what kind of license do I need to operate heavy equipments?

No I am not in the IUOE. Probably would benefit you though. Down here in Fl it is more good ol' boy style then up north. Everything up north is Union.

 

I see.

In PNW, I actually can't find a single non-union Equpment Operating gig (not that a unions up here are an issue at all, in WA, all the unions are pretty squared away, everyone in my fam except myself are working for a union) but even the union gigs for an Apprenticeship, they all require pre-apprenticeship training operating heavy equipment. =/

Same with a Class A CDL.

Teamster will take you without a CDL and train you, only issue is, I'm having issues figuring out what the requirements are to even become a Teamster... LOL (checked the websites, not much help) and was wondering how the union process worked for you.

In the state of WA, OR, CA, and ID, even contracting company's are members of a union if it's related to construction. It's crazy lol

 

I don't know about all companies but... I drive dump truck, skid loaders, rollers,mini ex's, tracked swing shovels, bull dozers, transport and haul all the above, etc. I think it depends more on finding a small comp that does not require all those papers. I do all the above and then some and I have NO papers.

 

Are you in a road construction company?

 

LRT. I work for a small comp. There's only seven of us at the moment. We don't do road construction yet because we are to small. However we do put in some streets when we do sub divisions. Those are called roads right? Wait i'm confused!

 

all depends on your location. In mass you can get your hydraulics license and be good, actually the trooper that tested me for my license does the classes close by to me. i think when it comes to certain jobs it'll matter. if your working for a ma and pa operation and not doing any union work or large city jobs then its probably not such a big deal. alot of guys that ive worked with run the machines but just dont have the license to do so. there are times when your in the dirt hauling business when you dont have a operator to load you at the yard or maybe a pit and you have to do so yourself.

 

I see, I just simply saw the equipment you listed, and it's the samekind of equipment loadout you'd expect for general road construction.

And then the Laborers to do general work, a couple Cement Masons to check up on grades etc. as the cement cures, and the Equipment Operators doing what they do best.

Smallest road crew I've seen in WA to build an extension to a Highway was 11 men. (not including the Engineer who wrote the plans/spec they used to build it, WA Law requires all construction projects to have blue prints made by a Certified Civil Engineer. Just curious, is that the same in your state?)

If you don't mind me asking, and I understand this is a bit off-topic, but does having a CDL help you at all with what you do?

 

I looked into running heavy equipment back in 1990 and it was like this. In Las Vegas if you wanted to run the big stuff you had to be in the union. They told me they had three steps you'd go though once you were qualified. Class C to Class A. The top class A were operators that worked all the time and most of the companies would keep them from job to job. The next one, class B, you would be sitting in the union hall and a company would request you by name from past experience. And the last you had to take what was left.

I came out of the Navy as a Seabee Equipment Operator E-6. The only equipment I couldn't run was cranes. I ran all the other stuff. They would take me into the union and place me on the B list and most likely work at the Nevada Test Site. Back then the wages were $35.00 an hour. But even at that great pay I made more hauling gasoline because it was steady everyday.

I would have loved to run a dozer everyday because that was my thing. Or srcapers but those who know, know that scrapers are for young men. In that area the best job was runing a D-9 at the city landfill. Other than that you didn't work everyday so no matter how much the hourly pay is it's the w-2 at the end of the year that counts.

As far as a school I've never seen a school out west. The Union hall told me they train from within. If you were to walk in off the street you'd have a very hard time learning because no one knew you. It's worse than trucking experince. You've just about have to know someone in high places to get a good break. Or be trained in the military. My experience with heavy equipment was all documented plus what we did was major construction jobs when overseas. But still trucking put food on my table better.

 

Our local CC in SW Colorado runs a heavy equipment training course. I've never heard of any unions for it around here.

 

You should have the Operating Engineers union somewhere close by.