Why Heavy Equipment Operators Need A CDL

If you’re a heavy equipment operator, then adding a commercial drivers license (CDL) to your list of skills could be a wise decision. If you ever hope to become an owner-operator, then you will most likely need to have one anyway. In the meantime, being in a position to haul your equipment to a work site yourself could be an added bonus to any future employees.

For many construction companies, having separate truck drivers and heavy equipment operators makes sense. The truck drivers spend their day carting heavy equipment from job to job. Heavy equipment operators spend their day operating that equipment. For smaller companies, they often cannot afford the luxury of having two operators, one for the truck and one for the heavy equipment. Having an operator that can do both saves them time and money and so makes that operator more valuable to the business.

The reverse is also true, of course. If you’re a truck driver, then adding heavy equipment operations to your list of skills should broaden your range of employment options. In either case, training can be completed in a few weeks with those undertaking truck driver training only needing to pass the CDL tests to obtain their license.

We live in an era where employers are looking for multi-skilled employees. Being able to operate a range of heavy equipment and drive the transporting truck is a good example. One of the benefits to you is that you can decide to specialize at any time, yet revert to either when times are tough and the economy struggling. Being mult-skilled opens up employment opportunities and helps to keep you in work – and multi-skilled operators are often the last to lose their job when there’s little work around.

If you are experienced as a heavy equipment operator, then consider undertaking CDL training – if you’re a truck driver, then consider undertaking heavy equipment training – in both cases, you’re suddenly going to be more employable.