As of february 1st we started charging travel time again, hope we can keep it up without losing much work, next is reinstating o/t charges, we do before 7am and after 3 pm, used to do after 8 hrs on job but two jobs a day and was eating the o/t , also o/t all day saturday,d/t sunday and holidays does this sound about rite to yall ?

Do the O/T charges get passed along to the operator??

 it did before, during the week I am not sure, but all saturdays and sundays and holidays definitely

Sounds pretty fair Pudg....One thing that helped us when I was in sales at other places and I dont know if you can get it in your area is getting full pump rate from the time you leave job thru clean up and we would travel time home???? Just a thought

that should have said eat the travel time home

good luck,and stick to your guns.

This is interesting,remember your feelings on getting paid lunches and how you felt like I was nitpicking and that I should feel lucky to have a job,well maybe you should feel lucky to have the work that you have for the prices you get!!!!!Kinda like it is o.k. for the co. to ask for more but not the employee!!!!

If the company lowers there rate just a small hair and then charges travel they will make it up in the long run and probaly go unoticed by the contractor. Ot and DT are hard issue right know because they cost so much from the companies pocket book.

Sundays should be double time because it is not a weekday, but overtime on Sat. is different, because it is part of the work week, for the operator or the company.

I really dont think Saturday should be considered part of the work week,Thats Monday through Friday in my opinion...I work saturdays when ever needed but I dont think its part of a normal work week

I always charge 1 hr travel unless it's a job within 10 miles of my shop. I got a $650 min on my 36 meter and $750 min on my 44 meter. I've been considering an OT charge too. I have raised my prices to $140/hr on 36 meter $160/hr on the 44 meter. I figure if I'm gonna go broke, I'm gonna do it sitting at the house watching Jerry Springer not out pumping for free. The 'salesman' mentality around north TX is STUPID! These idiots think "we are slow so I better lower my price to get more work". Makes me want to punch them in the teeth. I got good prices in my area (70 miles north of Dallas) and the metroplex salesmen don't even consider that. I'm sticking to my guns on my pricing. If I can't make it, at least I made an attempt to try to help the pumping business a little bit anyhow.…

Luke Wangen, Saturday part of the workweek? You probably would run a bigger machine for the same pay as a smaller machine and love it and be grateful just to have a job,wake the hell up,when you give managment that attitude of working for less money they will use and abuse you and then kick ya to the curb in the end!!!!

old veteran , I appreciate your comments, but we are talking different subjects , paid lunches I have never had a job where I got paid lunches, on the other hand I always got o/t so see your comparing apples to oranges , if you can get it knock yourself out just never heard of it, and thank you for your thoughts on me getting travel and o/t but I am getting it and no I want settle just because I have work , this company will turn a profit in 2010 , what about your company ?

old veteran , if you wouldve posted you was asking for a raise or your company to start paying you o/t I wouldve been behind you 110% , but the things you asked for I have never heard of someone or a pump operator getting , it is okay for you to want or ask for more but maybe you should think about how and what you ask for ? maybe o/t after 8 hrs o/t on saturday something to that affect and Im with you brother , but paid lunches I dont see that happening anywhere.

Luke, I have always felt if a man or woman has to work saturday it should be o/t, now I have worked for companies that manipulated when time went in where saturday was always regular time, I think that sucks , and I do believe if you look at o/t costs it is better to do before 7am and after 3pm where that leaves only 8 hrs in the day for regular time the customer should bear the burden of any o/t cost, the only way to guarantee that is only having 8 hrs a day where it can be regular time,and all weekend work should be o/t if we looked at our o/t costs that most companies are eating, this system will help you with that costs, not to mention if a operator has several early pours at the beginning of the week, he has made his overtime and the company usually will have some regular time left to do maintenace work, it works it is a proven system, now getting everyone to look at it and use it thats a different story, we was doing it and the owner stopped due to no one else except 3 companies in the state was using it, therefore we was being undercut on many jobs, but after eating o/t costs for about 6 months he is starting to see the picture a little more clearly.

I think that the morning/afternoon OT time designation is a great idea.  It puts the cost directly on the contractor that is getting the benefit of working outside of the 'normal' times.  I liken it to the hourly and yardage charges.  If a contractor 'dogs it', then he gets hit with hours.  If he's got his act together, then he pays for the speed of the machine (Speed also = extra wear) and the pump company gets remunerated according to increased wear costs.  It's the best system all around.

My question is: do you bill the operator as a seperate charge alongside the machine hours?  Or do you have it built in to the machine's Ot rate?

I understand that some companies bill the operator out for an 8 hr minimum, and the machine at 4 or 5 hr min, depending on if it's a morning job or an afternoon job - morning's being the preferred time to start a concrete pour.

Old Veteran, I get paid very well for the equipment I run. The way I was raised is that Saturday is a regular work day, and if you have your forty in on Friday then you get o/t on Saturday. It is just another day of the week. I plan my weekends around working on ( a morning job) Saturdays. I guess things are different in other parts of the counry. I have never been paid o/t on a Saturday unless I had my 40 in. And I do get paid lunches, I grab and go.

Pudg I hope you can get your prices. Automatic o/t on Saturdays would be great, and if that is what you are paying that is what you should get. Good luck to you.

Luke my problem with the you might have forty by saturday is that some companies start time on wednesday where most times saturday will not be o/t, then you dont have a job monday or tuesday so they keep you under 40 and saturday is done at regular pay, I like many here have a wife and kids that are only off on weekends, thats the days I want off so I can spend time with them , not monday or tuesday where they are at school or work, Saturday is not a normal workday there are 5 in a week that is monday thru friday, now I am on salary so it doesnt affect me either way but for my men I want them to be paid o/t on saturday d/t on sunday.

ok fellas what pump companies are you working for. It doesnt matter if you start on wen. or mon. we all work a full week. Either way sat. is a part of the work week. Unless you started pumping within the last year we have all been working sats. for years for good money. If you start on wen. and have to work sat. then come tue. your on OT. And if your lucky you catch a job on sun. for double time. I thought this wa a concrete pumping site not a crane operator site. If you think you get OT after 8 you are either union or a crane operator swinging 2*4s. As far as Luke goes I have only worked with a hand full of operators that come close to his experience and most of you could learn something from him if you would listen. This is the first time

well stoneman i dont know what rock you crawled from but we have been getting o/t on saturdays for years and before 7 and after 3 and I have no issues with luke knowing his business but we get it and my operators get it , and I have been a crane operator and a pump operator for 20+years and here we all get about the same.

and stoneman in these times full weeks are hard to come by for alot of guys.

just looked , these are BB guys telling someone else how to pay there guys, might wanna handle yours on the homefront before we start criticizing others pay scales.

Hey Pudg you started this message asking for thoughts and suggestions. I told you what I thought, you lashed out at me. If you don't want to here what people think don't put your ideas on the site. My paycheck has always been good with BB and I am positive it will remain that way.

I was not lashing out at you it was the arrogance of stoneman that got me started , my apologies if it sounded as it was directed at you, it was not, to each his own but if you look at the system its good for the operators and the company keeps the customer paying o/t on the operator 95% of the time,leaving regular time for maintenance and such.

Hi my name is Dan Rudolph I live and work in Alaska the whole mess in the pumping industry is it's own fault pumps are like helicopters as far as upkeep . Very expensive to buy and to run safely. Prices have been and are way to low. After what has happened to the industry and all the jobs lost why are you guys still debating pennies? I have been an operator for the last six years not just here. WTF we all need jobs but damn starve at home in front of the tv. at least your with your family. Things will not change. With this need to work pumping at any cost. Pumps are worth there weight in gold when concrete needs to get further than five feet from the mixer truck. a good pump operator is worth more than that. Things aren't gonna change until eveyone stops begging for a bone.