Just Another Thread, Chronicling the Adventures of a Scrapper

[SteelMill]

Alright guys (and gals), I love talking about all of my ideas, and trust me there's quite a few in my head at any given moment, so I figured I'd make one of the ongoing threads. I really just need to type this stuff out and run it by other people. Oddly my wife doesn't particularly care to hear about my scrapping adventures. Fair enough, I hate talking about make up and decorations.

So the story today is I've started liquidating all of the metal from my previously open to the public scrap yard. The operating margin got low enough that it just wasn't worth it. we got 240 tons of steel sent out today so only about 380 tons left. The rest of the ferrous and non-ferrous will be sent out over the course of next week. After that, I'm going to start buying cars from insurance companies, banks, and locals to start a pull-a-part yard. I ordered signage for the front of the building and mailed a flyer for it to everyone that passed through the pay gate for advertising. Funnily enough, I already have the equipment for it. The wife says I hoard anything with wheels (and things that used to have wheels).

I also finalized a contract to build a nearby town municipal building. They already bought out the land and houses, which are mobile homes. 5 of which are fairly new, being mid-2000's, and 2 of which are old and ratty. So out of the older two, i'm going to build a flatbed goose neck, because how many is really too many? lol I haven't decided if I'm going to sell the 5 or become a landlord. They're in very good condition so, I could rent them out for around 1000 a month or sell them for around 30k. I just don't know about the hassles of being a landlord. I have a few trucks coming next week to remove them and tow them to my warehouse location so making a decision isn't too urgent.

Of course, I'll post pictures of the most interesting parts

Thanks for reading my ramblings guys, Rob

[SteelMill]

Update: I got the remaining 380 tons of steel shipped out as well as a couple hundred tons of various non-ferrous metals. I went on some auction websites like iaai and copart and I bought a truck..... only problem is it isn't for the yard. It's a 1999 F-550. It's a 7.3 with a flatbed and goose neck hitch with about 120,000 miles on it. I got it for dirt cheap. It really wasn't my fault. Mother nature WANTED it too happen..... I tried to tell that to my wife but she wasn't really buying into it.

And then a rollback showed up in the yard. No idea where that came from.

I'll post pictures tomorrow. -Rob

[Swampy]

I'll never be a landlord again, but that said - if I could get $1000 / month on mobile homes, I'd reconsider. Rock on & good luck with all the other things you have going.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

So wait a minute you are gonna stop buying scrap and start buying vehicles? Why not do both? Now you gotta jump thru more hoops and laws buying cars.

[SteelMill]

I've always bought cars so, there's not really anymore hoops to jump through. The more-than-scrap value is definitely there with cars though. The only local pick a part yard charges $250 for an engine and $150 for a transmission and they have quite a bit of business despite very poor customer service and relatively high prices. I can do much better than that.

[Focker]

i know you didnt buy no powerstroke from copart for say cheap lol

[SteelMill]

No, it was actually govdeals that I got this truck from Focker. The county just decided an f550 wasnt used enough and I was right there to pick it up. Definitely one of those deals that only comes around every now and then.

[Thecamokid]

Focker just cracked me up. 7.3 is an amazing motor and 2 of my little trucks and my wifes excursion have one, but im scared to buy those things used lol. Also, I don't care what your wife says, you can never have too many gooseneck or semi trailers. never. I do parts pulling on the cars I buy and accept metal, and once that car has been there for a certain time and parts and whatnot haven't been pulled I then pull motor tranny etc then smash all depending on a few different things. hopefully there are other people in your area that take metal or you will have a couple sad folks in the area. I don't know anything about "doublewides" except how to move and level them, and Im not a landlord (yet) but I wish you the best in your slight entrepreneurial change.

This is how I look at it: no matter what you're doing, keep your head up. As soon as people see you with your head down, they will walk all over you.

[SteelMill]

I got pictures, as promised, just a little late. I've been real busy trying to get a few projects done on time. The crew worked a full Friday and a full Saturday. (We usually do half and half.)

F-550:


Rollback:


Please forgive the size discrepancies. I took one on my phone and one on a camera. I thought I'd be clever and edit the sizes to be the same but apparently that didn't work out.

Edit: Image sizes fixed

[Thecamokid]

Those trucks look good steelmill, I love my 02 dually but its a 4 door with a bed. And I loved my 4300, that looks like a jer dann but I can't zoom in because I'm on my phone. I forget that the name was on the bed I had on my 4300, but that was the best roll back I've ever had. My jer dann on my old body '97 4300 is a decent bed but it won't pick the truck up and do what that other bed did.

[SteelMill]

Well, the wife got mad with the "junk" (treasures) in the yard and said they had to go across the road to the shop. So, Friday and Saturday afternoons were spent using the rollback to haul projects across the road from the garage to the shop. I think I'm going to have to cut some trees to clear up some parking and maybe pour a larger parking pad. But only my current project cars are left in the garage. I reckon I should probably free that up so the wife can park her cars, but, that's a project for another weekend. Maybe after I get done with the cars

I'm taking Friday and Saturday off and we're going to the Blue Ridge mountains to cruise the Parkway next weekend. Really looking forward to that. The mountains are truly beautiful this time of year.

[Thecamokid]

I was thinking that was your roll back, but either way, that's a good riding truck. Mine was spring ride rear and still a great 85 mph truck lol. And you can never! I mean never! Have a big enough garage. And about the blue ridge, are you planning to ride the whole stretch? And car or motorcycle? I've always wanted to do that have never been able to just because I claim I'm busy and just don't make time. I pass by the fancy gap in Virginia about 6 or 7 times a year in my semi and that's just not the right time. But my moms family has a huge cattle ranch (the bedsaul ranch) in Galax Virginia and I could stay there any time, but I make every excuse in the book to stay in town and work and since I had my first born (2 years ago) the excuses have gotten worse. Haha

[Raedwyn2014]

Question for ya man, and congrats btw! anywho - how much they hit you for insurance on the flatbed, etc? I know up here in PA it drives my buddy nuts!

[dsroten]

I was thinking that was your roll back, but either way, that's a good riding truck. Mine was spring ride rear and still a great 85 mph truck lol. And you can never! I mean never! Have a big enough garage. And about the blue ridge, are you planning to ride the whole stretch? And car or motorcycle? I've always wanted to do that have never been able to just because I claim I'm busy and just don't make time. I pass by the fancy gap in Virginia about 6 or 7 times a year in my semi and that's just not the right time. But my moms family has a huge cattle ranch (the bedsaul ranch) in Galax Virginia and I could stay there any time, but I make every excuse in the book to stay in town and work and since I had my first born (2 years ago) the excuses have gotten worse. Haha

Yall need to look me up. I live in Sparta, and have what I think is the prettiest stretch of parkway there is, from Cumberland Knob to Laurel Springs (Freebornes and Stations Inn).

[carolinajunkman]

Dsroten, I've been to Sparta many times. My step daughter has family there. Also I bought Christmas trees for resale from Sides nursery 3 times. Beautiful country.

[DakotaRog]

No mountains and not many trees here but some people think its scenic at the right time, especially when its -20 F with ice crystals dancing in the sun (that's for SirScrapLots and t002.....too hard of a handle to remember for sure) down in Sarasota. Its really only -20F a couple times a year

[SteelMill]

Raedwyn, insurance will be a little less than $400 a month but it's worth it. I have equipment that costs a lot more than that.

So far as the parkway, I believe we're going up to Boone and driving to Asheville. Spending two nights there while touring the nearby areas.

[Thecamokid]

Raedwyn, I'm down in Florida and my insurance was around 250 per truck and at the time I had 3 roll backs and one 30 ton wrecker. But I got rid of most of the tow trucks and got semis and my rates went up because "people in my area are having wrecks".... Ummm I hate how that effects me, but you can't argue with them.

Dsroten - that is a great stretch of road. I have friends from down here that live up in that area. And carolinajunkman, I hauled Christmas trees out of combers rock in VA which was really weird/hard/cool, because my grandpa was burried in eye sight distance from where I was trucking.

This really is a small world..

[MattInTheHat]

there should be at least 2 kinds of insurance available.

-you haul other people's stuff

-you only haul your stuff

can anyone guess which one is cheaper?

[SteelMill]

So, I had some guys pick up a ton of CRTs from a local school system that I have a contract with today. There were about 350 of them to be picked up and fortunately I get paid to take CRT monitors per unit.

Unfortunately, the truck is going somewhere tomorrow, so I had to off-load all of them, but I'm told you guys love pictures.....