Rob K,
I feel I have to post this little “diddy” because I’m abit fed up about all us O/D’s being mugs 
, I respect your opinions but your advice to me back in 2004 was wrong.
In early 2004 both you and I where posting on this forum asking advice about becoming an O/D, in Oct of the same year I went for it and put an artic and trailer into the local quarries and your great advice was “I would be parked up for most of the winter” 
.
Its now September 2006 approx 23 months later and the £32000 loan I took out for the unit and trailer is paid off,the Foden and Kel-berg trailer are all mine.
I’m just back from a weeks holiday in the Algarve with the wife and wee man and the previous w/e I was at the motorbkie GP in Bruno C.Republic (truck parked up both times).
I live in a 3 bedroom semi bungalow worth £180 grand with a mortgage for £40 grand,sitting in the driveway are a 2001 Alfa 156 JTD (mine) and a 2004 Seat Altea TDI sport (hers) as well as a touring caravan 
also in the garage(along with thousands of Mars bars 
) is my “toy” a 1999 Kawasaki ZX9R.
On Mon 18th I will be starting a full time driver for the artic and I may put an eight wheeler tipper on the road as a second truck or I may go with another option as an Agri contractor.
Yes I do know that I could pull into the quarry in the morning and the engine could blow up on the Foden but equally I could be run over by a bus going to the garage to get the morning paper
Was I mad to start up as an O/D 23 months ago and am I a MUG 
I feel I have to post this little “diddy” because I’m abit fed up about all us O/D’s being mugs , I respect your opinions but your advice to me back in 2004 was wrong.
In early 2004 both you and I where posting on this forum asking advice about becoming an O/D, in Oct of the same year I went for it and put an artic and trailer into the local quarries and your great advice was “I would be parked up for most of the winter” .
Its now September 2006 approx 23 months later and the £32000 loan I took out for the unit and trailer is paid off,the Foden and Kel-berg trailer are all mine.
I’m just back from a weeks holiday in the Algarve with the wife and wee man and the previous w/e I was at the motorbkie GP in Bruno C.Republic (truck parked up both times).
I live in a 3 bedroom semi bungalow worth £180 grand with a mortgage for £40 grand,sitting in the driveway are a 2001 Alfa 156 JTD (mine) and a 2004 Seat Altea TDI sport (hers) as well as a touring caravan also in the garage(along with thousands of Mars bars ) is my “toy” a 1999 Kawasaki ZX9R.
On Mon 18th I will be starting a full time driver for the artic and I may put an eight wheeler tipper on the road as a second truck or I may go with another option as an Agri contractor.
Yes I do know that I could pull into the quarry in the morning and the engine could blow up on the Foden but equally I could be run over by a bus going to the garage to get the morning paper
Was I mad to start up as an O/D 23 months ago and am I a MUG
2001 Alfa 156
firstly,if you have one of these on your drive,you are a MUG, they are heaps of ■■■■ that cost the earth to repair and have the reliabilty of a wooden go kart built by a 5 year old,and i should know,ive owned one
also why do you have to be an owner driver to own a nice car i own yes own,fully paid for, a 2003 mitsubishi warrior pick up,fully blinged up, i drive a tipper like yourself,the difference is, i dont have to lie under wagons all weekend or make sure the work is there for tomorrow,if things go pearshaped i just pop along to the local agency,i dont have to worry about losing my house and ending up in thousands of pounds of debt, i have also not long came back from florida and im planning on visiting relatives in new zealand next year for a month, so i better buy myself a truck else i wont be able to board the plane,is that what you are saying, these things you are saying are not only obtainable for owner drivers you know.
And for what its worth i dont think owner drivers are mugs,i have even considered it myself at one point after a boozy night,but what the gains are then im afraid theres more to life than worrying about having a blow out and having to work for the rest of the day just to pay for a lump of rubber
TIN AT ON,RANT OVER 
I don’t think your man "Big Truck was saying that you have to be an OD to obtain these things, I think he’s saying that you can obtain these things and be an OD. Were not all skint you know
I dont remember saying you are all skint, i was just saying that in MY OPINION its not worth the added hassle that goes with owning your own wagon, and i do know what the added hassles are and what kind of money can be earnt before you start saying “oh heres someone else whos jealous cus they havnt got the know how to become an owner driver” because most the blokes i work with are owner drivers,and 99% of them have told me the only reason they keep at it is because they either couldnt stand the thought of working for a gaffer or its become a way of life for them,and wouldnt know what to do with there weekends if they didnt have to “just pop down the yard for a couple of hours”, i even know of one bloke who went down his yard on christmas day to grease his wagon ready for working on boxing day,now thats a MUG
Well I’m here in the office working at 17min past midnight, all the trucks are out in the morning and I don’t have to drive , so I don’t consider my self a mug.
Well done and I’m genuinely glad you’ve done well, but from what you’ve said I’m left wondering whether that’s just because you’ve had a run of good luck. 
I know myself from experience that the Foden’s have a good record all round for reliability and fuel economy so a good choice there, and they’re reasonably cheap on the second hand market too which goes in your favour.
I can’t clearly recall the story behind the trailer but I seem to remember you bought it new from a dealer in Hull somewhere? Wasn’t this particular type of trailer rather unknown back then as I vaguely seem to recall you asking for advice about it and there wasn’t much response other than “try it and see”. It could have all gone horribly wrong and been the worse thing that’s ever been bought since Sean and his Volvo/MOPACC (delete as appropriate) and cost you an arm and leg in lost work/down time… but it wasn’t, it’s (seemingly) caused you no problems.
As far as the work goes and more specifically your point where you’ve said that you were working all through the winter, you have been lucky as many places go thin on the ground for work, especially on tarmac work where the weather plays a big part. That was an unknown for you and there’s no way you could have predicted whether you would have been working or parked up, unless of course you were guaranteed x-amount per week regardless of whether there was any work or not, which I don’t believe was the case (correct me if I’m wrong).
Many second hand trucks suffer some kind of major breakdown in a 12 month period which usually costs a tidy (often four figure) sum to put right. You’ve only to read back through the owner driver forums on here and most have posted about some major mechanical failure; turbo’s blowing, radiators blowing etc, which kisses good bye to a couple of weeks profit. Also, what about curtains being slashed, loads being nicked (insurance excess?), fuel being nicked etc, although obviously the former isn’t an issue on the work you’re on.
Of course then there are the totally unpredictable things like other drivers mis-judging gaps and taking your complete mirror housing off (a la Sean six months back somewhere) which you’ve got to stomach the tab for since they’ve done a runner. Blow outs are another one which can cost you a few hundred quid when you factor in the price of the tyre and yearly tyre cover or call out costs.
You’ve been lucky once again on the fuel price front. Not sure what it costs over there but basing it on the UK prices they’re pretty much the same as they were 12 months back. It was in the low to mid 90s back then and although it’s pushed a quid a litre a couple of times, it’s now back down to 95 round here. Of course those are the pump prices and you’ll get it cheaper than that if you bunker it, plus your VAT off too.
What about the payment side of things? Did you do your homework in advance by asking other subbies if they paid the correct amount due and on time or was that another unknown until you tried it? A lot of owner drivers get shafted and left high and dry here because the company folds and they don’t see a penny.
Others may well not agree, but I think most of your “well doing” has been down to luck. I think that a puncture or two, a major mechanical failure and whatever the fuel price would have been if it had followed the same trend from the past couple of years would have left you not sitting as comfortably as you are right now.
Out of sheer noseyness I’d be interested to know what your pre-tax profit was for the past 12 months. Whilst I expect it to be well in excess of what I’ve earned for the same period because of your good year, I still doubt that the difference would justify all the stress and headaches involved in running and maintaining your own motor.
As for whether I still think you’re a mug, well, let’s give it another couple of years eh? It’s early days yet and like I’ve said above, I think you’ve been very lucky.
I hope your luck continues!
Gav,
My Alfa 156 has been totally reliable and for a 2.4l 5 cylinder engine to do 550 miles on £45 of diesel is good going in anybodies book,would I buy another? no,the turning circle is terrible,the ride too harsh and the boot too small.
You say your a tipper man,would that be an 8 wheeler by any chance? If so try doing your loads/day with 30T instead of 20T and see how your weekly earnings go
I work in a quarry where we haul stone to the docks in Belfast constantly, it is then put on a boat to go to the mainland for use by “Ringway”, myself and 4 other artics are doing the tonnage that 8/10 eight wheelers used to do.
Rob K,
Thanks for your honest reply,
you can’t really think I have not had a puncture in nearly two years I work in quarries FFS I’ve had at least a dozen .
My pre-tax profit is between me and my accountant/taxman.
The Foden has had a few “big bangs” had to replace the too soft for 44T quarry work Rockwell 177e rear axle with a bulletproof Rockwell s180 in March 2005.
This past week while on holiday had the Eaton 16sp box done up as it was beginning to drop into neutral a couple of times a day and was told it was likely the splitter pack,bill of £1500 
.
Yes I’m lucky with the fuel, a 2 hour round trip to “The South” gets me a fill up at 65p/litre 
but our quarry haulage rates are alot lower in comparison with the mainland.
The trailer? Yes the Kel-berg T99 was a shot in the dark as there was no other ones here in NI at the time, but its insulated and only weights 5800kg and there are now 6 others running in the greater Belfast area after my guinea pigging (keep telling Kel-berg there are missing a trick overhere not having an agent).
There where two main reasons why I went for quarry work, one was no nights out and the other was the fact that ALL the quarries pay you on time.Some pay monthly some pay fortnightly and the one I’m with at the minute finish on a fri afternoon/Sat morning get paid the following Friday,needless to say I’ve been here since May
Have I been lucky
I don’t think so its all down to providing a good/honest/reliable/profitable service,I have just sat and counted and there is not one of the 11 local quarries that I have worked out off over the past two years that I could not go back to and get work.
In 5/10 years time maybe I will be on the scrapheap with no house bankrupt etc but at least I give it a go and tried 
.
Just to cause a bit of mischief
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … highlight=
same as ady I wonder where it will go
and just another piece of mischeif !
Your Kehlberg was built in Germany by "Kempf " in Bad Marienberg and the Tipper Body was welded together from a troop of 17 Poles working in workshop Nr 12 and 13 doing shift work ,because they have to get 70 finished before Christmas for the UK market, I know because we have to deliver them to the ship in HooK v Holland
Geoff
Geoff they still have tp pass the german TUV
and quaility control before being sold,
brit pete:
Geoff they still have tp pass the german TUV
and quaility control before being sold,
we don’t want to know the good stuff , we’re just creating mischief
Big Truck:
I feel I have to post this little “diddy” because I’m abit fed up about all us O/D’s being mugs
So, you’ve bought a house and a couple of cars and have a motorbike as a hobby? Is that unusual in NI ■■?
Big Truck" `Orses for courses.’ Keep on Trucking,mate."
harry:
Big Truck" `Orses for courses.’ Keep on Trucking,mate."
Somehow Harry, they just make me smile!!!
1999 Kawasaki ZX9R.
what colour is yer bike ? Green ?
I think that BT was entitled to post as he did. We have our fair share of ‘negatives’ either stated or implied on these forums and it is a breath of fresh air to read something positive for a change. Casual observers ‘passing thro’ couldn’t be blamed for thinking that the ‘O/D Trade’ is suicidal but posts like this show that that is not entirely the case.
Every time I read positive posts by or about O/D’s, I’m glad. Good luck & well done to Big Truck, likewise Tramper, Big Joe and the others.
Nice to hear, good luck!
routier:
1999 Kawasaki ZX9R.
what colour is yer bike ? Green ?
No,
she is the candy red colour,sometimes I prefer the green but I think the red gives a better shine and its also not as common .
Well done BT!
Well Big Truck, long time no chat! Glad to hear things are good! Im now working for Gibsons of Banbridge in a dead end job, basically signing the dockets and showing the drivers where to tip the top soil, rubble, clay or aggregate. Only yesterday I found out what Jack Gibson is paying his subbies for lifting clay etc out of the new Tesco at Newtonbreda, the new Outlet site at banbridge and a few sites on a smaller scale ranging from Armagh to Antrim.
I cant see how some of these hauliers can make the work pay on the 8 wheelers, twice in one week an operator got a puncture to a wagon. On the rate, the drivers wage, 250-270 litres of juice a day etc it couldnt be worth it. And this guy runs a least 15 tippers!
Im glad to hear things have worked out, got the cpc organised for feb hopefully then very seriously considering putting one on the road, the 2 kids in 2 yrs have put paid to me doing it sooner! Are you working out of a quarry with white and maroon wagons or are they orange and black?
Just curious!
Regards
Kev