Welcome to the world of construction where nothing is ever anybody's fault.

Just because the trucker couldn't keep his vehicle on the road and his hands off the dozer keys, you think he's responsible?

Hey now!

I would tell the trucking company:

1) yes. You need to deliver another load of rock because I have paid for a load that I could not use. However you must deliver the rock when I (or my excavator or someone that I trust) can be present to supervise your driver's delivery because obviously he cannot be trusted to do the job right without supervision.

2) The trucking company owes me $X for the 4 hours of work that my excavator spent FIXING the mess the trucking company's driver made; and

3) The trucking company owes my excavator $Y for gasoline for the bulldozer that the company's driver burned; and

4) The trucking company owes my excavator $Z for damages the bulldozer sustained due to the truck driver driving it when it was not in drivable condition; and

5) The trucking company owes me for the time/expense of digging up the conduit to ensure that it was not broken; and

6) IF the conduit was damaged, the trucking company owes for the cost of repairing the conduit and low voltage cable; and finally

7) The truck driver owes my excavator a PERSONAL apology for using equipment that did not belong to him without permission!

No doubt the owner of the trucking company will squawk BUT you are not trying to fleece him. All that you are demanding that he do is put you back in the position that you would have been in if his driver had properly delivered the rock without going off the road and tearing things up.

Fleecing would be if you and the excavator tried to get MORE out of him than the actual cost of the damages your suffered.

Send your demand for payment for YOUR damages in writing via certified mail. If your excavator's bulldozer was damaged due to being driven when it should not have been, ask your excavator to send a separate demand for payment of HIS damages in writing via certified mail as well.

If your damages amount to a couple of thousand dollars, you might consider taking him to small claims court especially if you took pictures and if your excavator is willing to testify on your behalf. Probably though, the damages you suffered are not great enough to make it worth your while to bother. BUT, in that case, you (and the excavator) CAN cost him far more in bad publicity than it would cost him to make you whole.

If the truck company owner refuses to pay up, let him know that you will post the story as a "review" of the company on every website you can find that accepts company reviews and you will go to the BBB about it. If he is a member of Angie's list, be sure to let them about the situation as well. The excavator can post his own take on what happened as an additional review that will corroborate yours and really cost the trucking company business.

Just be careful when you post the review that you POST things that are absolute facts. Keeps it simple. You don't want to give him any ammunition for a SLAPP suit.

"Hired the company to do X. Driver came while no one was on site and managed to drive his truck off of the driveway and to got stuck in the soft dirt of the utility trench. Driver then helped himself to the use of another company's bulldozer to try to get himself out and ran that out of gas. He eventually called his own company and they got him out. In the process, however, he did $X worth of damages. Damages include: [LIST all damages and amounts including the cost of stone used to repair the trench]. Company has refused to pay for these damages and owner has suggested the my request that he pay is an attempt to "fleece his company." I strongly recommend AGAINST hiring this company."

It is time that people were forced to take responsibility when they screw up. Good luck.

The dozer is almost certainly Diesel. Running one of them out of fuel can present problems with purging air out of the injector lines. Consumes some time, at the least.
What an idiot at the wheel of the truck!

Excellent answer from BevAngel. I'll add two thoughts:

- Take plenty of good photographs. If you can't prove it, it didn't happen.
- Do not hesitate to take these jokers to court. Do not simply bluff.

And for the rest of us who do not have a problem at the moment, it's a good reminder that it's smart to take LOTS of photographs everyday. Even if you never print them, it's better to be able to say, "This is what it looked like before your guy came on site".

BevAngel---you are awesome!

BevAngel is my hero.

I second taking photographs. And lots of them. If necessary, use a tape measure and photograph for visual aid.

We had a lumber delivery guy that was an idiot - watched him back over the porta potty.

Yes...what bevangel said! Good luck and be tough.

A personal apology?

Just playing devils advocate but here's how the trucker may have seen it:

Driver:I screwed up and went off driveway, I don't wanna lose my job so maybe I can just pull myself out with that dozer ( in my mind a dozer isn't something you just hop on without any experience so I'm assuming he had at least a little). There ain't much gas in here but I shouldn't really need much, and hopefully I can lighten the load of my truck and use stones as traction. Oh great now this dozer is out of gas-this day sucks

In the end it didn't work out and he probably should of called boss A.S.A.P, his company should credit the cost of stone but it shouldn't be that tough for excavator to repair, alot of excavators also own dump trucks and know things happen from time to time. His anger about the equipment is justified but he shouldn't of left the keys in the ignition like that either. As for conduit it's probably just as easy to try to get the wire in and you'll know if its broken. Even a complete conduit can be tough so if you find it won't go, make a measurement of where your able to get to and then measure the where the truck went off driveway and see if it's close. If it is then you should dig up trench. All in all, not a huge deal worthy of lawsuits but if you choose to go that route best of luck.

I would think about what you actually *need* to get out of this. Rock to replace what was wasted is probably one thing. I'd probably suggest you split the cost of repairing the drive, and let the excavator and rock guy work things out between them regarding the dozer.

I think whether or not they ought to pay more than that depends on the situation. If you felt he needed to be warned about the soft soil on the edge of the driveway, then you knew the driving conditions were challenging, and getting mad that your warning wasn't sufficient seems unfair. I think that if you schedule a delivery when you know there's an issue with your driveway, you may have to eat the resulting costs or at least part of them.

If I were you, I'd be at least as upset with my excavator for having left the keys in dozer. What if a kid had gotten in it?

I have had several concrete trucks drive in trenches over the years...this truck had 10 yards on concrete on it and there were 2 of my workers in the open trench and took off running when the truck got close