A recent job

[JLarson]

That's a nice looking rig.

I can't stand any of the vac outfits here, on the hydro-ex side or the environmental side, what kills me is for the prices they charge and a lot of time show up with busted equipment or not enough hose or leaking hose or don't show on time.

 

[AzIron]

That's a nice looking rig.

I can't stand any of the vac outfits here, on the hydro-ex side or the environmental side, what kills me is for the prices they charge and a lot of time show up with busted equipment or not enough hose or leaking hose or don't show on time.

I rest my case

 

[DMiller]

Are mass in motion but handy as hell. In this day and age of buried everything are the cats meow as to close quarters trenching.

 

[JLarson]

I passed on an old truck right before the COVID that needed some tank work and a bit of body harness work, I really should have snagged it and parked it in the yard and tinkered on it and had the boys give it the 5 gallon overhaul.

 

[Coaldust]

. She does resemble a beluga.

 

[CM1995]

With all the data center work we are doing I needed one anyway we are having to guarantee numbers for vac work owning a truck seems a lot less risky to guarantee a cost for

AZ what exactly does that mean?

 

[DMiller]

Pretty certain Necessity to utilize a Vac Truck for excavation investigation prior to hard digging, his having a Truck makes that simple as to no need to contract out.

 

[Coaldust]

CM1995,

He can’t comment as per the NDA, but I can.
That’s where they store all your personal data they steal from your cell phone, google searches, credit card statements, every 4473 you ever completed. And everything Alexis is listening too, your smart TV that’s watching you and the microphone in your new Ford Mustang.

Lol. I’m mostly serious.

 

[AzIron]

AZ what exactly does that mean?

It's a cost control no service will offer a locked in price for pot holes or slot trenching its all by the hour at whatever pace the guy they send out is working at and you have a 3 hour site specific and id badge requirments on most of these facilities so a guy like myself has to carry a real cost for what's is reasonable and if we run into something completely unforseen that's obviously a Change order but if we are having a bad day materials a little tight or the gc does a bad job of coordinating the job witch never happens right

But really if I blew the estimate and have more time invested than expected I lose a whole lot less money owning the truck than I would if I was paying a vac service by the hour to be there

The companies whose name is square and see through is a real pain to work for like not fun at all but the work is also at a massive premium to deal with them so even an idiot like myself can make money at it

 

[Birken Vogt]

How about subbing out your vac truck once your guys get the hang of it, sounds like there will be a demand for that service among other contractors as well.

 

[DMiller]

Nuke I worked at was dependent of a Vac Truck contractor, the operators were badged for duty with Guards standing nearby. Found massive errors on the yard prints as the abandoned in place construction days materials were never adequately marked.

 

[CM1995]

It's a cost control no service will offer a locked in price for pot holes or slot trenching its all by the hour at whatever pace the guy they send out is working at and you have a 3 hour site specific and id badge requirments on most of these facilities so a guy like myself has to carry a real cost for what's is reasonable and if we run into something completely unforseen that's obviously a Change order but if we are having a bad day materials a little tight or the gc does a bad job of coordinating the job witch never happens right

But really if I blew the estimate and have more time invested than expected I lose a whole lot less money owning the truck than I would if I was paying a vac service by the hour to be there

The companies whose name is square and see through is a real pain to work for like not fun at all but the work is also at a massive premium to deal with them so even an idiot like myself can make money at it

That's what I figured. Totally see how the first pricing would be difficult to put a number on. I'm with you I hate rental and if we are using something on a regular basis I want to own it regardless of what it is.

 

[CM1995]

LOL! I know what a data center is.

CM1995,

He can’t comment as per the NDA, but I can.
That’s where they store all your personal data they steal from your cell phone, google searches, credit card statements, every 4473 you ever completed. And everything Alexis is listening too, your smart TV that’s watching you and the microphone in your new Ford Mustang.

Lol. I’m mostly serious.

 

[cfherrman]

My friend has 4 vac trucks that go around $125/hr 2 hr minimum, but he hauls water lol a little different than sucking and hauling dirt.

 

[skyking1]

the integral part of a vac truck is a dump site that is convenient and can handle contaminated materials. If I were in the business I would have a centrally located piece of land, and dump 95% of what comes out of the ground that is very clean. Then reload and use where ever.
When you get on a suspected dirty job, then you pay for getting rid of that. It can be where old fuel tanks are, or industry.

 

[AzIron]

the integral part of a vac truck is a dump site that is convenient and can handle contaminated materials. If I were in the business I would have a centrally located piece of land, and dump 95% of what comes out of the ground that is very clean. Then reload and use where ever.
When you get on a suspected dirty job, then you pay for getting rid of that. It can be where old fuel tanks are, or industry.

You got an extra million laying around it takes about 2 acres to dry that crap out for 2 trucks running everyday and the constancy of the material dried out varries from gravel to silt there is massive segregation

In a dream world that would be awesome but in reality our metropolis is so dam big centrally located is still a 25 mile drive sometimes so with traffic over an hour 1 way

 

[CM1995]

I remember reading an article in one of the trade magazines where a vac company had tanks on roll-offs the vacs would fill on large jobs. Thought that was pretty slick for a big job. One roll off and a couple of tanks could keep the vac trucking running constant.

 

[skyking1]

Maybe there is something to rent somewhere. If you're busy enough, $300 an hour running 4 hours a work day = 1200 x 5 x4 = $24,000 a month in driving and wearing out the truck.
Your site so you get to collect the fee too. I pay $600 to dump a truck, flat rate no matter how much. I have them dump at my little postage stamp when I know what comes out and it is a small load.

 

[CM1995]

Maybe there is something to rent somewhere. If you're busy enough, $300 an hour running 4 hours a work day = 1200 x 5 x4 = $24,000 a month in driving and wearing out the truck.
Your site so you get to collect the fee too. I pay $600 to dump a truck, flat rate no matter how much. I have them dump at my little postage stamp when I know what comes out and it is a small load.

$600 per load? Is that trash or just dirt? $75 per load here for dirt, concrete, etc. No trash.

 

[AzIron]

Maybe there is something to rent somewhere. If you're busy enough, $300 an hour running 4 hours a work day = 1200 x 5 x4 = $24,000 a month in driving and wearing out the truck.
Your site so you get to collect the fee too. I pay $600 to dump a truck, flat rate no matter how much. I have them dump at my little postage stamp when I know what comes out and it is a small load.

It pencils out great in theory but it's a big need for cash and multiple trucks and a solid service buissness none of witch I posses at the moment.

I remember reading an article in one of the trade magazines where a vac company had tanks on roll-offs the vacs would fill on large jobs. Thought that was pretty slick for a big job. One roll off and a couple of tanks could keep the vac trucking running constant.

I have seen them they work great for certain things mainly volume not day service. A lot of jobs we do we can dump on site so using a secondary can and truck is really expensive on that regard there is no one size fits all. I never wanted to be in this line of work necessity dictated it we make it work time will tell if we scale a service off it or just take care of ourselves.

This line of work is the most capital intensive and maintance intensive idea I have ever done yea you can make a lot of money but to run 4 trucks full time you need 5 trucks almost 6 a fairly set up shop a good mechanic someone on the phone 12 to 14 hours a day and probably 10 guys plus solid relationships with your dealer witch can be sketchy depending on the brand

Just nozzles can run upwards of 400 bucks and you can destroy one in 10 minutes being dumb not to mention filters are over a grand and it doesn't take much to destroy those either

Trucks right now are close to 600 after taxes

Digging dirt is a lot less risky and a lot easier nut to crack and the other really big thing is I have yet to look at a truck that can scale legal half loaded according to our local rules