why do so many owner drivers/small hauliers set out with no business plan, and no work?
in any other business, you wouldn’t dream of investing a whole load of hard earned cash just to become a subby that gets the scrag end of another mans work.
most owner driver questions say something like “what’s the rate with xxxx?”. “what are these like to work for?”.
how many of you have tried advertising? how many of you have knocked on doors?
i could understand people subbying full time if we had different system of o’licencing. like owning a truck but operating it on someone elses o’licence. kind of like a franchise. they do this in some countries, but not the EU.
It’s a lengthy process getting and o licence and a truck on the road, if you did manage to find work, I can’t image they are going to sign a contract with a company that doesn’t exist, with no truck and no experience and wait for you to setup, you also need to hope your projections are right or you could lose a lot of money.
At least setting up and subbing means you know what the rate will be and the work is guaranteed, and yes it’s not going to make you rich, but it will get you on your feet and then allow you to look for better work.
You will also struggle getting full time work off one company, that means you need several smaller contracts to make any money and trying to juggle them around to keep them happy with just one truck is hard work!
Having your own o licence is actually an advantage in my mind, company’s employing you don’t need to worry about the legal side as well as running a truck and employing a driver as the responsibility all on the owner driver.
I think you still need a plan and projections just for sub contracting though.
For me it’s down to recurring costs.
Best case scenario is you own your lorry outright, have somewhere cheap to park it and do your own maintenance inspections. In that scenario there’s really no a lot of money going out the bank if you’re not working.
If you’ve got to find £1500+ pm on finance/lease that’s different and you have to be working.
I’m really surprised how slow this thread is going! Maybe I hit the nail on the head and that’s that lol
Becoming an owner driver is a serious learning curve and I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to start out being a subby to any of the usual suspects.
As it gives you a chance to fine tune and learn a few things without the immediate worry about work coming through the door.
Obviously as long as your costs are low enough for this to be a viable option.
As the chap also said above you would need some good luck to go around and try and get new direct work and contracts and what not if you wasn’t even a o licence holder
The saying that always springs to my mind with regards to being a successful O/D is
“wether you think you can or you can’t, your right” 
I am just rereading Harold Bridges book, if everyone did it like him and had the Bridges luck the haulage industry would be a great place to be.
He started off with one brand new vehicle in 1920, because a second hand one would have cost more in repairs and maintenance. He paid cash for his first Model T and swapped it within a year for cash. It is now 1939 and he has 20 lorries on the road 
Major Edit. I gave Harold an extra 30 lorries before his time. Just noticed my mistake 
The issue is, as ibson said, you can’t get any firm commitment of work until you have the truck. This is even the case for established operators. Once of my customers, who has been in the haulage game for 25+ years, has recently bought a second 4 wheeler tipper to add to his fleet (which also consists of several artics). His words to me were along the lines of “I’ve no idea if I’m doing the right thing to be honest, I don’t know if the work is there but there’s no point me asking if I don’t have a wagon so we’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Paul
how about this option.
you place an advert in the yellow pages throughout england. you make out you’re a big hitter in the haulage industry. the phone rings, you tell him how busy you are, so you’ll have to sub it out. in the mean time your o’licence is going through, and your lorry is being painted.
it’s market research, whilst making a few quid on the side.
Yellow pages that’s ingenious 
limeyphil:
the phone rings, you tell him how busy you are, so you’ll have to sub it out. in the mean time your o’licence is going through, and your lorry is being painted.
… and by the time you’ve got your own wagon sorted, the people you subbed it out to have undercut you and nicked all the work.
Paul
Does anyone still use yellow pages?
bazstan009:
Does anyone still use yellow pages?
My thoughts precisely, I don’t think I’ve seen one for a few years and even then it was probably about a quarter of the thickness they were twenty years ago.
ok, using yellow pages as an example wasn’t the best way to get my point across.
but you know what i mean. i think the term should be something like test marketing or something like that.
I suppose basically what you’re suggesting is setting up as a freight forwarder and I suppose it has the potential to pay off. If you spend £100 on an advert somewhere and it attracts just one job at £2,200 which you subcontract at £2,000 then you are in profit already.
Put an ad on Yell.com (on line Yellow Pages) & you’ll attract hundreds of sale calls & con men. 
Hi all, new to this so go easy on me. So if i wanted to become a subbie i wouldnt need a business plan, just a pile of cash and alot of enthusiasm yeah■■?
m-prop:
No, you would need all three. Especially the first one.
m-prop:
Mr Monk is right, you need a plan first! and You need to spend a pound to make a few! And last but not least… If your lazy it won’t happen lol
The fact why its so hard to get your own direct work is because its alot easier for companies to deal with bigger firms who have more resource, that way they can pass on their mix of good and bad jobs, while the only driver is only going to be looking for that good job, which happens to match with his hours etc. For example, say a freight forwarder gives a haulier 1 jobs a day, there might be 4 or 5 good jobs, but the rest will be “crap”" jobs like for example midday cambridge ex Felixstowe or something like that, this obviously wouldnt be any good for the one man band who may be in Felixstowe at 6pm the day before with a couple of hours still to run whereas a it would fit in somewhere in a bigger fleet as they are bound to have a truck running in to Felixstowe first thing that morning.
Its just much easier for Customers to deal with bigger companies IMO.
AaronR:
Its just much easier for Customers to deal with bigger companies IMO.
It is, but you have to remember that even the biggest company started out with just one truck.