scrub puller, I get paid from the time I start driving to a customers job until I get back where I started. Lets just say I get paid the same per hour as a 20 ton excavator operated and fueled (that makes it relative to wherever the readers are living)? Why because that's how much it cost for my tools and equipment to do my job. My customers demand the tools that I have, for instance a 300 amp welder is a minimum required for the air arcing and welding I do $5,000, they also require my crane $25,000 it lifts 8000 lbs real close but the biggy is I can remove hydraulic pumps, engines and attachments from there machines, they also require my air compressor $5,000 for fast removal of components, and then there are the hand tools and miscellaneous parts for repairing there equipment add this all together and wah-lah you are now packing 10,000lbs of goodies that the customers require and you need a 12,000lb (priceless) truck to haul it all around. My customers rarely call me to "replace an o-ring" or jump start a dead piece of equipment or change cutting edges or change oil, this stuff is usually performed by there operators. My customers leave me for the more complicated projects that require my special tooling, not to mention my "expertise". In regards to "it is different working in a mine" I can't get my head wrapped around this I think your actually saying somehow working in a mine is more valuable? that is not how it works in the U.S. anyways it is a free market. Another large cost I have is liability insurance my customers and the land owners they work for require me to have a $2 million policy this is $5,000 a year hopefully all these numbers are adding up for you! As far as TCTRACTORS and others like him anywhere in the world even 707 above there I would prefer to drive around a suv or a smaller "specialized" truck instead of a much larger truck! .......that is it for now I am interested in where this discussion is headed it may need to be posted under "shop talk" in its own thread..................TIO