damage to property?
Are Hiab driver rushed and pressured to get lots of deliveries done to lots of places (which you don’t have time to plan and prepare for) before the builders merchant closes at say half five?
Is there any positive to the job apart from working reasonable hours and being home every night?
Are most of your deliveries to different places each time so no chance to get used to each drop and gain some stress reducing familiarity ?
All the above is what I dread it might be like.
- Am I being a bit negative about what I think the reality of the job is or is the grass greener doing this kind of work? I mean could the above be like your worst day ever or is it a regular occurrence? if its like this at all.
a] they do BUT no one offers the training and very few training providers with own equipment. Any advert you see will be with the Cert. That’s the problem… I know I tried to do HIAB before doing Class 1 because it pays more.
b] I worked for Buildbase as a driver for 3 months - regular guy had a health issue and couldn’t drive but did the HIAB.
1)2)3)5) Yes lots of that. Sometimes one just drops several bags of sand at a home but most of the time one is delivering to builders. Certainly lots of awkward places but I love that. Builders would help with being banksman whilst doing a 90 deg reverse into a driveway or whatever. Each day varied - could be several loads in a day to the same location - one load could be 10 drops round a housing area to homes. Mostly 3-5 drops per day and an 0800-1600/1700 job.
I enjoyed meeting folk when I started driving so i’d say you need to be a ‘people person’. Often the jobs were delivering to the same builder every couple of days. I was always impressed how the projects were coming along day by day. The challenge could be lifting the blocks over a joist and then twisting it sideways etc. If you enjoy an engineering challenge I’d say you’d enjoy it. What would you say to the parents who let the kids near the truck - there are ways of saying the necessary in a friendly entertaining manner!
negative - most certainly tbh. I was working in the Stamford area where builders are excellent - it’s a pleasure to see their work. One place the owner was an architect and they were building to his design about £1m. Good builders are proud of their skills and reasonably so - you would need to show interest in their work to strike up a good relationship. Need to be prepared to get muddy… goes without saying - then there is the addition of rain. Winter months quiet and summer fairly busy.
I’d say you need to be positive, friendly pro active type - from what you wrote you sounded like looking for an easy life… Doesn’t exist in my experience. You would be a ‘front man’ for the company - I assure you the builders order from the firm with a good driver-hiab guy whose likeable, efficient and a friendly personality shines.
Next step I’d say is visit Buildbase or whoever and ask if you could go out with the driver for a day to see what the job is like. I think I’ve given you a pretty good idea though.
Thanks for advice, I think from what you are saying I may not like this sort of work.
What I do is get loaded up, driver a couple of hundred miles or so, do anything from three to six deliveries (usually the next day), park up for the night, then head back with a collection from somewhere. So a mixture of distance and multi drop style work chucked together.
BTW I have delivered to lots buildbases but not as a hiab driver. It might be worth me having a chat with a few of the drivers whenever I see them.