Steel, lumber, machinery, building materials
Flatbed dispatch matched to your straps, chains and tarps
Flatbed freight is about more than the rate. It is the gear on your truck, the securement rule for the commodity and the hours you will spend at the mill. We check all of it before we call, and every load is offered to you first.
Deal me in: 3 taps
Pick all three and your fee shows here. No haul, no pay.
Book my flatbedThe flatbed card, and what it takes to run it yourself
A flatbed carries more kinds of freight than any other trailer in the deck, and each kind comes with its own securement rule. Pick a commodity on the card to see the rule that applies and the checks we run before a load reaches you. Then look at the table beside it: the work a flatbed owner does alone, and what moves to our desk.
The rules on the card are minimums. Shippers can ask for more, such as extra chains on steel or specific tarps on finished goods, and those requests come through on the call before you agree to the load.
Flatbed card · what it hauls
Flatbed
| Job | Doing it yourself | With our desk |
|---|---|---|
| Finding loads | Boards after a day of tarping | Searched while you drive |
| Commodity and gear check | Learned at the shipper | Confirmed before the call |
| Tarp pay | Often forgotten | Asked for on every tarped load |
| Detention at mills | Hard to prove later | Times logged, claim filed |
| Reloads | After you unload | Planned before you deliver |
| Saying yes | You | Still you, and you sign the rate con |
Steel: heavy, steady and strict
Steel is the backbone of a lot of flatbed work: coils, sheet, plate, pipe and structural beams out of mills and service centers. It is dense, so you hit your weight limit before you run out of deck, and it is unforgiving if securement is wrong. A coil that shifts can end a career.
Mills also run on their own clock. Trucks line up, loading is by crane, and a two-hour wait is a good day at some plants. We know which shippers move quickly and which don't, and we price the wait into the load or make sure detention is on the rate con. Our guide to steel hauling companies covers who moves the metal.
Before we offer a steel load, we confirm the weight, the piece count, the coil orientation if any, and whether you carry coil racks or timbers, the right chain grade and enough binders.
Lumber and building products
Lumber, plywood, drywall, roofing and other building products rise and fall with the construction season. Much of it is tarped, delivered to yards and job sites, and unloaded by forklift on uneven ground. It is lighter than steel but bulkier, so you often fill the deck before you hit your weight.
Job-site deliveries need extra care: access roads, gate times, a forklift on site and someone to sign for the load. We ask those questions before you get there. If you also run timber, our guide to the logging truck covers the log side of the forest products business.
Lumber is where tarp pay matters most. Shippers often require the load covered, and tarping a full load in the wind is real work. We ask for tarp pay as its own line on the rate con.
Tarps, gear and the deck
Your gear decides your freight. Steel tarps, lumber tarps, coil racks, edge protectors, chain grades, strap counts and a 48 or 53 ft deck all open some loads and close others. We keep a list on your card, so a load that needs eight-foot drops or coil racks you don't carry never reaches your phone.
Roadside inspections
Securement is one of the easiest things for an inspector to see from the shoulder. A loose strap, a worn chain or too few tiedowns is a violation on your record and sometimes an out-of-service order. Every load we book comes with the commodity and weight up front, so you can plan the securement before you roll.
When a step deck fits better
Tall machinery and equipment can push a flatbed over legal height. A step deck's lower deck gives more room under bridges. If you run both, or are deciding between them, see our step deck dispatch. We send the tall loads to the trailer that keeps them legal.
The flatbed year
Flatbed freight follows construction and industry more than any other trailer. Spring and summer bring building materials, roofing and landscaping products as projects start. Steel and machinery move most of the year, with dips around holidays and plant shutdowns. Winter thins out job-site freight in cold regions and slows deliveries in snow.
We plan with that in mind. In the busy months we chase the best-paying building loads and keep you ahead of the rush. In the slow months we lean on steel, machinery and regions where construction keeps going, so the truck doesn't sit waiting for spring.
A flatbed week, the way we plan it
Monday, a coil load out of a mill near home, booked on Friday so you are first in line. Tuesday, delivery and a tarped lumber reload a few miles away. Wednesday, the job-site drop with access confirmed the day before. Thursday and Friday, machinery headed back toward home, timed for the weekend. Every one of those loads was offered to you before it was booked.
Flatbed mistakes we help you avoid
- Taking a tarped load with no tarp pay. If the shipper wants it covered, the rate should say so.
- Showing up without the right gear. Coil racks, eight-foot drops or extra chains are confirmed before you accept.
- Losing detention at the mill. Arrival and departure times get logged as they happen, not remembered later.
- Running heavy one way and empty the other. Steel out often pairs with building materials or machinery back.
- Accepting a load that is over height. Tall pieces go to a step deck or get routed and permitted, not guessed at.
What brokers check on a flatbed carrier
Your authority and safety record, liability and cargo insurance, deck length, gear list and tarps, and sometimes photos of past securement. Steel and machinery shippers often care most about your inspection history. We send your packet where your equipment and record fit.
What flatbed owners ask us first
"Will you book loads I can't secure?"
No. Your gear list is on your card. A load needing coil racks, extra chains or a tarp size you don't carry is filtered out before we call, and if a broker changes the load after booking, we tell you before you roll.
"I already know the mills."
Good. Keep them. Tell us which shippers and days are yours, and we fill the gaps around them with loads that fit your gear and point you home. Your direct relationships stay yours.
"Flatbed rates jump around."
They do, with the season and the region. We price each load on the whole trip, including empty miles and tarp time, so you can compare it with your cost per mile before you decide, not after you have already tarped it.
Every flatbed load needs your yes
We search, negotiate and check the load against your gear and your weight. Then we call you with the commodity, piece count, weight, dimensions, tarp needs, pickup window and rate. Nothing is booked before you say yes.
After your yes, the broker sends the rate confirmation to you, and you sign it. If the paper says something different from the call, like no tarp pay or a different weight, don't sign it. Call us and we fix it with the broker. If you say no, we keep looking and you owe nothing.
Not sure how many straps a load needs? Run it through the load securement calculator, which uses the federal tiedown minimums.
The flatbed fee EXAMPLE
One flatbed on an MC older than 6 months pays 5% of gross on each load. A tarped lumber load paying $2,200 including $150 tarp pay costs $110 in dispatch fees, and you keep $2,090. A new MC pays 7% for its first 6 months, and fleets of 2 or more pay 4% while that limited-time rate lasts.
We charge no setup fee and set no minimums; idle weeks cost zero. See the full dispatch fee breakdown.
Flatbed dispatcher questions
01What securement rules apply to steel coils?
Metal coils of 5,000 lb or more have their own rule, 49 CFR 393.120. The tiedown pattern depends on how the coil sits: eyes vertical, eyes crosswise or eyes lengthwise. Coils must be blocked against rolling, and tiedowns run through or over the eye in set patterns. Lighter coils fall under the general securement rules.
02Do flatbed loads have more detention?
Often, yes. Mills, lumber yards and job sites load by crane or forklift on their own schedule, and waits of several hours are common. That is why we confirm detention terms before you accept, log your arrival and departure times, and file the claim with the broker when the free time runs out.
03What flatbed freight pays best?
It changes with the season and the region, but loads that need more skill or gear usually pay more: tarped loads, heavy machinery, oversized pieces near the legal limits and freight from shippers with tight timing. Building materials rise with construction season. We look at the whole trip, including the empty miles, not just the headline rate.
04Will you force me to take loads?
No. We call you with the commodity, weight, dimensions, tarp needs, pickup window and rate before anything is booked. You say yes or no. After a yes, the broker sends the rate confirmation to you to sign. A no costs nothing, and we go back to searching.
05Do you negotiate tarp pay?
Yes. Tarping takes time and wears out tarps, so it should be paid. When a shipper requires tarps, we ask for tarp pay as a separate line on the rate confirmation and tell you the amount on the call. If a broker won't pay to tarp, you hear that before you decide.