Haul cost comes down to cycle time: how long a truck takes to load, drive, dump, return and queue, multiplied by the number of loads the job needs. Import, export and haul-off is the part of an earthwork job that turns a quantity of dirt into trucks on a road, and it is one of the few areas where a good plan and a careless one differ by tens of percent on the same site. We plan it with real route times, real scale tickets and a clear idea of where every load is going to be accepted.
Import means bringing in select fill, flexible base, sand, topsoil or stone that the site does not produce. Export means taking away spoil, unsuitable soil, demolition debris and excess cut. Haul-off covers the disposal side: finding a permitted site that will accept the material, scheduling the trucks, and keeping the paper trail. Together they decide whether an earthwork bid holds or breaks when the quantities move, and in our experience the quantities almost always move.
Trucking, tickets and disposal sites
We provide the trucks, the loaders and the dispatch, and we keep a ticket for every load. Imported material is ordered from approved suppliers with a delivery ticket that shows the source, the material and the weight, and exported material is logged to its disposal site. The tickets reconcile against the earthwork quantities, so the owner can see that the yards paid for are the yards moved.
Disposal sites differ in what they accept. Clean fill can go to an approved fill site or a landowner who wants the material, while concrete and asphalt debris go to recycling yards, and contaminated or regulated soil needs testing, a manifest and a licensed facility. We ask the environmental consultant or the owner what the soil is before it is loaded, because a load rejected at a gate costs the truck time, the disposal fee and a day of schedule. Where the material is going back into the project, we coordinate with topsoil stripping and stockpiling so that suitable soil stays on site.
Texas road and rail networks shape every haul
The haul route is as important as the truck. Wikipedia describes Houston's ring roads as Interstate 610, the inner loop, Beltway 8 with a radius of approximately 10 miles from Downtown, and State Highway 99, the Grand Parkway, with a radius of 25 miles. We read that description as a general reference, but it matches what a hauler knows: the rings define how far a truck has to go and which tolls, weight limits and traffic windows apply. A site just inside Beltway 8 and one just outside the Grand Parkway have very different cycle times, even when the miles look similar.
In the Panhandle, the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation states that Interstate 40 runs east to west and I-27 north to south directly through Amarillo, which gives haul trucks direct highway access to much of the region. Rail matters as well. TxDOT states that Texas has over 10,000 miles of railroad track and three Class I railroads that together operate about 84 percent of freight track: Union Pacific at about 43 percent, BNSF at about 35 percent and CPKC at about 6 percent, with more than 50 shortline railroads operating the remainder. Aggregate and cement often arrive by rail at a terminal and are trucked from there, and grade crossings can add waiting time to a haul route.
Planning the haul before the first load
We map the route with the actual driving times at the hours the trucks will run, and we count the signals, grade crossings and weight-limited bridges between the source and the site. Then we size the fleet to the loader's cycle so that trucks are not idle at either end. If the job requires hundreds of loads a day, we work with the owner and the city on a haul route agreement, flaggers and street sweeping.
Track-out is the reason many jobs get complaints. Rock entrances, wheel washes and daily street sweeping keep mud off public roads, and the plan is usually part of the erosion control and SWPPP scope. We also look for backhaul: a truck that delivers select fill and leaves with spoil is paid twice for one trip, and the owner benefits from the lower rate.
Balancing the site to avoid hauling at all
The best haul is the one that never happens. Before we price an export, we look at the cut and fill balance to see whether the excess can be used on site as berm, landscape fill or a thicker pad in a non-critical area. If the soil is wet or plastic, we compare drying and treatment with export, and we often find that blending with a drier material avoids hauling both ways.
Import is the same story. A site that needs a few feet of select fill under a slab may be able to use a treated native soil instead, which changes the import quantity from tens of thousands of yards to zero. Our cut and fill earthwork estimators check this on every bid, and our lime and cement soil treatment option is part of the comparison.
Trucks, weather and the daily window
Hauling is scheduled around two limits: when the material is ready and when the roads and the site can accept it. Rain stops dirt hauling on unpaved haul roads and slows it on paved ones, and a muddy site can shut down trucking for days. Cities may limit hauling hours or ask for avoiding school zones and rush hours, and those limits can cut the working day to a few productive hours.
We set up the site so the haul can run even in bad weather: a rock haul road, a stabilized staging area and a loading ramp that drains. For jobs with a fixed date for pad delivery, we bring extra trucks for the critical weeks and release them as the work winds down. That flexibility is worth more than a slightly lower rate on a fixed fleet.
What changes the price per yard
Distance and cycle time are the main drivers, followed by tolls and disposal fees. A source ten miles away at a long cycle can cost more than a source twenty miles away on a freeway, so we price by time. Material type matters as well: select fill and base rock carry a cost at the pit, and disposal sites charge per load or per ton, with higher rates for debris than for clean soil.
Quantity risk is the biggest unknown, and we address it in the contract. We bid unit prices per yard or per ton, with tickets as the measurement, and we flag the assumptions. For logistics and warehouse developers who are building large pads, the haul can be the largest single cost in site work, and it deserves a hard look at bid time.
Price the haul by cycle time
Price the haul by cycle time, not by a guess. Send us the earthwork quantities and the site address and we will give you a haul plan, a fleet size and a unit price.
We will also tell you if the numbers suggest reusing more of the soil on site.
Common Questions
How do you measure the yards hauled?
We use scale tickets or truck counts with agreed load volumes, and we reconcile against survey quantities. The method is set in the contract, so there is no dispute at the end.
Where does the excess dirt go?
It depends on what it is. Clean soil can go to an approved fill site or be reused elsewhere. Debris goes to a recycler or landfill, and contaminated soil needs testing and a licensed disposal facility.
Who pays for street sweeping and track-out control?
It is part of the haul plan and the SWPPP. We include rock entrances and sweeping in our price when we are the hauler, and we coordinate with the general contractor when others are also moving material.
Can you import fill from your own source?
We source from approved suppliers and test the material against the specification. Having several sources lets us shift when one runs out or when a different gradation is needed.
What if the haul route is restricted?
We look for alternate routes, off-peak hours or smaller loads. Some restrictions are seasonal, such as road weight limits after rain, and we build them into the schedule.