I am hopefully, soon to start out on my own doing heavy hiab-rigid work, I have been in touch with 10-15 companies in my region who have said that they could use my services from time to time and also some the promise of some work from north of the border. So with the time of serious investment just around the corner I decided to go around some of the local industrial sites touting for more work, just in case my other ( employees ) let me down. 
A few of them were interested and asked me to supply some prices, a steel manufacturer being one, a round trip of 537 miles. At the end of the day I gave him a price of 730 quid 
Not even near, he told he could have the job done 500 
Could somebody tell me how other companies out there manage to do jobs for even less than the mileage.
Any replies appreciated.
One reason could be they are not doing it on a round trip basis. They could be doing his load one way for £500 and doing another load for someone else on the way back.
On a cautionary note I would think long and hard about making that serious investment if all you have is a few companies saying they could use your services from “time to time,” That would be nowhere near enough to sustain your business. Considering your experience with the steel manufacturer have you given prices to those 10-15 potential customers (incidentally they are clients or customers rather than employees 
) because they may be able to use you from time to time but only at a price that is less than you want.
I do not mean to put a damper on your plans but only say this as a word of warning and something to think about.
Totally agree with you again Coffee!! 
Pauly get some regular work before you commit, it is very cart before horse I know but these guy’s with work will go when you actually ask for it.
If you are going for a hiab business try the cabin firms first like Elliot Presco’s etc. I have a contract in Kent and london that charges by the day for a lift and tip usually under 60 miles and they pay a handsome day rate. I don’t even have a HIAB just crane to the flat bed. Well food for thought M8!!!
Pauly Mac:
I am hopefully, soon to start out on my own doing heavy hiab-rigid work, I have been in touch with 10-15 companies in my region who have said that they could use my services from time to time and also some the promise of some work from north of the border. So with the time of serious investment just around the corner I decided to go around some of the local industrial sites touting for more work, just in case my other ( employees ) let me down.
Any replies appreciated.
you’ll not find many who are prepared to pay a two way rate so 500 quid would be a decent earner for that load.
the going rate for day work this end is £30-35 per hour thats for something with little mileage involved like resiteing cabins etc, ravenstock, balfor beatty’s and so on will happily pay that rate based on ten hours min, weather you do those hours or not.
know doubt you’ve already done plenty of this sort of work and will know the bigger the crane the better but don’t overlook lighter work like security fencing to/from building sites which can pay as well as anything else.
thought long and hard about investing in a good setup after having a year with a rigid some time ago that only had a 12tm crane which was never big enough but still weren’t a bad earner, personally i’d want an eight legger n drag with a 30tm crane minimum, remote control etc or alternatively a tractor unit with a similar size crane and a flatbed rigged up for the job, but as you know the initial outlay is frightening!
what i would say is, in this area at least theres a huge amount of work about and with diesel prices only set to go one way this sort of specialised work maybe the only thing worth doing for the o/d in the future.
Thanks for your replies lads, now it all becomes clearer . I was originaly told by a collegue to charge both ways. Its what he does ,but he is well established now and can afford to be choosy. and looking at it from my point of view- beggars cant be choosers. So what about return loads then, are they difficult to secure■■? I have been on a couple of web sites and it looks good but I reckon the competition must be preety fierce 
fraid I’m agreeing with Coffeeholic 
return load websites are OK but rates aren’t going to be great
A good friend of mine operates a rigid hiab. He charges £38.00 a hour on a yard to yard basis and gets a lot of work charging like that.
dozer:
A good friend of mine operates a rigid hiab. He charges £38.00 a hour on a yard to yard basis and gets a lot of work charging like that.
don’t doubt he does at that rate - hardly justifies the outlay 
I’ve just done 2 half days day work on a site positioning 10 cabins and containers with a 30ton/m arm and the rate was £48/hour, yesterday morning I took a scissor lift to Daventry @ £375 and collected a lift from gist (F&D) Barnsley to Garforth @£150. ala in all around 320 miles over 2 days earning over £1k.
The likes of Elliotts and Ravenstock are OK but earning are limited. Another thing to consider with the vehicle you specify is if you use an artic you can charge a little more but with a rigid and drag you can charge for 2 rigids .
We’re a little bit quiet at the moment but the company is well established so the gaffer would rather see the wagon parked up the odd half day than chasing work by cutting rates.
Thanks for that marlow, the wife is now doing cartwheels around the room(can provide photos) by the way does the size of crane you have reflect the amount you can charge, and do you think 30 tm is needed or will I get away with 20 or 25.
Hold on Pauly, remember that they were rates from 2 of our better customers, we run 4 wagons so have the capacity to pull the stops out for them.
As far as the size of the crane is concerned, if you want to do up 32’x10’ (4 ½ ton+ @17’ min you could do with at least a 34 ton.) If your doing it with an artic then I would go bigger as you have to lift further (more gap to headboard of trailer) I have 12.5 meters of reach which keeps turnaround times to a minimum as I can lift a 20’ store off the trailer in a straight line and put one with a bit of a jacknife. Remember the bigger the crane the heaver it is. Anything over a 30-34 ton crane will need the front axle of the ridged uprated to at least 8 ton (9 ton ideally) or run on a truck with more than 1 front axle but be careful as many 8 leggers with cranes need the legs adapting.
Please don’t build a business plan on the above rates otherwise you will be in for a fall.
Last week the truck lost £1200, due to a breakdown and repairs
Personally I’d forget anything under 30 ton, (I often override mine to get the job done and that’s a bonfig 30500) also most of my work (75%) is our own cabins and containers so we can get away with loading the haulage.
Just as an add on don’t forget you will be paying a premium on fuel, I’m 21 ton MT with the trailer and on my last fill averaged 5.95mpg although that was with loads of site work. Normal average with say a 32’x 10’ and a 12’ toilet block would be around the 7mpg mark on distance with a ■■■■■■■ 325. You have loads of drag with the big cabins.
remember doing an old style 32ft timber based cabin to truckfest a couple of years ago the sort thats all rigged up inside with cupboards furniture etc, picked it up with out to much problem with wagon bang aside of it, got down there and had to lift it maybe five yard from the bed to put it where they wanted it and had a nightmare, in the end had to drop it, move wagon and lift it again that was with a 30tm crane!! you could get away with something smaller if all you were going to was 20 foots but you really need to be able to take on any job confident you can do it when you get there.
think if i was going to have another stab at it i’d deffinately go big crane on a 6x2 artic unit, gives you the option of doing railway work with an extender plus the usual cabin stuff and anything else that might come along.
best work i ever did was for a firm who makes and repairs petrol station canopies, take new facia etc to site, lift of damaged stuff as they dismantle it then lift new stuff into possition for them to bolt up, you got the haulage rate down, an hourly rate for the crane then another haulage rate to fetch the scrap back, lubly jubly.