I run equipment, cat, hoe, and rock truck mostly. Last year was my rookie season, in 20 weeks I grossed $42,000 on a $22/hour wage, $100/day for my truck and travel time paid. Thats only for those who can handle working long shifts for extended periods of time. I worked 31 days straight, had 4 off, worked 5, had 6 off (xmas), then worked another 31 days. That was about the craziest Ive done so far...I could do 60 days straight, my foreman last winter once spent over 200 days in camp straight. I dont think I could handle that.

 

Hey pud, do you need guys in the crew you work with at all?

 

Theres always a job for a person....except right now none of the companies Ive been talking to are going full tilt yet, so Im not working either. Its still soft under all the snow theyve got up there I guess. What do you do?

 

Right now Im a first year electrician. I am a farmboy though and I can do anything. I am planning on getting my 1a license in a week or so also. Im looking for the big cash, exactly like you said you made in the 20 weeks, thats amazing.

 

What area are you working in Pud?

 

BC prairie land. Worked out of Fort St John last winter. Im talking with a company from Tumbler Ridge, they are working north of FSJ, and another company from Fort Nelson. As well as the place I worked last year.

The guy I bought my truck from is an electrical engineer, wiring up anything to do with oil field work lol.

Driving water truck in the patch is the most gravy job you can find. I would definately reccommend (sp?) that job to someone with at least a class 3.

 

Thats good to hear, that its an easy job. The way my buddy told me, he gets paid pretty damn good doing it too.

 

the majority of water trucks are dumping water on the muskeg roads to freeze them in. So you go find a pond and drop your bell in it, load up and go empty the tank load over the road, then head back to that pond untill its empty. The hardest part of the job is making a hole in the ice to put your hose into lol.

 

Oh yeah that does sound easy. Is it just really long hours, or why do they get paid so damn good?

 

Employees get paid so well because
1) their employers bill out their own employers for everything and anything
2) you work long shifts

Its nothing Ive really ever tried to figure out, I just enjoy it. My boss was grossing about $50,000/day I figured out on the one job. He had about 15-20 pieces of equipment all getting paid hourly rates from $175-$220 an hour per machine, and a low bed getting $250/hour....all running 22 hours a day. I got paid $100 a day for my truck, my boss bills my truck out for $185 a day and pockets $85 a day which covers the fuel he supplies for me. Ive got a 700L tidy tank, everyday at the end of the shift I fill it up because you never know when youre getting sent home for a few days or weeks.

I ran rock truck (articulating off-highway 30 ton dump truck) for a month straight on the one camp job. I started the rock truck in the morning, and puttered between the hoe and the pit for 11 hours getting as little as possible done, since the machine was getting paid hourly= more money for the boss, and more money for me.

The only downside is youre away from family for long periods of time, and when youre new to the game you dont have much job security. If youre young, like I am...I just figure I can work my butt off for the next couple years and get ahead so later in life when I have less energy I can relax more lol.

OT when I moved to grande prairie in '04 I laughed because every billboard a store had outfront was advertising help wanted, and around christmas some read "giving away jobs"...its the same anywhere there are oil fields nearby. My suggestion to anyone entertaining the idea of going out in the oil patch is to get your safety tickets, and take a drive to Fort St John, Grande Prairie, or Fort Nelson. If you start hitting up companies in the morning youll most likely be working the next day, if not then and there. In a they needed you yesterday kind of way. I could go on for days about this stuff....but Ill say one last thing.
Another money job in the oil patch is being a first aid attendant OFA level 3 or higher. You show up at work and go to sleep all day, make $350-$500 a day. Theres the odd time you might have to bandage someone up, and the remote possibility you have to try to recessitate a corpse. If you end up in camp all your expenses are paid, if not most places will put you up in a hotel where you get meals on the company expense account (cant put booze on them tho, tried).

Oilfield construction is where its at, I dont think Id ever want to go on a rig...you actually have to really work then.

 

hey Larry , check out Jone's Lake just before Hope . turn off at Laidlaw big climb up to the lake , may find some logging roads to follow. or go up the Coquihala to the first right turn and you'll be nestled in along the river. if ya gets a backwoods map you may find some more nice spots . could keep ramblin forever on places to go around Hope and the Fraser Canyon. Little late but good for next year. we are in the works of building a resort up the canyon , so in the near future we may offer some exursions one day . the back roads up in the mountains are amazing if ya know where to go.

 

i see preppy, my misunderstanding, i thought you were talking about something like can am or just a regular van/flatdeck hall. i agree, everything ive heard from the guys in the oilfield is that the equipment and truck jobs up there are the cherry jobs to have, although they all agree steam trucks arnt that good. my teacher just came out of the patch b4 he started our class. im thinking of welding for a few years then trying to get on a machine, maybe buy my own and work a few more years up there, then come back to the interior to finish my millwright and sorta retire. thats the great thing about the patch for all us young guys,if a guy wants to work you can really get ahead and make something of yourself. great opporunities and if you do get stuck up there working for someone you dont like its not that hard to find another job with someone you cna deal with. one day though, got a couple more years yet.........

 

Thanks for the info pud. I didnt know that they needed guys out there to work so bad. I knew they were always looking though. I did work on an oil rig for awhile before, and it wasnt all that hard. Pretty boring though.

 

no problem man. I always heard the stories, but its something youve got to see for yourself to fully grasp it.
I was running hoe on a road job last fall and everyday I would see a super-b coming down the road hauling raw crude oil, and there would be a kid driving....keep in mind I was 21, so when I say kid I mean teenager. Raw crude is highly lethal juice.