I’m thinking of starting myself as probably quite a few wannabes on here, but for a difference I got experience in lorry mounted crane transport, site portacabin set ups, machinery and plant movements etc.
I was thinking of starting small and keeping it small just with one truck.
My question is, what kind of insurance policies would I need to cover up my activities? What sort of cost is that? Knowing this I would be able to make final calculations on my cashflow and find out wether or not it’s possible to offer competitive rates.
not to sure on the costs mate, but we find hiab work is very dependant on the building trade, we have an erf ec 11 26ft flat cpcs trained drivers 40 ft reach will lift 1.5 t at 40 ft, she does about one days work a week at the moment, she is bought and paid for, and i have other trucks that i can put the hiab driver on, but unless you know something i dont, which would be possible !, i shouldnt bother at the minute wait till the building work picks up !
Well, in our place where I work it’s been hammered since beginning of this year. Mainly portacabins going on. I have a little bit of my own “know how” and existing customer base that I’m hoping to squeeze in for a little bit less if possible. As long as I double my wages up I would be more than happy.
So what kind of insurance policy do I need apart from usual haulage stuff?
i have a little bit of my own “know how” and existing customer base that I’m hoping to squeeze in for a little bit less if possible. As long as I double my wages up I would be more than happy.
would it be the case that the rates are as they are to account for the high purchase price of a decent crane vehicle and other costs to start with?
this type of work must pay well if you can think about cutting rates before you even start on your own!
imo there are loads of long standing hauliers moving cabins around as we stand today so with your know how i would look to provide that bit extra and try to get away from having to offer to many competitive rates
and as we all know if you find a niche that pays well you wont have to do as much to make the same proffit
moose
Evolver:
As long as I double my wages up I would be more than happy.
Wouldn’t we all!
If you think that as an owner driver you’ll be able to take home twice what you do as an employed driver then either you know something every other owner driver doesn’t or you’ve done your sums badly wrong…
Whilst I know next to nothing about craned haulage, as a general rule you’ll do well to take home any more at all than an employed driver for the first few years at least - you may even find you have to take a pay cut initially whilst you get on top of all the startup costs and get some cash in the bank to cover emergencies. Even long term I would be very surprised if you can manage double.
You need to speak to an insurance broker that has experience of arranging insurance for crane equipped vehicles, but as a mimimum you need third party road going insurance, goods in transit, public liability, etc. Then you will need to have your crane, slings, chains etc. inspected and certified every 6 months, you will need a generic method statement preparing for all your activities.
As for cabin movements my employer does them and it is now the peak season for movements with all the summer festivals and recent events such as Wimbledon, Open Golf etc. Come the end of September cabin movements virtually cease until next Spring.
Not wishing to put you off and good luck to you if you do go ahead, but if you think that you’ll double your wages as an owner driver then you will be the first one I know of to do so.
Well I’ve often thought that it would be possible to earn a reasonable living as an OD doing this work. I’ve been around a bit and got the expereince and my face is known in plenty of places, there’s a good number of customers that I think could be poached and a few former ones that could be coaxed back.
The biggest problem is the capital to set it all up, buy a vehicle that is going to be suitable, reliable and able to do the job, find premises, O licence, insurance, tax and maintenance before even turning a wheel. Then you need to work and pay for your fuel until your customers start paying you.
We’ve just offloaded a W reg Series 4 6 wheeler with plant body and 19tm crane, it was well worked but it still sold for about £15k. We looked around for replacements but there was not much on offer, a few 05 plates that couldn’t go to London next year and still commanding a high price and very little else. There are not many 57/08/58 era plant / crane vehicles about, this was recession time and people weren’t buying for the construction industry. If you do find one or a later one then you need seriously deep pockets to pay for it.
You’re all pretty right guys I must admit. But nobody stated whats like this “double bubble”. I would be quite happy with taking home between £600-700 a week, I’m not greedy I probably would be able to base my work around well known Elliott which has just gone even bigger. I know a firm that started doing a bit around them few years back and now they are operating 3 or 4 lorries. Maybe I’m just a day dreamer but it’s always worth of trying rather than keep moaning and doing ■■■■ all.
So what sort of money do You guys pay for your trucks insurance if you don’t mind me asking?
I’ve just priced an 06 Volvo FH13 tractor unit with a 44tm Palfinger on it, £96k. I have been quoted £58k to have a 42tm fitted to my 06 Volvo. I’m finding lately that everything wether used/new is costing a fortune, as a rule of thumb lorry loaders cost 1K per TM but not anymore they’ve gone through the roof.
As an aside its the same with secondhand mountain bike stuff its all loads of dosh second hand. Its as if everything thats for sale used is becoming more expensive by the day.
I went to see some second hand lorry loaders the other week & they where a fortune for 2000-2002 models, the bloke was wanting two thirds of what they cost new. The most of them where from Eire too & ■■■■■■■■ out of there heads. In fact a few things I’ve enquired about lately where from Eire & Europe which kind of tells you which economies are heading downhill.
Our economy is safe in the hands of George Osbourne sat in LA on His deck chair
Evolver:
You’re all pretty right guys I must admit. But nobody stated whats like this “double bubble”. I would be quite happy with taking home between £600-700 a week, I’m not greedy I probably would be able to base my work around well known Elliott which has just gone even bigger. I know a firm that started doing a bit around them few years back and now they are operating 3 or 4 lorries. Maybe I’m just a day dreamer but it’s always worth of trying rather than keep moaning and doing [zb] all.
So what sort of money do You guys pay for your trucks insurance if you don’t mind me asking?
I’d also be very happy to take home £600 - £700 weekly and I’m a Transport Manager with 40 years experience in the job!!! I use a figure of £6,000 a year for vehicle insurance when costing out a job. As a new start up owner driver you will probably pay more.
I probably would be able to base my work around well known Elliott which has just gone even bigger. I know a firm that started doing a bit around them few years back and now they are operating 3 or 4 lorries. Maybe I’m just a day dreamer but it’s always worth of trying rather than keep moaning and doing ■■■■ all.