I was talking to a guy recently that said he worked for Lafarge but they don’t own any trucks they are all owned by the drivers, said his new cement mixer was over £100,000 and you have 7 years to pay it off.
This got me thinking (which is usually a bad thing tbh) the money must be good as you need to be able to pay the massive monthly payments for the truck (over 1k) yet still earn enough to pay the mortgage (if he has one)/bills/car and his race car fund.
All the trucks I see with Lafarge painted on them are fairly new, is this a requirement Lafarge have put in place for reliability or something, or if I bought something like a 2007 Hino 700 tipper for sub £25K would they take me on? (keep in mind this is just my thinking, I’m not committing…unless its worth it)
Would they take on new drivers with no driving references? Is the money good enough and how does it work, paid by the load or a flat daily rate? If so how much (if anyone drives for them and doesn’t mind saying but would prefer to PM me that bit?)
I’m within walking distance of Lafarge quarry by West Cornforth and they have a tarmac place near Darlington if my memory is correct? I’m also full of will to work
If you want to own your own truck I’d avoid franchising to the big firms like Laughage, Hansons etc. I think you only own the truck, not the mixer on the back and you’re tied to their rates.
Nothing stopping you from getting a Tipper and just ■■■■■ yourself out as a subbie to ALL of the quarry firms. That way when work goes quiet you are not tied down and are free to seek work else where.
i used to own a minimixer as OD with them for about 12 years and still have a few contacts, Pm your number if you want for a chat.
I was out having a beer with a couple of Lafarge pals over the big hill from you on Friday night and was asked if i wanted to take a mixer on again (That’ll be a no then ) but i may consider a tipper.
Don’t forget you’ll need an ‘o’ licence and think very carefully about your “maintenance” contract/agreement as Merc/etc don’t have any experience of mixer body and hydraulics etc sat on top of the chassis
MSG gives the best suggestion as that’s what a fair few of the mixer boys are going now.
I was told a lot of them are parking up now when having time off as no relief drivers as all the ‘oldies’ are giving up now. Also their prices for the product are higher than other companies not as busy as others.
If you an employee and the truck is delayed with loading, unloading, or traffic incidents, then it is the trucks owner that takes the financial hit, if you become the owner, than it’s your loss. Likewise if one of the tyres gets damaged when being used off road, then that becomes your loss. If the truck is off the road, where you going to get a specialist hire truck from whilst you losing money?
Ghiabox:
I was talking to a guy recently that said he worked for Lafarge but they don’t own any trucks they are all owned by the drivers, said his new cement mixer was over £100,000 and you have 7 years to pay it off.
This got me thinking (which is usually a bad thing tbh) the money must be good as you need to be able to pay the massive monthly payments for the truck (over 1k) yet still earn enough to pay the mortgage (if he has one)/bills/car and his race car fund.
All the trucks I see with Lafarge painted on them are fairly new, is this a requirement Lafarge have put in place for reliability or something, or if I bought something like a 2007 Hino 700 tipper for sub £25K would they take me on? (keep in mind this is just my thinking, I’m not committing…unless its worth it)
Would they take on new drivers with no driving references? Is the money good enough and how does it work, paid by the load or a flat daily rate? If so how much (if anyone drives for them and doesn’t mind saying but would prefer to PM me that bit?)
I’m within walking distance of Lafarge quarry by West Cornforth and they have a tarmac place near Darlington if my memory is correct? I’m also full of will to work
This was the whole reason that I started to look into getting my Class 2 in the first place as I have a mate who has two cement mixer trucks with Lafarge and does very nicely
He has had the one 15 years and the other 2 years. Spent a day riding shotgun with him and enjoyed it but for me , starting from absolute scratch at 46 years of age , I was just put off by the whole process of getting to the point of even starting to work for Lafarge , its the tiome as much as anything that it would entail
Theory / Hazard perception / lessons / Test / CPC / O licence etc etc and that’s before you even get the mixer and start to earn.
Started off driving a mixer for Lafarge, the bloke I worked for had 4 mixers at one point and seemed to be doing OK.
I’m looking to franchise with one of the big firms maybe next year, I’d worry about my lack of contacts if I just bought a tipper and hoped for the best.
Panick:
Started off driving a mixer for Lafarge, the bloke I worked for had 4 mixers at one point and seemed to be doing OK.
I’m looking to franchise with one of the big firms maybe next year, I’d worry about my lack of contacts if I just bought a tipper and hoped for the best.
i worked for a haulier who had a swap body mixer/tipper 6 wheeler,on for Lafarge.10 or so years ago.
In Trucking last year they featured Breedons who used those swap bodies for tipper and mixer work and it mentioned something like them being little used.
Bear in mind if they’re based on a Roro chassis the tare weight will be higher so the tipper will carry less tonnage and the mixer less volume.
Ghiabox give North East Tippers/Groundwork Services in Meadowfield a call, they have tippers in thrislington, working for them will give you a good idea of what it’s all about. I know one of their drivers and by the sounds of it it’s none stop - ie, get loaded at quarry, tip and customer, call any other lafarge plants/quarries nearby for a load or go back to thris. By contrast tho, Hope at coxhoe quarry are much simpler… but their owner drivers look miserable as out and don’t all have flash scanias with the light bars and that on.
From what I’ve been told you get paid by the mile, the lorry has to be less than 5 years old, and you have to lease/hire purchase it from lafarge,etc.
Sure there is some lovely lorrys going into thris that has all the bells and whistles and are spotless, but they’re worked day and night (stone during the day and tar on a night) to make change after expenses - O licence (+ 5k in bank at all times to have an o licence), lorry insurance, public liability insurance, fuel, repairs, corporate taxes, etc. List goes on.
We do work for Hope sometimes, maybe 5 loads a day, roughly 300k all day. Their drivers reckon they get £1.35/mile, so that times 300k/186miles = £251.10 per day.
Minus 150litres of diesel @ £1.20/per litre or so = £180. So you’ve only got £70 left to pay your self. Working 6am-4pm (minus 45mins break) = 8 1/4 hours. £70 divided by your 8 1/4 hours = £8.48 per hour.
You’d get the same or more working for ANY tipper firm, without the hassle of finding work, paying for a lorry, fixing the lorry, paying for the fuel/tyres/springs/etc.
carryfast-yeti:
talking of Lafarge,and mixers…used to be a 10 metre artic mixer running out of the plant at Mountsorrel i wonder if it’s still operating.
carryfast-yeti:
talking of Lafarge,and mixers…used to be a 10 metre artic mixer running out of the plant at Mountsorrel i wonder if it’s still operating.
Not in Mountsorrel no.
Sounds like Hasletts, they have one that tramps as not all plants can take an artic mixer.
Muckaway:
Thanks for the insight Parkus, those rates are shocking. We wont move our 8wheeler for less than £400/day turnover.
We get a bonus if the lorry makes £400, and when we do work for them we have to do 5 loads or the TM isn’t happy (and we don’t get bonus), so our rates must be better than what they pay their owner drivers
Muckaway:
Thanks for the insight Parkus, those rates are shocking. We wont move our 8wheeler for less than £400/day turnover.
I don’t blame you i was moving £200-£300 average per day on a small mixer 10 years ago.
Day rate for years seems to been have been about £500 a day for years but it’s not guaranteed what days you may be hired in.
70/80’s Waged drivers, 80/90’s move to OD’s, 20’s market knackered all i can see is waged drivers on contracted out haulage to the types of Lomas’s etc where the driver is waged but the haulage is contracted out
Ghiabox, if you’re on Facebook, search the ‘UK Concrete Mixer and Pump Driver’ group. Get on there and have a good read.
Yes, some are making an ok living, but a good few more are getting out due to the way things are run by the big companies nowadays.
By all means have a go, but seriously do your sums, along with a lot of research.
The big money is gone now and most of the time you could earn as much as an employed driver rather than an OD.
Bear in mind, if you go as a franchisee, you’re tied to the parent company and even if they’re quiet, you can’t always slide off to work elsewhere for the day – they’ll make sure they find you one crappy local load to keep you there for the day.
You might think you’re an OD but all you are is a glorified company driver who has all the grief of running a motor with all the headaches that can cause.
I’m not trying to put you off, but do your homework and talk to existing OD’s if you can to get a good grasp of how it all works.
Some interesting comments made here, I am on facebook yes so I’ll give that a look also I’m trying to find out as much as I can before I commit to anything as it wouldn’t be wise to just jump in and expect to start rolling in money, I’ve learned the hard way lol I appreciate all the info and have already thought long and hard about the running of a truck especially if things like a blow out happens or brakes need changing (I’d imagine brakes are a regular thing on trucks the amount of miles they do)
I haven’t yet got my class 2 licence but I have just bought a car for the purpose of commuting to a test centre which would probably be Tyne and Wear LGV. I live in Coxhoe also which is why I considered Lafarge with it being so close (it’s actually West Cornforth though isn’t it?) Meadowfield isn’t far either. Even £8.48 is just over £1 more per hour than I’m on now
and you have 7 years to pay it off.
) but i may consider a tipper.
