Concrete Delivery Questions

Concrete pumper guy. Hauls the pump around behind his truck, concrete truck dumps into his hopper, hose shoots it out where necessary. Pumper guy will do most of the work spreading it out, leaving only the final work to you. BTDT. Throw pumper guy an extra 50.00, you won't have to do a thing. The alternatives suck.

If you can't afford a few guys with wheelbarrows, you can't afford a pumper truck. Much more expensive.

4 yards is a pretty small pour for someone who knows what they are doing.

It's highly unlikely a truck (if it was fully loaded) will damage your 3' deep sewers.

cwh wrote: Concrete pumper guy. Hauls the pump around behind his truck, concrete truck dumps into his hopper, hose shoots it out where necessary. Pumper guy will do most of the work spreading it out, leaving only the final work to you. BTDT. Throw pumper guy an extra 50.00, you won't have to do a thing. The alternatives suck.

37 years in construction. I have NEVER seen this.

Concrete chute is run by the lead man placing the concrete. Truck drivers don't place concrete.

Curmudgeon wrote: Do yourself a BIG favor and call the utility locator service, down here it's called PUPS. They will come out and mark the utilities for free, they can also help answer any weight etc questions. The deal: if you call them, they mark/advise and something goes wrong, you are in the clear. If you don't, well, if you hit a 600v underground line and kill power to half the town they will bill you for the repairs!

This is not a favor. It's REQUIRED BY LAW in most states.

But they are not generally responsible for marking anything on private property.

spitfirebill wrote: There are smaller pumpers that use a hose across the ground. It not the crane type.

That's true, but it isn't the same concrete either.

It has to be made with pea gravel. Standard concrete has aggregate that is too big for a small hose.

Pea gravel concrete is not as strong as concrete made with larger aggregate.

SVreX wrote:

cwh wrote: Concrete pumper guy. Hauls the pump around behind his truck, concrete truck dumps into his hopper, hose shoots it out where necessary.

37 years in construction. I have NEVER seen this.

I've seen the trailer/pumper things pulled behind the guy with the beat up pickup truck. Not so much anymore, but I used to see some of them all the time.

Me, I use a big industrial pumper, but then we poured >60 yards that time. The concrete crew I hired negotiated with the pumper truck and I only got charged $175 for the pumper. The bill was going to be $400, but the crew chief said "let me call them..." and it was $175. I wasn't complaining. About 2002 dollars, so add half for the inflation we haven't had.

Dr. Hess wrote: Not so much anymore, but I used to see some of them all the time.

are you sure you didn't see all of them some of the time?

jhaas wrote: It will be the most hectic, confusing and exhaustive day of your life. I’ve done the wheelbarrow thing a dozen times with GOOD strong help and it is murder. A bobcat might help, but your lawn will be ruined. It might not be a big deal to ask for the pumper truck. Especially if you can work on THIER schedule. I curse every time I have to use a creeper on my shops driveway (first concrete pour ever). I’ve gotten better every time, but nowhere near a real concrete guy. With jobs tight right now a small concrete guy would jump at this, and do superior job. He has the tools, and the experience. Even if you get a concrete guy have a bunch of good friends on hand to help out. Then all he has to do is screed it out nice for you.

there is iron in these words. they do it every day, and it's not an easy do-over if you screw it up.

^^^ thank you angry

SVreX wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: Do yourself a BIG favor and call the utility locator service, down here it's called PUPS. They will come out and mark the utilities for free, they can also help answer any weight etc questions. The deal: if you call them, they mark/advise and something goes wrong, you are in the clear. If you don't, well, if you hit a 600v underground line and kill power to half the town they will bill you for the repairs!

This is not a favor. It's REQUIRED BY LAW in most states. But they are not generally responsible for marking anything on private property.

They sure marked the crap out of everything on the lawn at both my houses where I had concrete work done. Red for power lines, orange for CATV and phone, IIRC blue for water and white for sewer.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll probably check with a contractor & if that is to much $ i may look into the powered buggy.I'm too old to be using wheelbarrows for this and the more I think about it I don't really want to spend the time on my knees finishing it either.

Yeah, call up some contractors and ask "how much a foot to pour and finish?" I think I paid between 350 and 500 for my shop, which is 30x46, but that was in Y2K dollars, so add half or more for a current guess. They may know the best pumper to deal with as well.

Anything more than what I can mix up in a 5 gallon bucket I'm going to hire out. Concrete work is one of those things I figure is worth the cost of hiring someone who has the equipment, manpower and know-how to do it right.