
Flatbed
Flatbed is open deck work with no walls and no roof. Out of Central Florida the loads are structural steel, lumber, pipe, drywall, roofing and palletized building material. A good share of it lands on job sites in the South Lake growth corridor around Clermont, Minneola and Groveland, and the rest heads out across the Southeast. Because nothing encloses the freight, securement belongs to you, and FMCSA holds you to it under 49 CFR Part 393. You will work with straps, chains, binders, edge protection and, depending on the commodity, a tarp. Against dry van, flatbed asks more of your back and less of your patience: most pickups and deliveries happen in yards and on job sites rather than at appointment doors, so detention runs shorter. This is where our open deck drivers start. The securement habits you build on flatbed are what qualify you for stepdeck and lowboy later.




