Part Time Business worth?

Hi all, new member here. I am posting in regards of starting my own part time excavation business to see if its worth it or not. I currently work for the railroad so I dont plan on leaving that place because of benefits, pay and retirement but I miss operating LOTS. I have 4 days during the week I can work with this, possibly everyday if I had too, I work nights so I can work after work if i had too lol. But anyway, is it worth it or not? I am certified for septic systems, have done drains, culverts, spread rock, grade, basements, footers, all kinds of stuff. I was looking at a small dump truck to start with, I have a equipment trailer already, would be renting equipment at first. Not looking to get rich, just looking to get back into operating and bring in a few more dollars, if it takes off, it takes off. Any advice? Thanks fellas!

Working for yourself is (virtually) the only way to get ahead. If you can cut corners in the beginning and not get caught, it helps. Eventually, you will need to be legit. Once legit, you will need to bill accordingly, pay all the taxes, license fees, insurances, etc...

Otherwise, if you just have the itch to operate some machinery, find a part time job. I imagine most businesses are looking for good, responsible operators.

There is an "expense constant" that needs to be satisfied with any business. Part time and you may never get beyond paying for that.

Thanks fellas! About anyone I have known that started from nothing started "illegally" Im going to try to get all that asap for sure! Looking at a small dump this week!

It will take a lot more than you think to part time it and you may never get passed breaking even by the time you pay insurance and have equipment to maintain not to mention if you pay yourself anything to make ends meet it will probably turn into close to a 40 hour week to make it work in my opinion

Not to mention if a job goes sideways what will it cost to take care of the issues at part time that's a huge risk cause your already running on a tight budget

I did just that. I work in law enforcement and worked 12 hour shifts. That left me 14 days a month that I wasn't working. I started with a 95 John Deere 8875 skid steer and already owned a 3/4 ton truck and trailer. First thing up is insurance. Mine is for the most part based off past and projected income and risk. 10 years later I've traded skid steers to an 06 Takeuchi tl130, bought an 03 IHI 30 class mini ex, 99 New Holland 555 backhoe and a 91 Cat 953. I've traded up dump trucks and am now on my third which is a 2002 International 4900 crew cab. Its possible to do it part time but I've often been just over the profit mark because I only get to run just over enough hours to meet the fixed and variable expenses. My fixed expenses run about $1000 a month average on a yearly basis. From there the variable expenses can go from $50 a month to another $3000. Its been profitable for me and I get to use the equipment on our family's farm as well. It can be a great way to pay for the "extra" things in life but dont expect to make a fortune on a part time basis. For me it's a stress relief and it's my time to get away from the headache of my real job.

John

Depends how much you want to work.
It sounds like fun, but when you're tired and crap is staking up, when you've got people calling / depending on you, when things are broken...it can turn real fast.

Every 'easy money' job always turns into way more work than you expect.

I dabbled in "part time" for many years. Have a Bobcat with backhoe attachment and old 3 ton dump truck and recently picked up a John Deere 550 dozer for the farm. The biggest issue that I have always had is the liability insurance. Iv been very lucky over the years but always afraid that Im only one mistake away from a big law suite. Lets face it, with all the ambulance chasing layers out there it would only take one simple wrong move on a job and you could loss your life savings. The past few years I have limited my "Part time" to ONLY local friends and family.
The other BIG issue that I had was potential customers would get my name and phone number form someone and have a job to be done and call me on a Sunday night expecting me to show up Monday morning for a 3-4 day job. I would then have to explain that "Hey, its just a Part time job for me" and that all I could do was maybe 3-4 hours in the evening after my regular day job. Well needless to say, a lot of customers didnt like to hear that (and I guess I dont blame them).
Do what you want and give it a try if you want but I can tell you that for me it became more of a risk and pain in the butt than what it was worth...

Friends and family can be the absolute worst people to do work for! Always expect it for free and even when you give them a good price they think it's too high. Then they want you to drop everything to do their job. If you're a 1 person operation it can be a real pain. You have to do the jobs you have, go to estimate other jobs, answer the phone whenever it rings, do repairs and maintenance. go to get parts and supplies. It's a real juggling act and if the weather doesn't cooperate can put you way behind. Then you get 4 customers wondering when their job will be done as well as new customers expecting you can come over right away.