Hay all, been talking with an agency, there telling me of a job offering 8 till 5 ish mutli drop but only average of 5 drops a day but very heavy lifting involved. The depo is down easten avanue in gloucester. Woundering wha this job is about ? anyone know wha it might be ? and whats really involved ? sounds unusal. Thanks all
jrt:
Hay all, been talking with an agency, there telling me of a job offering 8 till 5 ish mutli drop but only average of 5 drops a day but very heavy lifting involved. The depo is down easten avanue in gloucester. Woundering wha this job is about ? anyone know wha it might be ? and whats really involved ? sounds unusal. Thanks all
Well what do you buy at a builders merchant? Surprised it’s not HIAB.
Think to yourself are you fit enough to lift bricks, breeze blocks, packs of wood, rolls of insulation, any other stuff that goes into a building? If yes, then strength to your arm and crack on, if not, look elsewhere.
If the job is using a pump truck , then on to tailift, then expects pallets to weigh over a ton or more each.
Some can be split down to make it easier to unload them .
If delivering to private homes, they expect drivers to pump truck a ton of turf, paving slabs or bricks 35 metres up their shingled stone drive, when you explain its not possible, they get all huffy and come out with the regular driver does it .
Ratchet strap your load, every pallet .
If it is a crane or hiab, the swinging arm needs to secured .
Strange how you haven’t been trampled in the rush for the job by the east euro competition.Oh wait. 
Don’t forget that ‘average’ could mean 10 drops one day and working as a labourer in the yard all day the next. 
In my days of doing some agency work when on annual leave, I got sent to a builders merchant in Maidenhead as a class 2 driver with hi-ab experience… Only to be in the yard loading up customers cars/vans/pickup’s etc with anything & everything you can by at said place!
Sounds like SIG insulation as they have a depot down Eastern Avenue. Heavy lifting involved if you don’t have the mounty on the back (Encon take off theirs when using DH staff so I’ve been told).
I’m with TP , was on with agency at first and didn’t have a hiab ticket . was sent mostly to sites where a telehandler unloaded me . on household deliveries it was handball ,break pallet down and carry single bags , un strap timber and carry etc . I sometimes still break things down as its quicker and less hassle than parping about putting legs out/down ,unstrapping crane etc for a couple o bags of sand and half a dozen slabs . as for the number of drops, you can only do what you can do , one pr of hands .the jobs what you make it even with the electronic time /motion machine (delivery pod ) 
if it helps you decide I’m 58 and coping ok with the work .
jrt:
Hay all, been talking with an agency, there telling me of a job offering 8 till 5 ish mutli drop but only average of 5 drops a day but very heavy lifting involved. The depo is down easten avanue in gloucester. Woundering wha this job is about ? anyone know wha it might be ? and whats really involved ? sounds unusal. Thanks all
It’s a job that rewards working smarter, not harder. By that I mean, there is always an easy or a hard way to do something, in that line of work if you pick the hard way and you could be cream crackered before you know it. I did 3 years HIAB and Handball and loved it. If you get it right you can keep your bosses happy, customers happy, and your tip jar happy. It does take someone with the right temperament though, don’t bother applying if you dream of driving long distances and never getting dirty/wet/sweaty.
FYI, I would suggest that it’s very unlikely to be average of 5 deliveries a day, it’s far more likely to be 5 loads a day, ie 5 trips out of the depot with 1 or more deliveries per trip out.
In my little 18t with HIAB I used to do anywhere between 5-10 loads a day, up to maximum of 80 deliveries a day. Real plus point with the job is the regular hours. Remember what syramax said, you’ve only got one pair of hands.
I can’t understand why builders merchants have a start time of 8am? By the time you’ve done your checks (if it’s loaded the night before) you’re straight out into rush hour traffic. Run a bit behind or get extra drops you fighting through rush hour again. Why not let the drivers start at 7am and get to first drop as the builders are turning up.
Or better still, trust the drivers to start when they see fit.
F-reds:
up to maximum of 80 deliveries a day
I was thinking “This sounds like something I could do” up to this point.
I’ll stick to my everything by forklift job 
(apart from the one time I lifted a box with a very friendly tall German)
Muckaway:
I can’t understand why builders merchants have a start time of 8am? By the time you’ve done your checks (if it’s loaded the night before) you’re straight out into rush hour traffic. Run a bit behind or get extra drops you fighting through rush hour again. Why not let the drivers start at 7am and get to first drop as the builders are turning up. Or better still, trust the drivers to start when they see fit.
htmldude:
F-reds:
up to maximum of 80 deliveries a dayI was thinking “This sounds like something I could do” up to this point.
I’ll stick to my everything by forklift job
We only had a 5 mile radius most days.
If a drop was further than that it was “long distance”, and dealt with by being given extra time.
I never worked a second of overtime either, me and the girl booking the drops were best mates, and after a year of working together had a pretty ironclad system. Like I said smarter not harder. Although definately not for the faint of heart, I was sorry to see that job go. But my current one is waaaaaay better
Muckaway:
I can’t understand why builders merchants have a start time of 8am? By the time you’ve done your checks (if it’s loaded the night before) you’re straight out into rush hour traffic. Run a bit behind or get extra drops you fighting through rush hour again. Why not let the drivers start at 7am and get to first drop as the builders are turning up.
Or better still, trust the drivers to start when they see fit.
Fair enough if delivering to a site but if dropping off a bag Plum slate to, Mr and Mrs average on Acacia avenue by the time they have got out of bed/ decided where they want it . . “Can you crane it over the house into the back garden” . . .
Suedehead:
Muckaway:
I can’t understand why builders merchants have a start time of 8am? By the time you’ve done your checks (if it’s loaded the night before) you’re straight out into rush hour traffic. Run a bit behind or get extra drops you fighting through rush hour again. Why not let the drivers start at 7am and get to first drop as the builders are turning up.
Or better still, trust the drivers to start when they see fit.Fair enough if delivering to a site but if dropping off a bag Plum slate to, Mr and Mrs average on Acacia avenue by the time they have got out of bed/ decided where they want it . . “Can you crane it over the house into the back garden” . . .
That’s where forward planning comes in. Do all distance and site work first and then the Mr and Mrs Silly ■■■■■■■■ stuff. Although forward planning and builders merchants don’t go together well.
there sayings its plant hire company, 21,000 grand a year, no hourly rate stated ? sounds odd. Dont seemed botherd about expirance ? there called swifty hire or something that sounds just like that…
Be prepared for portaloos and heras fencing.
It’ll be speedy hire then. My previous employer. Anything you want to know, just ask.
If it’s plant only, it’s a great job. I only left because I was offered more money where I am now.
Delivering mini diggers to private households will be fun. People who think they can have two minutes play on a 3t Kubota and expect to’ve dug a set of perfect footings for an extension in a day or two. Then when you pick the digger up have a game of “spot the level bit.”