What’s the deal with the type of pumper used in your area?
In S. Cal, I noticed what seemed like fleets of inline pumpers being pulled around by a guy and his pickup. Some boys were so proud that they had the pumpers all chromed out. When I needed one, the plant got me hooked up with a guy. Cheep for $150 (5 years ago).
Here in Denver, I’ve maybe seen one in the last 4 years. They’re unheard of (I think) in the Michigan area.
Back to Denver, all I see are these huge trucks with long hydralic booms. Seems like even where a truck could almost back up and reach the job with a long chute, there’s a boom truck.
Is this something that is controlled by the cement plants in the area? A function of available distributors? What’s the take in your neck of the woods?
Replies
The pumps around here in NJ are all owned by the concrete contractors, or by a few companies that specialize just in renting them out- not by the suppliers. We've got everything from the small tow-behinds to full-blown 150' boom trucks running around here.
If you're interested in buying one, they aren't cheap. I bought two tow-behind Putzmeisters for the pool company I used to manage, and in 1999 they were over $30k each. Of course, a 150' Schwing boom rig will set you back close to 7 figures....
Bob
supply and demand
Cities with lots of commercial work will demand pumps.
Residential neighborhoods have no need for them.
carpenter in transition
?
The guy behind me rite now could easily have used a pumper for his addition. The Big 7 figure rig shows instead. Course, it's a $3mm house. Perhaps he doesn't know the difference exists.
What I'm thinking is something other than supply and demand. If like Bob says, the plants own the rigs, those Big 7 figure truck costs are built in the price of cement somewhere.
On the other hand, if what I perceive is an open market in S. Cal, supply and demand does come into play.
Should there be a closed market controlled by the cement plants, has anyone seen the results of any attempts to bust into a competing service?
Pete
Here in PA, the concrete suppliers just make and deliver the material in their trucks. How you place it doesn't matter to them because none of them own pump rigs. Some of the suppliers have conveyor trucks, but they only get you 35 feet from the truck.
We have firms which just provide the pump and an operator for hire/rent. You specify to them whether you want a boom truck or a smaller tow behind rig. Obviously the price varies, but it is somewhere in the neighborhood of $700-800 per day.
On our high rise commercial work, sometimes the pump pipe is mounted on the side of the building and then the lateral pipe is attached to that at each floor as you pour each deck. The pump rig attaches to the riser every time it comes to do another deck.
http://www.schwing.com/
http://www.putzmeister.com/
http://www.putzmeister.com/used/index.cfm
carpenter in transition
On our high rise commercial work,
Back in the early 80's I was in commercial work, and we pumped co0ncrete all the way to the top of a 49 floor building. Used two pumps, and the line was fastened to the core of the building. After the pour, they would let the extra concrete gravity drain out the bottom of the pipe, the they would clean out the pipe with nerf footballs. Cut both ends off, soak them in water for a while, then put them in the top of the pipe mand blow them out the bottom with compressed air. The first 2-3 balls would be shredded, and then bigger pieces would start popping out the bottom.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Residential neighborhoods have no need for them.
House slabs are pumped all the time here in San Antonio.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
This is who we used in our area.http://www.nicholsconcrete.com/. 2+3=7
There's one guy here with a medium sized boom pump. It makes placing concrete a piece of cake. He did a pour with me yesterday that conceivably could have been tailgated, but it's much faster and easier to deal with a boom. Yesterday took about 90 minutes and cost me $300. Tailgating would have taken twice as long.
The same guy has a line pump, which I would only use if there were too many trees or wires for the boom, or we needed mud under the house. It takes too much muscle to haul a concrete hose around. With the boom, two guys can place a lot of mud, as the driver/operator simply directs the boom along using a joystick remote... one guy aiming the hose, the other rodding.
Downside is that the boom 'eats' about 1/2 a yard, so cleanup's a b!tch.
When I was doing foundations in CO, we used pumps on 99% of the jobs. As a matter of of fact, we'd all joke around and give the boss a hard time if he made us pour a wall out of a chute.
It was impossible to get a truck around most jobs so a pump was a necessity.
I'd never ever seen one of those little pull behind pumps until I was pouring a tie beam here in Florida.
We used these guys:
http://www.obrienpumping.com/rockymt.htm
I never paid the bills, but if I recall correctly, it was about $150/hr.
around here i don't think a concrete guy even owns a wheel barrow anymore... ita's all boom trucks and i watch em place pour & finish 3... 4 5... slabs at a time but they'll order a boom truck for just 1 also... here only a few pumper co's u place your order with the pumper and the concrete company... and they usually work it out pump mix... grout to prime the pump ect... they spend as much time set'n up and cleaning out as they do pumping.... i see a few pull behind rigs but never even seen one being used mostly grout work i think... if you check the Photo gallery under my loft pics we placed 80yds lightweight concrete (about 10,000 sf @ 2.5" to 3" thick) on a second floor and finished it with 4 guys in one day with a boom truck... we did have to put some pipe into the building to get to the far corners... but the best $1200 i ever spent
p
Pete, they are here in Michigan. The last basement I poured they used one. It didn't cost me a nickel more!
blue
Around the Puget Sound, boom style pump trucks are most common, but truck mounted line pumps are used also. Small or sloping lots are the norm here, so there's not much chance to grade out enough room to get a concrete truck all the way around a foundation.
HV