[mrusk]

Since its raining out, i am starting to plan my next truck purchuse which i will be making in the spring.

My questions is do you guys have most of your material delivered or do you pick it up yourselfs?

Right now, since all i have is a 3/4 ton pickup, i have everything delivered. I call the quarry and i have agergate within an hour. I get similar service with mulch and top soil deliveries also. My block and pavers get delivered when i need them. However, it cost me 150-175 per a delivery.

I belive it makes sense to have everything delivered, yet almost every local company picks 90% of there materials up. I think many of them just get caught up with buying big trucks because they are 'cool'.

I am just trying to make the best economic choice for my business.

What do you think?

Matt

[bssford460]

we have an f-450 and we pick up everything that it can handle.
it is especially nice if you only need 2-3 yards of gravel or mulch and if the boss needs his f-350 to ride around in, i can pull the bobcat with it.
also, if you have to pull a trailer and all you have is a f-250 and something happens to it and you have to put it in the shop. will they give you an equal or bigger truck for you to continue to work out of.
If we need a lot of gravel or sand then yeah we call a trucking company and have it hauled. but to just get a little of something
extra pallet of blocks because cusomer extened wall 10 feet
2 pallets of sod because somebody measured wrong or had a lot of bad peices.
it is espcially helpful when hauling off rubish and debris from a clean up job.

i dont think we could function half as much with out the f-450 flat bed dump truck.
we use it soo much that the boss is thinking of stepping up to a f-650

[Dale Wiley]

Depends on the materials and situation.

Small amounts of materials that we can source locally, and load on our flat deck trailer, dump trailer, and or materials that we can buy direct and bypass a middleman, then we do.

Large amounts just makes sense to have delivered. I am having sand delivered today and tomorrow. It has to come about 48 miles, and I need about 300 tons.
It comes by truck and transfer.

I have a larger truck, a GMC 7000 tandem axle flatbed with grain racks, that we haul a lot of materials with IF the situation allows it.

I prefer to make the trucking money, and with our own deliveries, we can control the time and manner or delivery.

[cutntrim]

I've got two 3/4 tons and I pick up what I can and have the rest delivered. Having a 12,000# dump trailer helps when picking up stuff.

You might look into a dump trailer and then you can keep using 3/4 tons.

[dan deutekom]

If you have reliable delivery of materials when you need it and only need to pick up small quantities in "emergencies" then I would let the suppliers pay for the expense of large trucks. The more I have been working in this business I have concluded that owning and operating large trucks and equipment only makes sense if you can have them operating 70% of the time available, all year long. Equipment in my area (unless you do snow removal which is another can of worms) can only work about 35 weeks a year. Can you pick up your blocks and pavers using your own truck for $150.00 per pickup when you add the cost of the truck, insurance, labour and fuel?

If I have large excavation work and hauling to do I hire an excavating company, if I have a lot of waste to get rid of I rent a bin. If I can't get it on a 1 ton dump it makes more sense for me to hire the guy that makes a living hauling things. For me it works out cheaper.

I also rent all of my larger equipment as needed because then I get exactly the piece of equipment that is sized to the job at hand.

You must have good relationships with suppliers and contractors for this to work and it takes some pre-planning but it works for me.

[TrickyDick]

Man...delivery charges are nowhere near that high here.

You may want to think about a dump trailer. With a three quarter ton truck you could haul a trailer that can carry at least six or eight tons. No insurance, no gas, registration is cheap, and it'll cost you 20-30% of a truck. I get a lot of deliveries but if they cost me $150 a piece I would find a way to pick up as much as possible.

I think there are way too many people driving dump trucks around that don't really need them. Just my opinion but for a small company I don't think you can beat truck and trailer combinations.

[mrusk]

150 is for the flatbed tri axle with the piggy back forklift.

I pay around 60-90 for tandems and tri axles for agergate. Is that about average?

Matt

[GLAN]

We handle all our own materials.

Get what we need, when we need and take to where we need it.

Our suppliers are not far away.......

[Pelican]

With me it depends on the scale of the job. On smaller jobs I use my 550 for the reasons Glan stated. Also, we place our base most times with wheelbarrows which we load from the tailgate chute. It's much faster than loading a wheelbarrow with a shovel.

On larger jobs where I need a tri-axle load of material, I'll have it trucked in to save time. Quarries are about 1/3 hour away, so a round trip is about 1 1/2 hour including loading. Even when my material is hauled in, I'll often load it on my 550 to load the wheelbarrows with the chute.

Nearly all landscapers in my area have trucks or wish they did. It can be tough depending on another contractor to make progress with your work.

[site]

We have plenty of trucks, but whenever possible we have materials delivered. It adds to productivity. You can pay someone to drive, and pay for the truck and insurance, etc, or you can pay for that same person to be getting the job done. Obviously there are exceptions or I wouldn't own trucks.

[familyguy]

really have to agree with the dumping trailer as one of the best ways to get materials.

we have 2 of them. a new 14k with tons of room. these are just amazing problem solvers. great for brush removal as the capacity for that kind of light weight material is huge.

leaf removal as well. set the truckloader to them, build a box and remove 10 cubic yards of shredded leaves at a time!

just really great problem solvers if you don't want big trucks around.

[HardDaysKnight]

We operate the same way as Dan.
Our suppliers are very reliable. We also network with reliable excavators, tree services, and we finally found a debris removal service not associated with the
underground. We have two F-250s and have most mat's delivered and it's all inclusive in the price. The key word is "reliable".
It took some time before we got the
system going...before that-STRESS!

[fakie99]

to me, this is a no-brainer. DELIVERY ALL THE WAY! we are in the installation business, not the delivery business. it's hard on our trucks, takes men offsite and eats into profit.

i add delivery charges to our estimates for brick, stone, topsoil, etc. the time and frustration this has saved the crew would be hard to measure. they get on site, start working, and materials start showing up.

now of course, sceduling the deliveries (especially if there are alot) can be a hassle, but make it part of your process. leave the deliveries to the suppliers - they are better equipped than us. just account for it in your proposals.

[PSUscaper]

Think it is a necessary evil that eventually you can't avoid.

Yes, you can get most things delivered, but one day, when you really need those 2 yards of stone near the end of the day and can't get it delivered, you start thinking differently.

I also don't like not being able to get rid of things. Maybe you ordered a yard of mulch too much, maybe extra soil than needed, maybe extra stone.....whatever it is, you have to get it off the job, and the pickup doesn't cut it. Also, with concrete scraps, you can't justify a dumpster for a few tons from a patio and wall job.

I like the dump trailer as a start. Had one for 4 years, it was perfect. Only problem I ran into was trucking logistics. I have a enclosed trailer I use for my dingo and all my tools........with the dump trailer, I would have to go to the job, drop the trailer, go back, get the dump trailer, and then, at the end of the day, do the same. Not bad if you are staying on one job for long periods of time, but for the small jobs, its nice being able to have everything in one rig. Still though, the dump trailer is a good way to go.

[Dale Wiley]

I have had a dump trailer for 3 years now. Best money I ever spent.

I now get materials direct in most case, charge the markup and delivery amounts.

As a project manager/owner, I am not a tools guy any more. I get paid a salary to run the company, and I manage to work 2 to 3 hours a day trucking materials, and charge the job for it and cut my self another paycheck as well.

I just had 264 tons of sand delivered. $ 12.96 a ton to haul it and $ 7.75 a ton cost. 9 truck and transfers. That pays for it self.

Transportation is another revenue stream for us. I bill it into the job.

When we travel out for sports fields work, we usually take 3 units.

The GMC 7000 flatbed hauls equipment and pulls the 28 foot deck trailer with equipment.

2001 F 350 hauls dump trailer with more equipment in it. Its a crew cab with fuel tanks, service truck etc.

At the job, the trailers are switched after loading and the GMC / dump trailer heads for the sand pit, and starts hauling sand into the fields. Nothing sits idle very long.

We are phasing out our 3/4 tons trucks and going to minimum F 350 duallys with 5 / 6 speed transmission. I think if you put 16K behind a 3/4 ton your asking for trouble. I scared myself a couple of times this year with 14K behind a 3/4 ton and decided that was enough of that.