Working in Alaska pictures

[clintm]

that's the way we are it's more fun when it's somebody else's money going out the exhaust . been in my house about 12 years still haven't widened drive way or regraded yard. it's all I can get done to blow the leaves.got 3 shop buildings on trailers and roll offs at the farm for five years and a enough bar joist's for a 60'x100' building that i've had for 15 years. guess I will have to wait to retire to finish my projects.

 

[nedly05]

Sounds like you have a good system working for you! How many guys do you have working?

Im jealous of that gravel you have! Its not quite as common around here.

 

[ValleyFirewood]

Pretty much my days too other than I don't start quite as early and I work later. Most weeks are about 100hrs.

Well I like to start early and kick off early as possible I get up around 530-6 do billing and payments and am out the door by 8, we shut down at 6 and make it back to the house around 630 or so.

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[alaskaforby4]

that's the way we are it's more fun when it's somebody else's money going out the exhaust . been in my house about 12 years still haven't widened drive way or regraded yard. it's all I can get done to blow the leaves.got 3 shop buildings on trailers and roll offs at the farm for five years and a enough bar joist's for a 60'x100' building that i've had for 15 years. guess I will have to wait to retire to finish my projects.

That much covered storage sure would be nice!

Sounds like you have a good system working for you! How many guys do you have working?

Im jealous of that gravel you have! Its not quite as common around here.

I have a operator and a laborer, both good guys. No one can drive a truck though, sucks when we get the large trucking jobs and im stuck in the dump truck all day everyday.
You have alot of clay around there or is it just like dirt? It sure is nice having it pretty much everywhere. It does suck though on occasion when it can be 4-5' deep before you hit it or you run into massive boulders and hard pan, really hits you in the bid pocket.

Pretty much my days too other than I don't start quite as early and I work later. Most weeks are about 100hrs.

14 hrs a day 7 days a week is impressive. My guys turn in timecards that are that much, but that is every 2 weeks. I try to keep a steady manageable pace that I am able to keep my quality of work high and stay sane. The challenge of keeping this whole show rolling smoothly, keeping the jobs in consecutive order, keeping the homeowners happy and looking at new jobs is substantial. Alot of guys hate doing residential due to having to deal with homeowners and the "smallness" of the jobs. We are able to make it work by charging a fair price but how we are able to make the money is by keeping the jobs moving. Sometimes in a day we can knock out 2-3 little jobs a day and people don't mind paying a 7-8 hundred bucks to have some stumps pulled and hauled or yard upgrades or whatever. I look at it like getting a penny from everyone you'll be a rich man.

The trick is turning the stress into a challenge and just getting after it. Its hard to make the switch but if you're able to it makes it a whole lot easier.

 

[nedly05]

I'd like to find a driver/laborer and an operator. Hard to find help, no one wants to work, and they want big money. We have all sorts of ground here. Some like yours, some sand, some crappy black muddy rock filled crap, hard pan you name it!

 

[alaskaforby4]

I'd like to find a driver/laborer and an operator. Hard to find help, no one wants to work, and they want big money. We have all sorts of ground here. Some like yours, some sand, some crappy black muddy rock filled crap, hard pan you name it!

Geeze, sounds like you would have to have a pit of you own to make any decent money! It is hard finding guys, ive been pretty fortunate in that area. Here in AK if you have less that 4 employees you are not required to pay overtime. So I pay a high hourly strait time that seems to work out great, then Im not stressing about how much work they got done on saturday. Although I am approaching 4 employees in this upcoming year so we will see how that works out. I know there is that trade off where, sure you are doing more work but are you making anymore money??

Ive been forcing myself to put in a couple hours everyday on this never ending shop pad....I'm getting there!!

 

[alaskaforby4]

Working For Friends

I know you have all been there, when you have that buddy who needs dirt work done. Before I started my company in 2010 I had this friend who wanted a driveway& Pad installed down into this hole, Around 2008 It had been a few years since I had been on a excavator and I had the "itch" I told him if he rented a excavator and dozer Id install it for him. I ended up spending a week on this project with this little 312 with a digging bucket. It turned out pretty good, he ended up selling it and history repeated itself:Banghead

 

[alaskaforby4]

So I've known this guy since were were kids, hes a great dude. Its just the position one is put in when you have earthmoving equipment and experience.

So as I said, history repeated itself, he bought this lot right next to a lake, real nice piece of property and wants a driveway and pad installed. We went and looked at it, it is a heavely wooded area and he exclaimed he would have all the trees cut and taken care of. So about a day later he exclaims "Trees are down" I was kinda shocked as it was ALOT of trees. I said "you were able to cut, limb and top all those trees in a day"....silence...."no I just dropped them all" I went over there and sure enough they were all dropped in a big pixie stick mess, which is worse than leaving them standing! He said "dont worry about it just stack them up and I'll deal with them" Well that is easier said then done and your cord of wood would be a mile high with all the branches! He ended going back and limbing all the ones and we then came in and picked up each one, limbed and stacked.
Total P.i.t.a, once we got down to his pad area he decided he wanted another driveway and pad installed up on this ridge area..haha this happens quite a bit as homeowners are like "while you're here with the equipment can you etc, etc, etc" I just smiled and said "sure, what are friends for"
It all turned out really well in the end here are some pictures (oh, and I didnt do this one for free:thumbsup)

 

[alaskaforby4]

 

[alaskaforby4]

This was the pad and drive that was added half way through



A guest operator showed up, showed me a few pointers.



Apron attaching to highway

 

[alaskaforby4]

Finished product

 

[alaskaforby4]

Everyone was happy for about a month, then I went back and widened it out a bit more for him. haha, what are friends for right?

 

[nedly05]

Great pics, Alaska seems like such a free place to live. No wonder they call it the last frontier!!! What do you get hourly for your equipment? Feel free to pm or tell me it's none of my business!

 

[RCTech9]

Great pics, beautiful scenery up there.

 

[Landclearer]

Sure did turn out good! Great looking work and and a pretty place to do it.

 

[alaskaforby4]

Great pics, Alaska seems like such a free place to live. No wonder they call it the last frontier!!! What do you get hourly for your equipment? Feel free to pm or tell me it's none of my business!

There is definitely plenty of it to go around!.... As far as finances goes I'm not secretive or private about it at all. I'm not sure why that is, maybe because I'm just doin' what I love to do and the $$$ is a bonus, hahah , that is a great mentality to have untill you underbid a job. then strangely it becomes about the $$$ again

So, I try to bid all my work out, as much as I can anyway. I've found that people can focus and accept a solid range numbers rather than a high hourly rate. So if a home owner wants a few stumps pulled out and their drive graded (or whatever it may be) and I tell them it will be 1000 bucks and I bang in two hours he gets what he wanted done for agreed price and I get $500 dollars per hour :thumbsup Now going into the same situation with a set hourly rate for equipment wouldn't net me as much. This works great for me on these smaller jobs.

Now of course we will get these eccentric guys who want stones placed and trees moved and basically whatever new ideas they've smoked up that day, So to answer your question I base my price around $150 an hour for 1, sometimes 2 guys. My dumptruck get $115
How does that stack up to prices over there?

Great pics, beautiful scenery up there.

Sure did turn out good! Great looking work and and a pretty place to do it.

Thanks guys, "slowly taking the scenery out one job at a time"





This must be equivalent to a lucky star! I've only seen this one time in my whole greasing life :thumbsup

 

[nedly05]

We get $125/hr for the 110. $100/hr for the loader, backhoe, and 8 ton excavator. $90 for the 5 ton excavator. $80 for the cat mtl. $75/ hr for the single axle and $90 for the tandem. $40/hr for labor.. These prices are pretty standard in this area.

I would like to do the bid work like you mentioned as I think it's more fair to us who own and maintain our equipment, but $500/ hr would get me no return work lol!

 

[Deere500a]

Here in Ca 2yrs ago as a co driver, SF area 4 axle super dumps rates run from $105 to a low of $70hr or so,tonnage was worst $7 a ton. Brokers/boss would try to sell me a truck no way. That rate on the 10wheeler is sweet sure helps on up keep

 

[nedly05]

I did some drainage a month or so ago that I estimated at a grand. It went way faster that I figured but the access was very rough. Her bill ended up being around $400 but in my eyes it was worth a grand for what I put my machine through to get it done. I'm not sure she would have been very happy with me at $250/ hour but she was very happy with what I accomplished so she may well have been willing to pay it. Maybe I should just grow a set and try it some time!

 

[alaskaforby4]

We get $125/hr for the 110. $100/hr for the loader, backhoe, and 8 ton excavator. $90 for the 5 ton excavator. $80 for the cat mtl. $75/ hr for the single axle and $90 for the tandem. $40/hr for labor.. These prices are pretty standard in this area.

I would like to do the bid work like you mentioned as I think it's more fair to us who own and maintain our equipment, but $500/ hr would get me no return work lol!

Sounds cheap! I wonder what the percentage works out to be for cost of living here, compared to there. I mean some stuff is just outrageous! Shipping can be as much as the parts sometimes. Like those trackpads I installed last year, $800 in shipping

Here in Ca 2yrs ago as a co driver, SF area 4 axle super dumps rates run from $105 to a low of $70hr or so,tonnage was worst $7 a ton. Brokers/boss would try to sell me a truck no way. That rate on the 10wheeler is sweet sure helps on up keep

Ouch, that sounds painful, another thing we do differently here is base our trucking by yardage, since no one has scales in their pits its all just calculated by full buckets on the loader. Then for the trucking instead of hourly its per yd delivered. This is also a great money maker, altho it can get a little ridiculous some times as regular Pit-Run goes for $130 per truck and if the site is close 25 loads a day isnt unheard of. The old Western Star makes me proud on days like that.

I did some drainage a month or so ago that I estimated at a grand. It went way faster that I figured but the access was very rough. Her bill ended up being around $400 but in my eyes it was worth a grand for what I put my machine through to get it done. I'm not sure she would have been very happy with me at $250/ hour but she was very happy with what I accomplished so she may well have been willing to pay it. Maybe I should just grow a set and try it some time!

Well, dont even let the "hourly" word enter her mind, just call it "the job" Its tricky I know, that same thing has happened to me as well and I've reduced my price some and the customers are overjoyed. The risk about doing it by "the job" are the unforeseens, which there is always something! This is where an hourly rate will save your bacon, as I am really good about lowering the price, I have not perfected the art of raising the price The most important thing is leaving there with them overjoyed by whatever you have to do 'cause boy-oh-boy do people talk!!





Im Gettin There!!! Finally snowed a dusting, crazy its December in Alaska and I have not had a plowing event.....:beatsme