I was once in your position Muckaway & I took the chance to go owner driver which meant I had to give up a good job which I’d had for 9 years. Given my time over again, I’d have stayed with my job, enjoyed the 5 weeks holiday a year & left the owner driver job for someone else to do.
Sorry if I seem to pee on your coals here but I certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to give up a stable job to become an owner driver with a tipper at the moment. Fuel & tyres etc are too dear & the work & rates simply aren’t there to make the job any good. There’s too many people prepared to cut rates and do what work there is for bugger all & they’ve done nothing but hit the guts out of the job between them.
If you want to become an owner driver, my honest advice would be to stick with your job, pay your mortgage down & enjoy the paid holidays while you obtain your CPC at your own pace all ready to have a go when the job comes back good IF it ever does.
I would say go for it if you are bright and young and have £100,000 cash flow to gamble with then you might just make it until you get paid in 90 plus days or so. Hard work, sleepless nights worrying if you are going to get paid. There again if someone offers you a written contract and puts up 3 months running money, could be worth thinking about. But in the meantime get your CPC under your belt and your operators licence and planning permission to operate lorries from said yard, and then think about talking to your bank manager . Remember the bank will only offer you an umbrella when the sun is shining not when it is raining. Speaking from experience. Good luck.
mjbaron: have you spoken to harry monk? isnt he in the process at the moment?
My advice would be “Go for it”. The best time to start a business is in the darkest hour just before the dawn.
Just be sure that you have enough funds to trade until the money starts coming in, even if that is only 60 days after you start trading then you will have had to lay out £10k just on diesel.
If you can keep trading for two or three years then we will be in the boom period again and everyone will have forgotten the bust. You will make good money then.
Only ever do work for companies that are 100% financially sound, even if offered a tempting rate by an unknown quantity, or worse still someone who has gone bust several times.
I am applying for an O licence this week, discussion about it is on the owner driver’s forum so the OP should check out that forum.
Dave the Renegade:
Definitely get your CPC Nathan,then wait until you see a sign of the economy picking up and then get started as an O/D .
No good playing at being an economist and predicting what the pros cant even do. Theres millions of tons of tipper loads getting loaded and tipped everyday just go and grab your little bit, job done, the works there its whether you have the grit to hold it all together. If you have to ask probably not
Having been my own boss for 20 years my advice would be to stay away from loans, only ever had finance on 1 truck and regretted it so now always buy what I have cash available for that way if you have a quiet patch it’s not the end of the world and no banks knocking on your door.
I started with an old d series ford running it during the day and working nights on a cushy number and at week ends tarted up a couple of cheap motors and sold them on a Sunday. Also if you own your own truck and have a good customer whose financials stand up to credit checks you can factor the invoices to give you week to week running money, I did this in the 90’ s and finished up in 99 with 350 staff, but hated driving a desk so sold up as a going concern and went back on the road with 1 truck and got choosy regarding work.
When Tilcon were selling the fleet off in the early '90’s all the driver’s were given the chance of buying a truck and working as an OD for them. A few took it on and made a reasonable living from it, but I dont think that they were drawing any more wage from it than us company men plus they had a lot of worry with it as well. All have called it a day now though and either gone driving for companies or retired. I was tempted, I was a mechanic and my wife was a bookeeper, but I just wanted to close the truck door at weekend and clear off in our caravan rather than lay under an eight wheeler changing brakes and springs etc so I didn’t take the plunge.
I do wonder though how folk on your work make it pay Nathan, sand and gravel rates are usually rock bottom compared to dry stone and asphalt and the only way that you can earn top dollar is by cramming as many loads as possible into a day…and a hell of a lot of fuel through the pipes with it. My gaffer used to say that you needed two loads of stone to equal one load of black, so that would be three loads of sand!
Good Luck all the same, the job has to improve one day I guess.
Yes,Yes,Yes, We all know
But Fakt is,the Black see’er the own who power the Recession.
You need the Energy,The Will and knowledge to do it or employ one who does it,take the Risk to be the Winner,or not.
Its a Gamble,but no Output without input
Personally,if i was going to have the worry and risk of running my own vehicle,i’d want at least 200 quid per week more in my pocket than i’d get driving for an employer.
Wondering where the next weeks work is coming from,having to sort a replacement if the engine seizes,having a new tyre fitted only to shred it to pieces two days later etc.
The independence and pride of being your own boss and running your own vehicle is attractive but there will bad days aswell.
I admire anyone that has a go though,if you decide to take the plunge,good luck and i hope it works out for you.
Davnic:
Personally,if i was going to have the worry and risk of running my own vehicle,i’d want at least 200 quid per week more in my pocket than i’d get driving for an employer.
Wondering where the next weeks work is coming from,having to sort a replacement if the engine seizes,having a new tyre fitted only to shred it to pieces two days later etc.
The independence and pride of being your own boss and running your own vehicle is attractive but there will bad days aswell.
I admire anyone that has a go though,if you decide to take the plunge,good luck and i hope it works out for you.
Well,that with the Tyres is sorted.
Just fit Air-less Tyre
I started in 2005.You need to have a really good plan to go to the bank with and loads of ■■■■■■■■ about who’s going to supply you with work payments ect.You will have loads of sleepless nights about jobs, your truck ,money and you will have to trust people you have never met in your life,also a good safe place to leave your truck.I had two visits of vosa in the first two years checking all my records maintenance,cards the lot so be careful.I’ve got lucky with a nice little contract easy work good money 8 hours a day,I park in a secure yard with a few other owner drivers and can honestly say most are gone out before me and are still out when I get back and when I do see them they say how hard it is at the moment.If you have nothing to lose have a go,but if your content with what you get paid for what you do I wouldn’t,good luck
With your contacts in the tipper game you should be ok. I’d go for an 8wheeler as it gives you flexibility. It will help if your handy with spanners as maintenance costs can be high on tippers.
A nice foden alpha would be an ideal starter motor at reasonable money. I’m sure Oxford are introducing a LEZ soon so maybe a hino as euro 4 ones can be had at reasonable money.
Tell the truth I wish I had bought a tipper rather than a unit as its still not as bad rates as haulage and try and stay local keep the fuel bill down.
maurice:
I’m not sure it’s a good idea for the worlds slowest tipper driver to become an OD. You’ll be lucky to cover the road tax unless you drastically change your ways.
Just remember one at home who had a good Life with a 2 axle Tipper First it was small enough to delivery to Places you couldnt go with 3 Axles,and,cheaper on Fuel,Tyres and everything. And He got a Contract with Local Council for Winterservice. He had a steel Plate on the Front to fit a Snow Plough,and from End of October till End of March were a Gritter on his Tipper fixed. So he got a Minimum Pay by week,plus paid for every Hour he had to go gritting,and for Snowing he got special Prized.He also got paid for watching telly.When Forecast was bad he got put “On Call” and couldnt go anywhere without phoning back.Church for exemple. Not to make you rich,but to get you to retirement as you would get Work in Summer from Council too
I was thinking of a 4wheeler as my employer only have 2 and there’s normally a waiting list if a customer must have a small lorry. From what customers have said the delivery and collection charge is the same as a 6w. The Cotswolds are just down the road, posh houses in tight villages…downside to an 8w is they’re ten a penny around here.
Whats the chance of getting your own customers Nathan and delivering ex quarry/pit.I know it’s getting your money in and finding the right customers,but with a four wheeler you could as you say get some decent paying loads.
Dave the Renegade:
Whats the chance of getting your own customers Nathan and delivering ex quarry/pit.I know it’s getting your money in and finding the right customers,but with a four wheeler you could as you say get some decent paying loads.
A chap around here did that buying stone etc and selling it on to local farmer’s etc and he did well, even sub contracting a few eight leggers at times besides his own four wheeler. He rekoned that as long as the farmer had a few cows etc in the field to sell then he would always get his money!
You have to realise that a lot of Smiths work will be very poorly rated haulage wise (concrete works for instance) but that wont matter to them as they are making the money selling the stone etc, the transport is just there to provide a service so doesn’t need to be profitable, whereas any hired haulage would need to have proper rated work to survive.
