Hauliers Become Builders' Merchants
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Specialized Knowledge Required in • Selecting Suitable Vehicles: 3-tonners Desirable for Dealing with Small but Urgent Consignments
/T takes all sizes and types of vehicle to cope with the many problems arising in connection with haulage work for builders. In fact, it is becoming the practice of such operators, including those engaged in public works haulage, to take a more active part in the industry served than is customary in other branches of road haulage. Many hauliers carrying for builders and public works contractors find it practicable to act as builders' merchants, a development which is almost forced upon them if they are to cater successfully for if& haulage needs of their customers.
As an example of what I mean, take the haulage of sand and ballast. The haulier finds that his customer prefers to be given quotations for the material to be delivered on site, the price including the cost of transport. The matter of road service licences enters into the question, too. The haulier realizes that the work he proposes to do is such that a B licence is all he needs. As it is usually easier to get a B licence, he takes the line of least resistance and applies, usually successfully, for one.
Service to Customers
The haulier-cum-builders' merchant is a natural development of conditions in earlier days, when owner-drivers were continually being asked by builders to collect materials from the actual suppliers. Hauliers concluded that they could save time, make more money and render a better service to their customers if they kept small stocks of the commodities most frequently required stored in their own premises. Doing this, however, has not by any means put an end to the builders' habit of calling upon hauliers to do odd jobs.
A good deal of knowledge of the subject is necessary if the haulier is going to get the best machine for the job. Such things as the type of body, and the means for facilitating loading and unloading, are important. The type of haulier I have in mind finds it advisable to have a 3-tonner for casual jobs and a 5or 6-tonner for heavy work. Generally, of course, the operator will have several of these lorries, with bodywork designed to meet the onerous work which the vehicles will be called to do.
I stress the use of 3and 5-tonners because, whilst the speed of vehicles engaged in this work is not normally high, the operator will often be called upon to hasten delivery of materials, and vehicles of these capacities are more likely to be capable of dealing with rush jobs.
A petrol-engined 3-ton lorry engaged on work for a builders' merchant would cost 8.40d, per mile, assuming the weekly mileage to be about 300. The standing charges total, to the nearest Is., LEO I0s. per week. The running costs of 8.90d. multiplied by 300 also give £10 10s., the total cost per week thus being £21. If! assume that the profit margin is such that the revenue is assessed so that the gross profit is a third of the operating costs, i.e., D. per week, then the
(.28 weekly revenue must be at least £28. That is approximately 13s. an hour for a 44-hour week.
1 have worked out the figures for cost in this way so as to give me a figure per hour, because it is the custom in dealing with this kind of work to charge by time and not mileage. There are good reasons for this. For one thing, individual journeys are short; and there is the factor, already mentioned, that the driver of the lorry may be asked to make an extra run to collect materials in urgent demand.
Having dealt with a petrol-engined 3-tonner, 1 propose now to give the cost of operating a similar vehicle fitted with an oil engine. The running cost per mile of this type of vehicle is about 6.601 For 300 miles a week the total running cost is thus £8 6s. 8d. The standing charges amount to approximately the same as for the petrol-engined vehicle, namely £10 I0s., so that the total cost per week is £18 I6s. 8d. Add a third for the gross profit and we get, to the nearest id., £6 5s. 7d., the total minimum revenue being £25 2s. 3d. I must emphasize that the provision for gross profit includes the establishment costs.
These figures apply, of course, to traffics other than those connected with building, and I will return to this point later. In the meantime. it should be enough to state that the rate per hour should be not less than I Is. 6d. for a 44-hour week.
Rough and Smooth The difficulty of comparison is not diminished by the fact that there are so many occasions when the load offered does not call for the use of a 3-tonner. In some cases, it is possible to exercise a certain amount of discretion in making the charges, obtaining perhaps 14s. or 14s. 6d. an hour for the petrol-engined lorry when there is a full load and conditions are favourable, and adjusting the rate later when a part load offers. In this way the rough can be made as profitable as the smooth.
Brick haulage is an important aspect of this type of haulage. Not only does it require some special aptitude in handling, but it is important to know what constitutes a load. Bricks are sold by the 1,000. Common bricks weigh approximately 24 tons per 1,000, but the more expensive types are heavier and many weigh as much as 3 tons to the 1,000. On the other hand, there are the smaller and lighter imitation antique bricks, which are not quite so heavy.
In brick haulage, it often pays to send a second man with the driver in order to cut down the vehicle's idle time. Two men reasonably accustomed to the work can load or unload 1,000 bricks in IS minutes. This is taking into consideration the fact that, for part of the time, the men are sitting in the vehicle while it is on the move and, therefore, come comparatively fresh to the work. The average brickworks tabourer takes a little longer.
The selection of a vehicle for brick haulage depends on the distance. If the lead is upwards of 70 miles. then 14-16-tonners. capable of carrying 5,000-6,000 bricks, arc best. But that is outside the scope of this article.
A good deal of brick haulage, however, is over reasonably short leads, the bricks being brought by rail and carried by the haulier from rail-head to the building sites. For this work a 5-tonner would be a good selection. Such a vehicle costs approximately 9.7d. per mile and £11 per week. For a 300-mile week, the running costs will amount to £12 2s. 6d. Add the £11 per week for standing charges and the total cost of operation is £23 2s. 6d. With a third added to provide for profit and establishment costs, the minimum revenue amounts to nearly £31 a week, or 14s. an hour for a 44-hour week.
These figures do not include provision for a second man. and where one is employed the total cost will be a further 3s. 6d. an hour (4s. 8d. an hour, including gross profit).
Flow this works out in practice is shown in the following example. Take a I5-mile lead for which the total time, including loading and unloading, is 2+ hours. The charge for this should be not less than 24 times 14s., which is LI l5s.
With an oil-engined 5-tonner, the running cost will be 8.90d. per mile. or 111 2s. 6d. per week. The standing charges can be taken as being the same as those of the petrol-engined vehicle, namely fl I per week, so that the total cost per week is £22 2s. 6d. Add, as before, a third for gross profit, that is £7 7s. 6d.. and you get a total of £29 10s. per week, or 13s. 6d. an hour. S.T.R.