having spent a lot of time last week talking to variouse firms about work and this weekend going through the figures i’m seriously thinking about packing it in, certainly the brickwork isn’t viable even with my own trailer theres just not enough money in it. the alternatives? flatbed work out of hull docks, rates not bad but no garauntees of being able to get a back load, boxes, a complete non starter or tipper work, possible but no garauntee of regular work.
i probably look at the job differently to most, £16-£1700 per week clears £5-£600 a reasonable wage but to me nowhere near enough for running a business when you consider your financing the work by putting a wagon on, insuring it, paying for fuel and then waiting to get your money back a month or more later! in my opinion to do that, you need to clear £1000 a week minimum to give your self a chance of some profit which you’ll only make if you don’t have any bad luck with the wagon or trailer along the way, to average that money you need to be doing £2500 a week to cover the inevitable bad weeks and down time, from what i’ve seen upto now that work dosn’t exist on regular subin although i was doing that sort of money on the steel, that was an exceptionally good job and i very much doubt wether i’ll find that again.
i’ve got a couple of firms to talk to this week but i don’t hold out any great hopes, theres no garuantees with anything but if i can’t find anything that realistically looks like it might pay enough money, i’ll wrap it up and move on.
Paul,
Sorry to hear about how you feel 
,
Have you tried www.halcion.co.uk ? They use subbies for the tipper side and I don’t see them having to advertise too often so maybe they might be worth belling up? I think the guy to talk too is Simon Mugglestone.
Failing that, you could get yourself an 8 wheeler and move overhere as there is going to be alot of big jobs coming onstream in the greater Belfast area and beyond over the next year or two.
I’m sort of considering going for an 8 wheeler myself as alot of boys are now going for artics and I think there will be a shortage of reliable 8 wheelers for the sites 
.
what a strange job this is, i went to work this morning resolved to the fact i was going to have to find something else to earn money in the not to distant future, rang a couple of numbers that i’d sorted over the weekend and got the usual
“you’ll earn £1.40 a mile no problem, we’ll give you as much work as you want”
crap, and thought i’ll just ring the firm i used to sub the steel off and see if things have picked up? i start back with em on wednesday on the general side, they’ve picked up some new contracts but they hadn’t rang because as i’d not been in touch for awhile, they thought i was busy 
to right i’ve been busy!, busy burning off diesel for not much return!
don’t mind admitting, i’m chuffed to bits to be going back, as they’ve always been very good to me in the past and i know the monies right before i get there.
you had me worried for a minute there !!
after our talk i have just put my application in for the o licence
come to spain with me mate , all the sangria you can drink and warm as well 
spain? is that south of the river somewhere?
if i were a single bloke i’d be doing it already but our lass aint gona wear me dissapearing for eight days at a time even if i bring back as many oranges as she can eat, which i guess would be quite a few 
good luck mate, he who dares wins and all that
do you know what you’ll be taking down?
taking down ■■ apart from my trousers to put shorts on ■■
owt thats heading that way , a lot of non haz chemicals to either santander or barca , anything really as the money is in the tiles back
Well done Paul, that was a close one mate.
Let’s hope this steel work lasts a fair while for you
thanks for that mate but i’m not going back on the steel as such although i dare say i’ll do the odd load, i’m going for the general side which can be anything to anywhere but the firm won’t send a load down the road unless they’ve already sorted a back load which makes every job a decent earner and thats how it should be in my book. that was the problem with the brick job although on paper the rates weren’t bad i was doing far to many empty miles between loads to make it pay, something that would’ve changed as the job got busier with the better weather in theory, but talking to other lads on it, that were drivers for small hauliers who’d put two or three wagons on, they weren’t doing those empty miles and as a result were doing quite a few more loads than me a week! after a couple of conversations with the owner who assured me things were about to pick up, i did over 600mile empty last week and thats no good to anyone! i’m not complaining, you’ve got to give something a good go to know wether it’s worth doing and it’s kept a bit of money coming in through the worst part of the year. i think in reality the vast majority of subbing work is just that, something to go and have a few weeks on until some decent work comes up and then move on.
porkifer:
taking down ■■ apart from my trousers to put shorts on ■■
owt thats heading that way , a lot of non haz chemicals to either santander or barca , anything really as the money is in the tiles back
seems everyone you talk to says the same, theres good work back but it’s getting something to take down at the right money is what the job hinges on.
perhaps your in the ideal setup wuth the firm sorting you both ways at a set rate. is there much difference in insurance etc, uk v’s euro?
Great news!
I must admit I follow your activities quite closely as you seem to be going about the OD thing in exactly the right way to me, and it’s something I’m considering for the future.
Good luck.
Paul
i don’t know about going about it the right way, i think my bank manager might dissagree but whats he know?
paul b:
i don’t know about going about it the right way, i think my bank manager might dissagree
Well you haven’t gone straight out and got an 80k unit on finance to run on a job paying a QAMAAMB, so you’re going about it a better way than many…
Paul
Drama Queen! 
thank you for your kind words
Y’a welcome!
good for you paul if you can try and stick with it every job has its ups and downs.