Dump truck dispatch that knows how the job pays before you roll
Dump truck dispatch isn't load board work. Dump trucks earn by the hour or by the ton, on construction sites, quarries, asphalt plants and demolition jobs, usually close to home. We find contractor and material hauling work, confirm the pay basis and the payment terms before you accept, and keep the truck busy from the first cycle to the last.
5% of gross for one truck, no contract, and every job is your call.
What do you run?
You see the site, the material and the pay before you say yes
Every dump job reaches you as an offer: the contractor, the pickup and dump locations, the material, hourly or per-ton pay, the expected hours and when the contractor pays. You decide. If you say yes, the confirmation comes to you. If you pass, there's no penalty.
Load offer / Dump
Quarry to highway job, 18 mi
- Miles
- 18
- Rate
- $1,100
- Per mile
- $61.11
On the rate con: hourly, 10 hr minimum, contractor pays weekly
Pickup: Mon 06:30
Nothing is booked until you say so. You see the lane, the miles, the rate and every extra before anyone commits your truck.
Hourly or per-ton: run the day before you take the job
Set the shift length, the minutes for each part of a cycle, the tons per load and the two rates. The day redraws: loads per shift, tons moved and the gross on each pay basis. Every number is an example. Put in the site you're looking at.
- Cycle time
- 60 min
- Loads per shift
- 10
- Tons per shift
- 200
- Day gross (hourly)
- $1,100
- Same day per ton
- $1,600
- Fee at 5%
- $55
Shorten the cycle and per-ton pay climbs; lengthen it and hourly pay protects you. That trade is the whole question behind any dump job.
The cycle is everything in dump work. A short haul with a fast loader turns a lot of loads, and per-ton pay rewards that. A long haul, a slow loader or a line of trucks at the dump site stretches every cycle, and per-ton pay drops with it while hourly pay holds steady. The same truck can earn very different money on two jobs that look identical on paper.
Before we offer you a per-ton job, we ask about the haul distance, the loader, the dump site and how many trucks are on the job. Too many trucks for one loader means everyone waits, and waiting doesn't move tons.
The dump work we find
Most dump truck work is local and repeat. The goal is a steady mix that keeps you busy without too many empty days.
- Aggregate hauling
- Stone, gravel and sand from quarries and pits to job sites and supply yards. Steady, repeat work, often paid per ton.
- Asphalt
- Hot mix from the plant to paving crews. Timing matters, because the crew can't wait for cold mix. Often early starts.
- Site work and excavation
- Moving dirt on and off construction sites. Hourly work is common, and site conditions vary day to day.
- Demolition and debris
- Concrete, rubble and waste to recycling or disposal. Tough on equipment, so it should pay for the wear.
- Landscaping supply
- Topsoil, mulch and rock for supply yards and landscapers. Lighter, seasonal, often smaller jobs.
- Seasonal and municipal work
- Road maintenance, salt and sand runs in winter where they exist, and municipal projects with their own paperwork.
If you're starting out, the dump truck business guide covers truck types, pay models and costs. If you're in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana or Arkansas, our South Central coverage page shows the construction corridors we work.
Match the truck to the job
Different dump bodies fit different work. Sending the wrong one costs time at best and causes an accident at worst.
| Truck | Good at | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Tri-axle or quad dump | Tight sites, short hauls, city work | Less capacity than a trailer |
| End dump trailer | Bigger loads, longer hauls, aggregate and debris | Raising the box on uneven or soft ground |
| Belly dump | Laying material in rows on road work | Needs the right material and site |
| Side dump | Fast unloading, big loads | Needs room beside the truck to dump |
| Transfer | More capacity from a straight truck | More time to transfer at the dump |
Tickets, terms and getting paid
Dump work has a paperwork problem: a missing ticket is a missing load, and slow-paying contractors are common.
Load tickets
On per-ton work, the scale ticket is your paycheck. Get every ticket, check the weight, and make sure it's signed where the job requires. On hourly work, your start and stop times need a signature. We collect and track the tickets with you so nothing goes unbilled at the end of the week.
Payment terms
Contractor pay terms vary from weekly to much longer, and some pay late regardless. We ask for the terms before you accept a job, write them into the confirmation, and keep notes on who pays as agreed. If slow pay is squeezing your fuel money, read our honest take on whether factoring is worth it for your situation.
Seven questions to settle on any dump job
The rate is only one line. These terms decide what a dump day actually pays, and we settle them before a job reaches you.
- 01Is there a minimum?A minimum number of hours protects you if the job ends early or gets rained out mid-morning.
- 02Is standby time paid?Waiting on a loader or a paving crew should be paid on hourly work. Find out before you wait.
- 03Who weighs the loads?On per-ton work, know whose scale counts and how disputes are settled.
- 04Is travel to the first load paid?Some jobs pay from the yard, some from the first load. It changes the day.
- 05Is there a fuel surcharge?On longer hauls, fuel can swing what the day pays.
- 06What about Saturdays and early starts?Some contractors pay more for them, some expect them at the normal rate.
- 07When and how do they pay?The terms in writing, and how tickets or time sheets must be submitted.
What we ask a dump truck owner on the setup call
Dump work is local, so the setup call is about your area and your truck more than your lanes.
- 01Truck and bodyTri-axle, end dump, belly, side or transfer, and the body capacity.
- 02Your areaHow far you'll go from home each day, and which quarries, plants and cities you know.
- 03Pay basisWhether you prefer hourly, per ton, or whatever the job pays best.
- 04Hours and daysEarly starts, Saturdays, night paving. What you'll run and what you won't.
- 05MaterialsHot mix, debris, dirt, stone. Some trucks shouldn't haul certain materials.
- 06Contractors to avoidAnyone who paid late or ran an unsafe site. They're off your list.
Authority, local rules and the construction calendar
Authority and local rules
Hauling for hire across state lines takes a USDOT number and operating authority. Plenty of dump trucks never leave one state, and then state rules decide registration, permits and insurance. Many cities and counties add their own rules on routes, hours and weight on local roads. Tell us where you run and we'll keep offers inside what you're set up for, but check your own state and local requirements directly.
Seasons
Dump work follows construction. It runs hard in the building and paving seasons and slows down when the ground freezes or the rain sets in. In cold regions, spring weight restrictions on some roads can limit how loaded you can run for weeks. We plan for the slow months early, which is when a steady municipal or supply-yard job is worth more than a high rate that ends next week.
A day on the dispatch desk for a dump truck
Dump dispatch runs on a daily rhythm, not a weekly one. Here's what the desk does around your truck from the night before to the end of the shift.
- The evening beforeTomorrow's job confirmed: site address, start time, site contact, material, pay basis and the plant or quarry you'll load at.
- Before the first loadIf the site is rained out or the loader is down, you hear before you leave the yard, with a backup job if there is one.
- During the shiftIf the site slows down or the cycle stretches, we raise it with the contractor while it still matters, not on Friday.
- TicketsScale tickets and time sheets tallied with you so the invoice matches what you hauled.
- End of the dayTomorrow set, or a heads-up that it's still open and what we're working on.
The backup job matters most. A dump truck that loses a day to rain or a broken loader can't make it back later in the week. Having a second contractor or a supply yard that takes trucks on short notice is often worth more than a slightly higher rate on the main job.
Small dump fleets and site safety
Running two to ten trucks
Small dump fleets often have an owner who drives one truck and dispatches the rest from the cab. That works until a contractor calls at 6 a.m. while you're loading. We take the scheduling, the contractor calls and the ticket tracking for the whole fleet, at 4% of gross for fleets of 2 or more trucks with authority older than 6 months. You decide which trucks go where, or you let us balance them across jobs and tell you the plan each evening.
Site safety we respect
Dump sites carry their own risks: raising a box on uneven or soft ground, overhead power lines, backing into busy crews and blind spots around loaders. We never push a job that asks you to cut those corners to hit a number. If a site feels unsafe, stop and call us. A missed load is cheaper than a rollover, and the contractor hears from us, not from you, about why the truck stopped.
5% of gross on work you haul
Dump truck dispatch is 5% of gross for one truck with authority older than 6 months. Fleets of 2 or more trucks pay 4%, and new authorities pay 7% until month 6. No setup fee, no minimums, month-to-month with 30 days notice. Details are on the dispatch pricing page.
To compare a job against your real costs, run it through the load profitability calculator. Fuel, wear and idle time on a slow site can eat more of the day than the rate suggests.
- Shift
- 10 hrs
- Hourly rate
- $110
- Day gross
- $1,100
- Fee at 5%
- $55
Do dump trucks need a dispatcher?
Many don't. A dump truck with one or two contractors who keep it busy every day has little to gain from us. If that's you, keep that work and call us when it slows down. Your contractors stay yours either way. We fill the days they don't, and the relationship with each of those contractors stays between you and them, whatever you decide about dispatch.
Where we help: owners who spend evenings calling contractors for tomorrow, trucks that sit on rainy weeks and slow months, and small fleets where the owner is driving and dispatching at the same time. Finding the next job, confirming the pay basis and terms, tracking tickets and keeping notes on who pays: that's the work we take off your plate.
Dump truck dispatch questions
Note 01How much does dump truck dispatch cost?
5% of the gross on work you haul for one truck with authority older than 6 months. Fleets of 2 or more trucks pay 4%, and new authorities pay 7% until month 6. No setup fee, no minimums, and no contract beyond month-to-month with 30 days notice to cancel.
Note 02Do you find hourly or per-ton work?
Both. Hourly work protects you when cycles are slow or the site is badly run. Per-ton work pays more when cycles are short and the loader keeps up. We tell you which basis a job pays on before you accept it, and we'll give you our honest read on which one fits that particular site.
Note 03Do you work with end dumps and tri-axles?
Yes. Tri-axles, quads, end dump trailers, belly dumps, side dumps and transfers each fit different work. We match jobs to what you run, and we won't offer you a job your truck can't do safely, like an end dump on soft ground where it shouldn't be raising the box.
Note 04How fast do contractors pay?
It varies widely. Some pay weekly, many pay on longer terms, and a few pay late no matter what the terms say. We find out the payment terms before you accept a job and keep notes on who pays on time. If slow pay is squeezing your cash, factoring is one option worth comparing.
Note 05Do I approve every job?
Every one. You see the contractor, the site, the material, the pay basis, the rate, the expected hours and the payment terms before you decide. If you say yes, the job confirmation comes to you. Saying no costs nothing, and we never commit your truck to a site without your yes.
Load offer
Pickup → delivery, miles, rate, accessorials
The rate con comes from the broker straight to you.