Spring Construction Boom: How to Get the Most from Your Haulers When Demand Spikes

Spring marks the start of the busiest season for contractors and material producers. Demand for materials skyrockets, job sites ramp up operations, and deadlines tighten. In 2025, with an expected hauler shortage, relying on additional trucks to meet demand may not be an option.

The key to staying ahead isn’t finding more haulers—it’s making the most of the ones you already have. By improving dispatching, reducing downtime, and using real-time data to track hauler performance, you can move more material without adding to your fleet.

Here’s how you can keep up when demand spikes without adding more haulers to your fleet.

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Stop Losing Money on Empty Hauls

Eliminate the Logjam at Plants and Job Sites

Keep Track of Load Counts—And Make Sure Every Truck Is Pulling Its Weight

Ditch the Paper Trail—It’s Slowing You Down

Prioritize Your Best Haulers to Keep Jobs Moving

Work Smarter, Not Harder This Spring

Stop Losing Money on Empty Hauls

Every empty mile a truck drives is a wasted opportunity. When a truck drops off a load and heads back with nothing in the bed, that’s fuel, time, and money you’ll never get back. The problem is, without clear visibility into your haulers’ schedules and locations, it’s easy to miss chances to optimize trips.

The solution? Better tracking and load coordination. By keeping a close eye on where your trucks are in real time, you can make quick decisions to reduce unnecessary empty hauls. Instead of sending trucks back to the yard with nothing, you can assign them another pickup along the way. A well-planned load schedule keeps your haulers productive and your costs down.

Eliminate the Logjam at Plants and Job Sites

A truck waiting in line at a plant or sitting idle at a job site is a truck that’s not making you money. The longer haulers spend waiting, the fewer loads they complete in a day, and that adds up fast when demand is high.

The biggest problem? No one has full visibility into the bottlenecks until they’re already happening. Dispatchers send haulers out based on schedules, but without a way to track real-time activity, they can’t see delays forming—or fix them before they get worse.

When dispatchers have full visibility into hauler movements, they can quickly adjust schedules to prevent backups before they cause major slowdowns. If trucks are stacking up at a plant, haulers can be rerouted to balance the load. If a job site is running behind, dispatchers can shift delivery times to keep things moving smoothly.

But fixing delays isn’t just a dispatch problem. Job sites play a role too. One of the biggest reasons haulers get stuck waiting? The site isn’t ready when they arrive. Crews may not be prepared to unload, equipment may be in use, or there may be confusion about where to stage deliveries.

That’s where better communication makes all the difference. When site managers have real-time updates on incoming deliveries, they can prepare for offloading in advance—ensuring trucks roll in, unload fast, and get back on the road without unnecessary idle time. When dispatchers and site managers are working with the same information, operations run smoother, delays shrink, and productivity goes up.

Keep Track of Load Counts—And Make Sure Every Truck Is Pulling Its Weight

You can’t manage what you can’t measure. If you’re relying on paper tickets and manual tracking, there’s a good chance you don’t have a clear picture of how many loads your haulers are actually moving.

Lost or inaccurate tickets don’t just create paperwork headaches—they lead to wasted capacity. When demand is high, you need every truck operating at full efficiency. If you don’t know exactly how many loads each hauler is completing, you could be missing opportunities to move more material with the trucks you already have.

Real-time load tracking changes the game. Instead of relying on scattered paperwork and end-of-day reports, you can see how many loads each hauler has moved, as it happens. If a truck is running below capacity, you can adjust in real time—assigning more work to haulers with available bandwidth.

Beyond just tracking loads, full schedule visibility helps dispatchers make smarter decisions. Some trucks may be completing their assignments, but are they working at full capacity? Could they take on more loads? By having a clear view of hauler activity, you can quickly spot underutilized trucks and shift work accordingly.

When every hauler is running at their highest potential, you’re not just keeping up with demand—you’re getting ahead of it.

Ditch the Paper Trail—It’s Slowing You Down

If you’re still relying on paper tickets to track loads and verify payments, you’re losing valuable time. Dispatchers are spending their days sorting through paperwork instead of keeping haulers moving, and mistakes in tracking lead to delays in invoicing and payments.

Going digital simplifies everything. When haulers submit load slips instantly, dispatchers can see completed work in real time, reconcile payments faster, and focus on making sure every truck is operating efficiently. Less time spent on paperwork means more time spent getting material where it needs to be.

Prioritize Your Best Haulers to Keep Jobs Moving

Not all haulers work at the same speed. Some are consistently on time, complete more loads per shift, and keep projects running smoothly. Others run into delays, arrive late, or fail to hit their expected load counts.

When you’re under pressure to move as much material as possible, knowing who your most efficient haulers are can make all the difference. Instead of assigning loads blindly, use performance data to see which haulers are getting the job done—and dispatch them more often.

Tracking hauler efficiency over time gives you the power to make smarter decisions, ensuring that when demand peaks, the haulers who can handle the most work are the ones getting scheduled first.

Work Smarter, Not Harder This Spring

The companies that thrive during peak season aren’t the ones with the most haulers—they’re the ones that know how to get the most out of every truck. Reducing empty hauls, cutting down on wait times, tracking loads accurately, and prioritizing high-performing haulers will set you up for success, even in a tight trucking market.

If you want to keep up this spring, now’s the time to put the right tools in place. With better visibility, smarter dispatching, and real-time tracking, you can stay ahead of the rush without scrambling for extra trucks. The demand is coming—make sure your trucks are ready to handle it.