How Does Home Time Work?

Hi guys, thanks for reading. So as I'm relentlessly searching for a good company to start with, I see the different options they have for home time. I want to be clear about how everything works. When a carrier say you get weekends off its essentially a 34 hour reset on the weekend right? Also when does that 34 hour clock start to wind down? Is it as soon as u drop off an assigned load? As soon as you get home? Also do have to get back on the road the minute that reset runs out?

Sorry for all the questions but hopefully you guys got some information for me.

Normal weekend load home shutdowns will have you going home with a load on/in the trailer. You'll then deliver that load monday. So the 34 hours starts from the time you actually arrive at your shutdown spot near the house.

Home time, at a company that gets you home every weekend, does usually constitute about a 34 hour period. That can vary widely from week to week though. There may be times when your loads length and relative position to the house gives you over 40 hours instead. You see the time you need to leave is basically what is required to deliver the load on time. There will be times when the load delivers 5 miles from the house, so you won't need to leave until Monday morning. There may also be times where you won't even complete a reset because in order to actually go home you won't have the time to get a full 34 hour break and still deliver on time. That being said different companies have different policies on home times.

Some companies allow home time banking. A popular one is that every week you bank one day of home time, up to 7-10 days banked. Then whenever you want to call those in, you can take that much time off consecutive. Some companies have slip seating which allows you more flexible work options if you aren't looking for full time driving. For example, 14 days on, 7 off, 4 on 3 off, that kind of thing.

So the real question is, what exactly are you looking for. Is it specifically weekend hometime?

Well I'm leaning towards Slip seating early on as I have a baby on the way, at least want to be there when its born. After that I'd be ok with the regular 34. My woman's dad was a trucker for years so she knows what to expect. I just wanted to be sure I had a good idea as well.

Okay the only companies i'm aware of that do slipseating are schneider and roehl. There are certainly far more than that and i'm sure others will point them out, but i never looked into that much.

I knew Roehl had slip seating, wasn't aware of Schneider having it.

Well I'm leaning towards Slip seating early on as I have a baby on the way, at least want to be there when its born. After that I'd be ok with the regular 34. My woman's dad was a trucker for years so she knows what to expect. I just wanted to be sure I had a good idea as well.

Have you looked at high road cdl training logbook? Some great info there.