A tipper truck is also called a dump truck, especially in the United States. These are large trucks that are used to transport loose construction materials, such as soil or gravel. They are open-bed trucks that hinge at the rear of the bed and are fitted with hydraulic levers that lift the front of the bed. This allows the loose material to be dumped, hence the name. Typically, the term “dump truck” applies to the off-road vehicles, and “tipper truck” or “tip truck” applies to the road vehicle. We’ll be discussing the road vehicles. However, many of the same considerations apply to the off-road version.

Driver

A tipper truck tends to be a very large truck that is quite difficult to operate. In fact, depending on the jurisdiction, you might need a special driver’s license to even operate one. In Australia, there are several different classes of driver’s licences depending on the gross vehicle mass (the size of the vehicle). Once a vehicle reaches 4.5 tonnes of mass, a specialised licence is required. That weight is the weight of the vehicle when loaded, not just the empty weight; so, even if your tipper truck is under 4.5 tonnes, it will probably be way over that when loaded full of earth or gravel.

Either way, they are incredibly difficult to navigate, especially through suburban streets and on the highway. Because of that, we employ only the most skilled licensed professionals. They have all of the necessary licences to operate these unwieldy vehicles and are insured against any sort of accident. They’re quite good, though; accidents are pretty unlikely.

Experience

When you are dealing with a tipper truck hire, you might be wondering what size of truck you need. Well, that depends on how much material you intend to move, which in turn depends on the size of your job. That is therefore why it’s so important you work with someone who has experience. We have decades and decades of experience working with different kinds of construction jobs and can help you figure out how much of a material you might need. We can let you know, to a high degree of certainty, how much of your garden will be covered by one tonne of pea gravel.

This all depends on the depth of the coverage as well as the size of the material. Also, gravel differs depending on the location and the supplier. Very tiny differences in gravel size can greatly affect how much gravel you might need. That will, in turn, affect what size tipper truck you might need. For example, one tonne of a generic rock gravel will cover about 80 square metres. One tonne of wood mulch, on the other hand, will cover significantly more of your garden. However, since wood is so much lighter than rock, one tonne will take up much more space in a truck.

Whatever your needs might be, the skilled professionals at Pursuit Contractors are ready and able to serve you. We have been doing contracted construction work for decades, and there’s very little that we can’t handle.