Concrete 'mix on site' services

[David WE Roberts]

Hi,

I am planning to lay a concrete base for a shed/workshop.

If I understand building regulations then I can have up to 15 square metres floor space and be sited 0.5m from the boundary.

I was going to go larger, but the requirements to be 1m from the boundary above 15sq m caused too many problems with the siting of the shed.

So I am thinking of a slab 100mm/4" thick which gives a total volume of 1.5 cubic metres. Bit of a job to mix by hand (although I have done more than that in the past) so I am looking at 'mix on site' services.

So far I have Googled

(with pictures of yellow lorries) but I am sure I have seen green lorries offering this service in my neck of Suffolk.

Can anyone tell me the names of any other companies/franchises which offer this service?

TIA

Dave R

[Kevin Poole]

It's been discussed on this group in the past, and I related an appallingly bad experience with such an outfit.

Quality control of the mix was zero. Cement quantities were guessed. A couple of teaspoons per ton, I reckon.

The mix was far too wet, and resulted in a weak and crumbly top surface.

They were messy workers, and had no respect for the customer's property. They had to borrow a brush to make their token effort at cleaning up.

They tried the "right, that's the x cu m you ordered" scam part way through the job. They had no way of knowing how much they'd supplied - it was done in barrow-loads, iirc.

It was a big lorry, with all the anticipated problems. I might as well have ordered conventional ready-mixed.

Never, ever, again. I'd sooner mix it by hand. There's much to be said for using an electric mixer, and collecting your aggregate as "all-in" ballast, in a trailer that you can perhaps position right next to your site.

[jim]

for 1.5 cubes I'd sooner get a mate and a mixer and do it myself - if you're even 1/2 fit it shouldn't take much more than a day taking it steady and carefully with tea etc...

NB get "all in ballast" tipped as near your site as poss

cheers Jim

[John Rumm]

There does seem to be a wide variation in the type of kit used for these services. Some seem to be little more than a large mixer mounted on the back of a truck - mixing controlled by whatever the operators choose to shovel into it. The most sophisticated are fully automated with inline feeding and mixing. You tell the computer what mix you want and it pops out the spout - spot on specification.

[dennis]

How did you find them? A mobile phone number on the back of a caravan?

Mine arrived in a big lorry, all computer controlled and you could have the water content adjusted to what you wanted and the ratio cement used was up to you.

If you are absolutely sure of your dimensions and have a fleet of barrows or easy site access that is probably true.

[Rob G]

es

The other option if you can find a contact is the "end of load" from a concrete delivery - 1.5 cube is quite possible this way. It's a cash deal - I paid =A380 for 1 cube recently - and it was run down a trough straight onto the site. Downside is that you don't a have a realistic control of when it is coming, and how accurate the measurement is - I had to make up a couple of barrow loads to complete the batch.

If site access is easy (and the above job wasn't), then the DIY with some mates is best. 3 or 4 of us did something like a 3 cube mix for a garage when I was a good deal younger.

Rob