Trucking: dump truck business, truck driving school, lower mainland

Question
HI im 18years old and I have 90 thousands dollars in my saving account, I work at lilydale and i make 2200 a month. I was thinking about buying a dump truck and drive it for a bit, get to learn the work field and then evantually open my own company..but I'm just clueless of where to start and what to do...should i buy the truck first, or should i get my licence and work for a company for a bit. I live in British Columbia in the lower mainland and CONSTRUCTION/TRADES IS BOOOOOOMING right now. I use to work at esso and my boss told me once his buddy has 3 dump trucks and he is making LOTS of money.

Answer
Hi Navi.

Good job on the savings!  The conservative side of me says, learn the business by working for a company.  Save your money and see if you like the work.  Then, go on your own later on.

The business side of me says, get your license, buy a good, used truck and go to work.  I would look into a used truck and leasing out.  Don't go out and spend your entire $90k on a truck.  Try to find a good used truck for $30-$40K.  It should be worth your while to finance it and not purchase it outright, so you can right it off.  You should probably incorporate too, starting a business.  Contact an accountant and get some advice.  That's where I would start.  He can help you with what a good plan of attack would be.

Now you know what to spend, you'll need to get your license.  Contact a local truck driving school or the Ministry of Transportation in BC and see what you'll need to do to get a license.  Here is a link...

http://www.gov.bc.ca/tran/

After you'll talked to an accountant and got information on your license, write up a business plan.  You want to know your start up cost, where your customers are going to come from, how much your income and expenses will be, etc.  Talk to other dump drivers in the area and see what they say.  Take it all with a grain of salt.  I've never met an owner-operator who wasn't doing well financially.  They're all millionaires (so they say)!  Try and learn from them and know that many may be "inflating" their income.

If the construction trade is booming now, and I were in your shoes, I'd look into buying a truck and leasing it out.  Let another company worry about finding loads and getting paid.  Then, once you learn the business, you can start your own company.  Look in the Yellow Pages for dump hauling companies and start making calls.  Ask if their hiring dump owner-operators, what their requirements are, what they pay, etc.

Finally, when you get stuck, ask questions on this forum.  It should help you a lot.

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/index.php?s=

Good luck!  I think you'll do great!

Bob Stephens