Owner-builder needs to offload delivery trucks...

16 years ago

Hi folks,

I am an owner-builder in central Texas.

Building on 10 acres. Just started clearing the land...

I have several shipments headed inbound.

Palletized items that require forklift offload.

I need a rough-terrain (all-terrain) forklift (3500 pound capacity).

Has anyone ever had to arrange their own off-load? Cost per hour?

Did you hire a person who came with their own forklift?

Cost per hour?

Did you rent a forklift and do it yourself?

Cost per hour?

Learning curve?

I have seen some 18 wheelers that have a small forklift tucked on piggy-back style. Anyone rented that or know costs?

I have a healthy respect for the dangers of heavy items being lifted above ground level. I do not want to damage my items, myself or the forklift. While I do have previous experience with using trash dumpster lifting and emptying type equipment, I am NOT a trained fork-lift operator. I might be inclined to rent it for several days and ask/pay the rental folks for some intensive training and then evaluate the risk to do it myself.

I am googling forklift training courses.

I will do an online one and might drive to attend a 1 day course for $45...

Any recommendations or bright ideas?

Thanks folks.

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Comments (18)

sierraeast
16 years ago
Since you are at the clearing stage, if possible, i would somewhat finish grade an area such as where your driveway would be in order to make it easier to offload as well as easier for the trucks coming in. Most shipping companies delivering to a site other than a depot will offer a lift gate at an extra charge, but could make fork lifting a little easier if they are delivering in a boxed trailer.

You might stay in contact with the trucking outfit regarding piggybacking a lift, but most require an onsite lift operated by anyone other than them. They are responsible for getting the goods to the site, but generally stay away fro unloading as it's not covered by their insurances.Sounds like a crash course and a rental are your best bet, but if you have time, i would clear out an area to make it a might safer.
jca1
16 years ago
I'd say check with some local rent centers, you should be able to find what you are looking for as well as costs there. Forklifts are very easy to operate but do take a little getting used to, maybe get it early the day you need it or the evening before and drive it around for a bit.
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I am a woman and the GC on our house. We had a GC to start, but ended up being our own. You are capable of doing it, it's more a matter of whether you really want to once you know more about it. Live Wire Oak's comments were spot on. If you know good subs, are willing to spend a lot of time researching the correct way things should be done and have a lot of time to babysit and enough assertiveness to stay on subs, you will be successful. You will also spend more money than you think - you will find out the best way to do things and want to go that route for more $ and you won't get all the same price breaks GC's get. I do not work outside the home and do not have young children, have the help of my parents and husband, yet am very busy, exhausted and stressed. You have to be up early and at the site to make sure deliveries are correct, workers have shown up and that they are doing a good job. You have to line up the next subs and be organized, but at the same time flexible. 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We ended up having to call in a commercial mason to install thru the wall flashing. All of these things were learned AFTER we became the GC and read the blueprints. (You need to know how to read them and interpret them.) In addition, all these things were inspected and passed by our building inspector. You cannot rely on your inspector - you must know it. When we talked to our inspector about these issues, he said his job is to enforce code that his county is enforcing. These are MINIMUM standards - not best practices. Regarding a loan, we fortunately have a loan through Farm Credit and they allow owners to be their own GC, but most banks do not. In addition, we don't have a separate construction loan. It was a regular mortgage loan that incorporated the construction part. Therefore we don't technically have a time limit, but we do have to make progress and keep them informed of the progress. 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texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
sierreast,

Roger that on off-load areas. in my 21.5 years in US navy ship repair we called these open areas alongside the pier or drydock, "lay-down areas". I already have several included for staging my various pallets. And for manuevering areas for the fork-lift, trucks, etc.

jcal,
thanks, yes, I have spoken with the manager of a local RSC equipment rental. he said they would give me familiarization training on any of the gear I rented.

It is raining hard today so I will do the online forklift safety course and google other off-load tips, etc.

Thanks fellas. I will keep you posted.
brickeyee
16 years ago
What is coming palletized?
Most lumber comes on either a tip back or the yard has a piggy back forklift to unload the truck.
bus_driver
16 years ago
A Bobcat with forks attachment will handle many of such deliveries.
texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
brickeyee,
Coming palletized:
a). 43 squares of clay roof tiles.
b). 220 square meters of French terracotta floor tiles.
c). Three tractor-trailer loads of ICF blocks.

bus driver:
I checked a few skid-steer loader with forks but usually the lift capacity was too low for all my needs, maybe some...plus the ICF manufacturer website said:
QUOTE
"We recommend that you use a "rough terrain" type forklift rated at a minimum of 3,000 lbs rather than a normal warehouse type. The pallets weigh approximately 1,800 lbs. each. DO NOT UNLOAD DELIVERY TRUCK WITH A BOBCAT or anything not designed to handle 1800 lb pallets. The 'warehouse' type wheels on many forklifts, which are small and designed for use on smooth, concrete floors can't handle these heavy loads on rough, construction sites. " UNQUOTE
brickeyee
16 years ago
I would ask the suppliers some really hard questions, and even threaten to go elsewhere.
Roofing supply companies normally deliver to the ground, and the same with floor tiles.
Common carriers will not unload, but company vehicles normally do.
minnt
16 years ago
I don't understand why your ICF blocks are so heavy. We offloaded a trailer load of ICF blocks by hand. They were packed into the trailer tight, we had two guys up in the trailer handing down, three of us below receiving the blocks and putting them in our storage shed. It took us less than an hour. We got two more smaller loads that were on pallets, but we used a small forklift for those. We used Arxx blocks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Delivery of our Arxx blocks
mikeyvon
16 years ago
we just got done moving around and putting up our panelized home using a "lift-all" type machine. The one we rented was a Cat TH83. It kicked ass! It was easy to drive and was truely all terrain, we wheeled it through brush and large rocks. It was easy to operate and sipped diesel. It had an 8000lb capacity and reached 42' up. We payed just under $900 per week.

Here is a link that might be useful: here is a picture.
texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
mikeyvon,

Thanks for the tip on the TH83. Looks promising.
But you typed "...reached 42' (feet) up.". Did you really mean it could reach 42" (inches) up? I do not think that 42 inches is high enough for our offloads...

minnt,
we have a different type ICF than you used. Ours are about 70 pounds each. Amazon grid-wall.

brickeyee,
My suppliers are all foreign in Europe.
No company trucks.
Everything comes by ship then by road on common carrier...

OK, I am in the start of my online OSHA lift truck safety course. Gotta go...
sierraeast
16 years ago
The cat mikeyvon was referring to reaches 42 feet. If you notice in his picture the boom at rest opposite the cab when raised, also extends out. They are commonly used by framers here on large tract housing units and come in handy for raising roof sheathing up multiple stories as well as loading wallboard up multiple stories. They have many other uses as well including off loading trucks.They are 4 wheel drive. They also have a bucket attachment to allow two workers to work at heights. Multi purpose rig that im sure mikeyvon will tell you was money well spent renting it.
texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
Ok, now I see what must be a telescoping type structure.
42 feet. DANG!
Sorta like a mobile crane.
That website shoulda had a picture with it up and out at maximum viagra mode...

Another good option. Thanks for the clarification.
mikeyvon
16 years ago
I meant 42 feet. It is an awesome machine. It has 3 options for steering (regular front wheel, true 4 wheel, or crab walk 4 wheel. It has differential locks for high traction needs and it has hydrolic frame leveling. It is pretty much the same as lift-alls and grade-alls and I am sure the all work pretty much the same. It took about an hour on it for me to feel really confident and be able to have fun with it. It is really easy to operate.

As sierraeast said, it is a true multi purpose rig. We used it to offload the trucks, move packages (wall panels and crates), pull stuff, lift stuff, push stuff, move rocks, work up high (we just stood on the forks and held the heck on), hold stuff high for us to use, and more. I wish i could still afford to have it to help with the siding and roofing, but alas money does not grow on trees.

Here are a few pics of it in action.
kcmo_ken
16 years ago
Wow, when I last unlaoded ICF the pallets weren't that heavy. I got three deliveries, and never had a problem unloding any without fork truck. Mine were Amvic, but the source is hardly relevant as these are mostly air.

As to roofing tile materials, I would pay extra for rooftop delivery, your roofing supplier has that capability. Their isn't a roofer out there that wants to haul 43 squares of clay tile to the roof, and it would be rare that a roofing subcontractor would also bring a rough-terrain fork truck just for one single purpose.

And the tile, I would ask for liftgate delivery to a nice smooth area. I would then call Labor Ready, Labor Pros, or a local labor shop and tell them I needed one or two laborers at an hourly rate and have them move the tile to a location close to where it needs to go. I used the labor shops to do a lot of moving of materials, including hardwood floors, tile, solid surface countertop material, etc.
texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
I successfully rented an all-terrain straight mast forklift. It was a CASE 586G. They delivered and picked-up. Very easy controls and easy to operate. My online safety course was a feel-good measure. It was brand-new and ran great. Total with delivery and tax and some other odd fees was about $400.

Even my wife had a blast driving it around.

The bobcat and wacker compactor get here next week for the 1000 foot gravel driveway!!!
Maybe later a mini-excavator for the septic system....
I'll keep you posted....

Thanks for the advice and thoughtful comments.
ajpl
16 years ago
As owner-builders we did our best to buy materials from sources that would deliver to the ground or rooftop or floor etc. Our panelized walls were on pallets and delivered onto the top of the first floor and then again for the second floor. There was one delivery we weren't able to arrange for a lift. We got a great price on T&G pine but we had to unload 10,000 feet by hand!

I'd get serious with the delivery people and ask why they don't provide unloading before I spent a lot of money.
lyfia
16 years ago
I don't know if you plan on having a tractor for your land, if so now might be a good time to get one and then get the fork lift attachment or rent just the attachment.
texas_fire
Original Author
16 years ago
I am getting phased delivery of 3 tractor trailer loads of ICF. Their policy is that customer arranges offload.

I am also getting 1 of roof tiles coming from Germany.
And 1 load of floor tiles coming from France.
My costs included the trans-oceanic shipment and road haul to my site but I arrange the forklift.

Maybe some of the other smaller deliveries later in the timeline I can negotiate in the offload...

Owner-builder needs to offload delivery trucks...

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sierraeast

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