Yes, you are.

Every piece of equipment on a job site comes by truck—sometimes, as in the case of mobile cranes and concrete pumps, the equipment is the truck.  Every load of concrete, stick of wood and pound of dirt and rock, hauled into or off of the site—all of it—comes by the truckload and you pay for it.

In addition to materials, supplies and equipment hauling, most contractors have a fleet of trucks they operate on their own—sometimes for the stuff we talked about, sometimes for service or maintenance.

As contractors, you should belong to an industry trade association.  They should keep you informed on all aspects government control of the construction industry, from legislation, workers’ compensation, labor negations to air quality and other issues.  They should also keep you up-to-date on what is happening in the construction transportation industry. 

Transportation issues are in a constant state of flux. Local and state government agencies are constantly hatching “new ideas,” to control our industry—and, for the most part, raise fees for these government agencies. Among these “new ideas” are increasing the fees for permits, changing truck routes to basically ban all heavy hauls through their communities and changing hours of operation.

For years most of you have just rolled over, suffered the delays, paid the fees and fines. When you could, you added these costs to your charges for your customers, further driving up the cost of construction in California for no good reason. What you can’t add is the lost time, frustration and waste that these rules cost your company.

This is no longer necessary, with our program.  What is necessary is that when you are confronted with a transportation problem, you get in touch with us.

Our services are free to members of the following associations: AGC southern California chapters, BIASC, ECA, and SCCA—the four associations which make up the Southern California Industry Advancement Funds which supplies the majority of our funding. We also receive funding from the Northern California Industry Advancement fund, so members who are signatory with the Carpenters unions in that area receive our services.

Other associations have also decided to support their member’s transportation needs including generous contributions this year from the California Dump Truck Owners Association (CDTOA) and the Mobile Crane Operators Group (MCOG—a subchapter of SCCA), so that their members also access our assistance at no charge.

If you aren’t a member of one of these organizations, you should be. We have listed the web sites of each of these great member-driven groups at the end of this article so you can join up. If you are a member of another organization with transportation problems but no real solutions, you should encourage your group to join the Transportation Consultant Program.

To keep informed on the latest developments in construction transportation, or to access the services of the Transportation Consultant Program, join one of these great organizations.

Greg Dineen, Industry Transportation Consultant

Greg Dineen and Associates

P. O. Box 2040

Wrightwood, CA 92397

Tel. (760) 249-4376 * Fax (760) 249-6403