I had 1.1 yards of concrete delivered today. Neat operation, basically a little truck mounted batch plant with a water tank, a aggregate hopper, a cement hopper, and mixing equipment. They meter as they mix and only charge for what is dispensed. Handy for our little pour consisting of a 36″x36″ footing and post plumbing basement slab repairs. Sorry for the photo quality, I didn’t have a real camera with me.
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I have used meter mix trucks many times. Depending on the driver and company you need to watch for two things with companies around here. The drivers wants to mix it to wet, making a weak mix, and the meters are sometimes way off.
The wet mix problem is solved by fussing at the operator. The metering issue can be a hassle. Most ready mix companies have a 4 or 5 yard minimum, so below that the the metered trucks become economic, but not if the meter is off. I measure the pour size and depth then take pictures of the it before the pour. Arguing with a driver or dispatcher over a 1/2 or 1 yard overcharge is a lot easier when you have proof that the slab is only 4" thick, and you can't get that much more concrete an area.
Now if it is a HO prepared pour, all bets are off. They pay for all the concrete, whatever the meter reads. I have seen them go over by as much as 2 yards on supposedly small pours. At current prices for metered trucks that can mean an extra $160.00 around here.
Me, I want to keep that money where it belongs,...in my pocket!
Dave
"Now if it is a HO prepared pour, all bets are off. "why?
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter
I've done a couple of jobs where the HO has formed and graded for patios and driveway additions. They want me to finish only and direct their buddies in pouring the concrete. Jobs like these turn into Chinese fire drills and I won't accept any responsibility for anything except what I am hired for- finishing. If I don't control the site preparation, I won't be held accountable for overages.
I did one of those for a former neighbor. He and friends from his church poured a sidewalk at the church, and then brought the meter truck to his house for a patio pour. He came to me to finish his patio, b/c the sidewalk at the church was a disaster. The church was billed for 3 yards and he was billed for 9 yards. By my math that was 2 more yards than you can get on a 10 yard truck. His patio should have been a 6.5 yard pour at max., and I can believe he went over by a yard, due to poor grading. I tried to stay out of messes like that now. Somebody got screwed on that one, the church or my neighbor.
I have seen it happen a few other times, but I am not going to get burned because a HO wants to, or thinks they are saving some money. Hire me to do it all, and I'll eat the overage if I screw up, but any other arrangement, no way.
Dave
I hired a guy to pour & finish my garage floor last year. He didn't have any problem with it - he came out when I had finished grading, set grade stakes & measured, then took care of ordering concrete, etc.
His pricing, however, was based on the number of yards used, so he didn't have any great risk. I had done a pretty good job of getting the base level, as I was putting insulation down and wanted it well supported.
He ordered 14 yards, which he felt should give us about 1/4 yard extra. As it turned out, we only had a few shovelsful extra.
This was a regular redi-mix operation. 11 yards on the first truck, 3 on the 2nd. They would have done equal sized loads, but the job ahead of ours ran short, so they went with a full load on the 1st truck to keep us busy while the 2nd truck was finishing his 1st job and rushing to get our second load.
Don
11 yards on a truck will get a DOT fine around here. It is done on many runs to free up the second truck for another job, but it can cost the ready mix company big time if they get caught.
I have never poured anything but less than 4 or 5 yards that I have ordered from a metered truck. Just get a better mix all around from ready mix plants, I think.
It is also my understanding that the metered trucks aren't suppose to carry any more of a load than a ready mix truck.
Never had a flat work man give a price by the yard. They always price by the square foot. Since I don't do this full time any more, and I am not getting any younger, I contract any flat work over 4 yards (640 sg. ft. @ 4") now.
Dave
11 yards on a truck will get a DOT fine around here.
Probably around here, too. I think they were just trying to make up for running us late.
Never had a flat work man give a price by the yard. They always price by the square foot.
Not sure what's standard around here. I used the guy recommended by the guy who poured my walls. If I'd been pouring a thicker floor (this was 5-6"), I certainly would have questioned it.
> .... and the meters are sometimes way off.
Isn't there some sort of government weights and measures enforcement bureau that should be checking that kind of thing? Any time a consumer pays based on a measurement, like meat at the grocery store or gasoline at the pump, the measuring device is subject to government certification. Or at least here in LA it is.
-- J.S.
is a contrator the same as a cconsumer?
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That I don't know. But if they rip off a DIY, that's clearly an individual private citizen consumer. If it happened here, local TV news would be all over it.
-- J.S.
How many consumers (diy) in your area know that a ready mix truck can only legally carry 10 yards, or know how many yards it takes to do a job, or that a 1/2" of extra thickness in a slab means an extra 1/8 yd. of material per yard, or......? Get the idea?
I can't tell you how many times I've been ask to figure how many yards of concrete will it take to pour a patio, driveway, garage floor, or sidewalk. Just about as many will come back and say " man, you missed that by xx amount."
No matter how many times they watch it on TV, or watch a pro do concrete work, it always the same. It is harder work than it looks, and they almost always use more product than a pro, and the finish is just a little off....
Dave
Any suggestions on how to find these trucks?
I need to do a pad in front of my garage and a few smaller projects this summer. Problem is, the pad is only accessible via the driveway. One of the smaller projects is the driveway street apron, the other is the front porch
The pad is 20x30 or so, apron 9x10, porch 9x5, all 4" +/-. Around here (Western Pennsylvania), there seem to be mostly "old time" batch plants - if you want computer mix, you pay double for PennDot certified mix. No place is really close, so we end up with maybe 30 minutes working time. 5 yeards is the minimum, and they charge to take back excess. It will be tough to gather two crews to do the first pad pour and porch at the same time, and that doesn't solve the problem with the street apron. My concern with that is if I do it on the second pour, by the time we get the pad placed the concrete will be too hard to do the street apron.
This kind of little truck would be ideal for this situation, but so far I have not been able to locate such a supplier. Any suggestions on how to find them? How common are they? I'm wondering if they even have them around here.
Any other suggestions on how to do this job are most welcome, too.
Thanks.
Unless I'm calculating incorrectly, you're going to need a total of just over 9 cy's.
Break that 20 x 30 piece into a 20 x 20. Pour that. Just about 5 yards exactly.
The next trip, pour the rest - almost 4.5 yds. The rest of the 5 yd truck goes into the splashbox under your water bibs or the neighbors fish pond.
I couldn't imagine fooling with a meter truck to do your job...
Unless I'm calculating incorrectly, you're going to need a total of just over 9 cy's.
Yes, that's right - and I will use conventional trucks for that.
The problem is the street apron and the porch - by the time the pad is placed, the concrete won't be workable to use the leftovers for the smaller jobs.
pump?
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter
Bobl is right. An inline pump will get to whatever you need.
Back when I was in the Army we had some concrete trucks like that. They cost over $150,000. (Back in the 80s)
They were never used for anything but a water tank. I never saw one lay a single yard of concrete.
We have a company that uses these trucks - they are great, can dial in whatever mix you want on the spot, 5-6-7-bag etc) but with our company, 3/4" gravel is the only aggregate available, and fibers are the only option.
Don't use them for flatwork (troweled) b/c the concrete will cure at different rates in different parts of the slab.
"Don't use them for flatwork (troweled) b/c the concrete will cure at different rates in different parts of the slab."
Why is that? Seems like the mix should be pretty consistent, unless you take a long time making the pour.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
http://www.yardatatime.com/This will be of immediate use to only a few, but they have been around here for a long time and would be a good business to emulate. I've passed their driveway (along with 2 other of the regular type ready mix companies) for 17+ years on the way to work, and those trucks are always on the move.
"Don't use them for flatwork (troweled) b/c the concrete will cure at different rates in different parts of the slab."
Why is that? Seems like the mix should be pretty consistent, unless you take a long time making the pour.
None of the local flatwork pros will use their mix - every slab (except one) I've done with their mix has had a lot of wet cream in a low spot after the rest of the slab was cured. I haven't had this problem with other readymix slabs I've done. But I only do a few slabs a year, so I don't know concrete like some.
The other issue is their mix can take forever to cure--they swear they add warm water at the plant to counteract this--but you can be up pretty late waiting to trowel...
I think the trucks are pretty cool though - I know the guys pretty well - but not cool enough to buy one yet.
Treat every person you meet like you will know them the rest of your life - you just might!
I was, at one time, doing a bunch of engineering work for the local ready-mix company. I mentioned these metered mobile batch plants to the president of the company, and his argument against them was that his drivers were so lazy that they would not be able to keep the trucks maintained properly. Plus he didn't see the advantage of them. Good attitude to have, huh?
They are the only readymix company within a comfortable hour's drive of me, so I have no choice. Anything less than 4 yards, I have to pay for four yards. They will put only one or two yards on the truck, but it's a minimum $400 fee. I think someone with a sand or gravel pit and a small bulk concrete storage tank could make a killing with a couple of these trucks. Always on the road, selling basic 3000-pound mix, 3/4" stone, minimal additives, for small jobs like shed slabs, sidewalks, piers, etc. If you call a day or two in advance, you can get small stone, sand mix, fiber, coloring, etc. It's something that my area needs and nobody has, but I sure don't have the money or resources to do it myself.
I'd imagine that for the right hourly rate, you could even get one of these guys to sit their truck on a brick or blockwork job and burp up a tub of mortar every fifteen minutes.