dredging material question?

I'm looking at removal of some dredged material. I can't nail down enough info to make a safe bid so i'm pretty sure I'm way out of the ball park at present ( not even sure if there is enough inthe budget for my quote and other items ).

I know the haul time. What I do not have is a weight of the material for yardages on the truck. Material should be about 80% silt and 20% gravel then prbably turning to almost all silt around halfway threw. My understanding is it will be dewatered twice. Once during dredging and once near the site. I realise that the second dewatering varible is unknown. So i'm looking for some info from anyone who has experiance with the this for some coments. Maybe questions I should inquire about before proceeding?

Upon further research I came across this

once dewatered
approximately 90 to 110 pounds per cubic foot
2,430 to 2,970 pounds per cubic yard

Does this seem in line with any experiance anyone has?

I usually figure about 3000 lbs/yd, so that sounds about right. One thing though, one man's dewatered dredge spoils is another man's wet mud. If it's not really dewatered well and you have a contract to haul by the yard, you can spend much more than you planned.
Good luck

Thanks for the reply mitch504

I don't think I can come in to range with my price at these weights. With the added varibles I'm not really prepared to try to get really competative and may pass.

Why not just submit a bid by the ton? Quarries bill by the ton, the DOT fines by the ton.....if you have to take it on the road, shouldn't that be the unit of measure?

By the ton would be a nice option. However that would add time to the haul to scale plus being out of the way.

With the number i was given I needed to be around I can't see it happening for even break even. Unless you could turn two or three loads an hour. Closest site I've located so far is 1.5 hours turn. There is a huge traffic varrible in the area to which is always unknown. Could add nearly 2 hours plus a day during peak times.

The number I was given apears to be 1/7 of the allowed funds for the total bid. Of the 1/7 there is a road and other items coming out of it I estimate to eat over a 1/4 of what i'm allowed.

If it was a smaller job I might assume the risk for the experiance. Risk on somewhere near 1500 loads is beyond my abillity to absorb at this time. A lot of other things gave me the fealing to move away. I was asked for a bid on about a half of the material the plans call for ( seems like a huge ooops by designer ) which I can cover my self by stipulating my price is for x amount only.

Also wasn't given a location other than the city it is in ( just barely, and opposite my dump site ) when I was asked about the job. I had to find it and the plans on my own. These simple things and dealing with an out of state contractor are to much risk for me.

I've delt with the local officials for years in the area and expect a lot of shutting down, or huge amounts of wait times demudding to hit the road ( which cuts way further into my already stressed number ). It also apears it's going to fall right when my solid customers will be picking back up which could lead me to not be available for them for very little gain or more likely a loss on a one shot deal.

I was leaning towards the pass before I ever asked, but still wanted to followup incase I was missing something. If it was dry fluffed material I think i'd still be tight on the number range they want me in and thats not including the extra wait time and costs that wet material will bring into play.

Why cant you just bid it by the hour? Without a known destination dump point it is impossible to bid by the ton or yard even if you bid high. Wet material, If by the ton/yard, I would base a bit higher also, Like 3600 lb/yd at least. They most likely bought the job and trying to get out of it cheap. Let them or someone else go broke if they cant work a fair deal. If it costs more to operate than your going to make, and you cant haul heavy without making up for it, then IMO its not worth it.

I could see cutting your rate to make a bit less and be working while others are not, but sounds like a losing proposition to me.

If its wet sloppy silt, remember you can only take half loads, or you will loose alot of material upon acceleration and deacceleration. Ive seen a couple bad accidents caused by this. A few other points to remember are that your trucks will be coated in mud, and will need to be cleaned at the end of each day, and that some dump sites require 2 tickets for silt or pond mud.

You didn't mention the dump site. The condition of it alone could be your downfall in regards to making a profit. I ran dozers on many different dump sites including handling the kind of slop you may be getting into. Also if it rains on it, someone that knows what they are doing will have to be there.

This job has too many unkowns or unpredicatable variables to be a viable risk. Without more info -run don't walk away from it. If you do bid it, bid for what it is worth for you to do it, don't worry about what "they" have allowed for it. I have found in situations like this, if they can not get someone to do it for what was alotted, they will find the extra money to pay you - or they will change the scope of work.