Concrete Job

[Pick]

I'm looking to hire out a concrete job. I have two pieces to do. One is a concrete pad next to my driveway that is 10 feet long by 10 feet wide and 4 inches thick. The other is a slab for a utility shed that I'm having built and is 16 feet wide by 20 feet long and 4 inches thick. My estimates are varying widely at this point. The slab near the drive way is ranging from $250 to $480 and the pad for the shed is ranging $800 for the low end to $3300 at the high end. The high estimate for the shed pad is including supports at each corner that are 12 inches wide and sunk 20 inches deep (which that contractor insists is needed). Code for my area requires the 4 inch slab with no supports if I am going to hook up electricity to the shed (which I intend to do later). I live in the Atlanta area (southwest of town).

Do either of these seem way too high or way too low? Does anyone think the

4 inch concrete pad for the shed is insufficient? My two main concerns are making sure a strong wind doesn't carry my shed away and that I meet code so I can get the electrical permit.

Thanks,

Pick

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Last time I bought concrete, it would have been over $200 just for the reddi-mix.

Put a couple of bolts in the concrete for the shedd sill and you should be good.

[ben.aust]

I live in Australia, I think concreting costs are similar.

With that range of quotes, I suspect they are offering different things

- so I would ask some questions about what they are offering to do.

The cheapest quotes look very cheap (about $2.50 a square foot) and I suspect he hasn't allowed for a compacted crushed rock bed and steel reinforcement in the concrete. $2.50 a square foot seems like a reasonable price to turn up on site, scrape the ground a bit, build a timber frame and call a concrete truck to pour a slab.

For $5 a square foot you'd expect to get a bit of site preperation (like some levelling and a bit of grass removed, a crushed rock bed and steel reinforcement in the concrete.

What sort of job you want depends on how long you want the pavement to last.

In my house there's a lot of concrete paving done about 35 years ago with no steel reinforcement and clay soil. It's cracked all over the place with soil movement.

[SQLit]

Where I live any shed over 100 sqft or 8 feet high requires a footing and stem wall along with a 4 inch slab. Better call the permit folks before you hire anyone.

[Pick]

"SQLit" wrote in news:TJAzf.64$ [e-mail]:

I did - they were the ones that told me that all is required is a 4 inch slab. The permit for the building doesn't require the slab at all. However, the electrical one does. The exact wording in the county code is "buildings under 400 square feet most be sufficiently anchored". The key is sufficiently, as it is not codified. I asked where in the code I could find the definition for "sufficiently anchored", and was told there was none. I then asked how I would be able to know what was sufficient, and they said to ask my contractor. After I explained to him I was getting different answers from different contractors and that I would like to see something writing as a guide, I was told they ask the head permit guy in the back and he makes a call based on situation. Gotta love it...

[Pick]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:HXzzf.998$ [e-mail]:

Right now, the price of concrete in my area is $10 per cubic yard and the job will take about 5 cubic yards for everything.

That's what I had planned. Thanks for the help.

Pick

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Where/how did you get that price? Is that for the materials for you to pick up and mix yourself? No concrete plant is going to deliver 5 yards for $50.

[ben.aust]

ditto,

price of reddimix should be between $50 and $100 per cubic yard

[Rastus]

Bud, they won't even start up their truck for ten bucks. Maybe you have a typo in there.

[MikeP]

$10 per cubic yard ............. Not likely.

[Pick]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1137641913.877751.203330 @g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I may have misheard him - we were both on cellphones. The price I mentioned in the original message for each job was what he quoted, though. However, he does have a trip minimum of $1000, which I didn't mention because I was already over it (the other companies I called had no minimum).

Pick

[Harry K]

I agree with others above. It sounds like you are getting bids based on different construction. Start with a blueprint or home drawn plan with specifications as to what you want, i.e., site preparation, gravel bed tamped, exact measure of the pads with any footings etc. Then get your estimates. Just calling a company and asking for a bid to build a pad X sq feet is not good enough.

As for pre-mix. Last time I checked several years ago, it was in the

80-100 range. Days of $50 are long gone I am afraid and then now they are adding mileage fees to it. I have been charged a mileage free for a plumber to come 4 miles from town for a routine service call.

Harry K

[RobertM]

I just paid $115 for a yard and a half delivered two miles from the concrete place, Tennessee. Be aware there are different grades of concrete. I got the good stuff.

Bob

[WConner]

" price of concrete in my area is $10 per cubic yard "

?? I think he left off a zero, it hasn't been that price for about 50 years.

Walt Conner

[gfretwell]

I agree, fill dirt costs that much these days. The truckers will charge $200 just to drive by and spit in your yard. The dirt itself is virtually free.