Project

13,000 Tons of Rock, Backhauled: Pairing Export With Import in West Fort Worth

A truck that leaves a site loaded and comes back empty is charging you for two trips and doing one job. On a West Fort Worth site for Scott and Reid we moved 13,000 tons of rock out while backhauling common fill in, so the same trucks were loaded in both directions. Against four bids, the paired price came in at roughly a third of the next lowest. This is what that arrangement is, when it works, and when it does not.

Key takeaways

The job: 13,000 tons of rock exported from a West Fort Worth site for Scott and Reid.
The same trucks carried common fill back into the site instead of returning empty.
Four bids were submitted. The paired export and import price came in at approximately one third of the next lowest.
The saving is not a discount. It comes from deleting the empty half of every truck cycle.
Pairing only works when the timing, the material and the two sites line up, which is why it has to be planned rather than discovered.

What a backhaul is

Every haul has two legs. A truck runs loaded from the site to wherever the material is going, then runs back to pick up the next load. On a straight export that return leg is empty, and it still costs fuel, hours, wear and a driver. A backhaul fills it: the truck that just delivered rock picks up fill and carries it back to the site it came from.

The site pays for the truck cycle either way. When both legs are carrying material, the cost of that cycle is spread across two loads instead of one, and both the export and the import get cheaper at the same time. Nothing is being discounted; the waste is simply being removed.

Why the bid gap was that wide

Four contractors bid this work. Our number landed at roughly a third of the next lowest, and the gap is not explained by rates. Priced conventionally, this site had two separate jobs: haul 13,000 tons of rock away, and bring common fill in. Two jobs, two sets of truck cycles, half of them running empty. Priced as one paired movement, it is a single set of cycles doing both.

The reason competitors did not price it that way is usually that they were quoting only the half they were asked about. A grading contractor asked to bid a rock export bids a rock export. Seeing the pairing requires knowing that a matching import exists and being able to line up both, which is the part we do.

One third of the next lowest bid is what happened on this job, with this material, this haul distance and this timing. It is not a rate card. The saving on any given pairing depends entirely on how well the two sides line up.

Rock out, fill in: why the materials matter

A backhaul only works if the truck that carried the outbound material can legally and practically carry the inbound one. Rock and common fill both move in the same equipment, which made this pairing straightforward. Material that needs a different trailer, or that would contaminate the next load, breaks the arrangement.

The inbound material also has to actually be wanted. Common fill going back into a site that needs to come up to grade is useful material. If the site had needed select fill under a pad instead, that is a spec material with a plasticity and gradation requirement and a different source, and the return leg would not have paired as cleanly. Our guide on what select fill is covers that distinction.

When pairing does not work

Three things break it. Timing is the first: the export and the import have to want trucks in the same window, and a two week gap between them means two separate hauls again. Distance is the second: the two sites have to be close enough on the route that the paired cycle is genuinely shorter than running each separately. Material is the third: some surplus is wet, mixed or unsuitable, and some imports are specified tightly enough that only one source qualifies.

When any of those fail, the work goes back to being an ordinary export and an ordinary import, priced separately. That is a normal outcome and not a failure; it just means the saving is not available on that job.

Getting the pairing before you need it

The reason this is worth raising early is that pairings cannot be conjured at rough grade. Knowing in the takeoff that a site will run 13,000 tons long on rock and short on fill is what gives us the window to find the other half. Discovering it when the blade is already moving means taking whatever trucks and whatever disposal are available that week.

Run the numbers first. Our earthwork calculator produces cut and fill quantities from the existing and design surfaces, and our cut and fill guide explains why a site that looks balanced on paper usually is not. If you know you will be long or short, tell us early and we will look for the other side.

Backhaul and paired haul FAQ

What is a backhaul in dirt hauling?

A backhaul loads the return leg of a truck cycle. Instead of running empty back to the site after delivering an export, the truck picks up import material and carries it in. The cost of the cycle is then spread across two loads instead of one, which reduces the price of both the export and the import.

How much does pairing export with import save?

It depends entirely on how well the two sides line up on timing, distance and material. On this West Fort Worth job the paired price came in at roughly one third of the next lowest of four bids. That figure describes this job, not a standard rate.

When can a haul not be paired?

When the export and import do not want trucks in the same window, when the two sites are too far apart on the route for the paired cycle to be shorter, or when the materials are incompatible, either because they need different equipment or because the inbound material is specified to a source the pairing cannot supply.

Can rock and fill move in the same trucks?

Usually yes. Rock and common fill both move in standard haul equipment, which is what made this pairing work. Materials that require different trailers, or that would contaminate the following load, cannot be paired in the same cycle.

Long on one material and short on another?

If your site is exporting one thing and importing another, tell us both sides and we will look at pairing them. We price material and trucking together across DFW, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

Get a Quote Have Surplus Dirt?