Contractor Tips

Contractor Tips

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Anything that may slow-down or mislead us in servicing your order can cost you and your company money.

Ordering Tips

1. Place your order as far in advance as possible (minimum 24 hours). The more lead time you give our dispatcher the better we will be able to service your needs. Communicate with our dispatcher to give her a feel for what you're planning for the week. Last minute orders and "I'll call you tomorrow with details" leads to mistakes. Our schedule does fill quickly; we will do our absolute best to accommodate your needs.
2. Will call orders are acceptable; please try to confirm or cancel them 2 hours in advance. If orders are not confirmed in this period of time you may find your job delayed.
3. If there is a change in your order please call no less than 1 hour before your scheduled pour time. If the load has been batched into a truck the customer will be responsible for the load.
4. If you know your help is going to be late or the jobsite may not be ready at the requested delivery time, call the dispatcher immediately so she may adjust her schedule and we both don't have to worry about concrete sitting on a job for too long. It is the responsibility of the contractor to unload the trucks in the allowed or scheduled times. Trucks not unloaded in a reasonable time will be subject to a waiting charge.
5. Cancel orders as soon as possible. Remember, if the load has been batched you own it! During inclement weather call as soon and as early as you can so we may properly schedule our drivers.
6. Order at least 10% extra concrete. This will allow for spreading forms, uneven sub grade, settlement of sub base, spilling, testing, etc. Remember it will get very expensive if we have to use two mixers to deliver what we could have delivered in one. All part loads charges will apply. Balances on full truck orders will be delivered with no additional fee.
7. Have good directions. Know the names of the streets and have a street address. Well known landmarks will also help. "Driver Harry was there a week ago on the footing," is unacceptable.
8. If you're not sure that a mixer will fit on your site please call for a company rep to do a site visit prior to our delivery.
9. Order what you are going to need. Ordering 11+ or even 200+ is fine. One load is scheduled for the "+". Two or more balance loads will affect our ability to fill your order and will also affect our ability to service other customers.
10. If a special mix is needed for your job and is different than your normal order, let the dispatcher know upfront.
11. Be honest in your dealings with the dispatcher. Let them know of any potential slowdowns that may affect the anticipated return time of the mixer. Remember this will affect our ability to properly service another order. With proper communication we can help assure that in the future the rolls aren't reversed.
12. Remember that on top of our travel time it takes about 10 minutes to load the truck, 10 minutes to rinse and slump in the truck, and we may encounter traffic when heading to your site.
13. Remember when ordering to give the proper name of who will be actually paying for the concrete. This is the name that we will need printed on our tickets. You may be ordering the concrete however without the proper name you will also be paying for it.
14. All dispatch calls are recorded for the quality assurance for all parties involved.

On The Job Communication And Safety

1. Remember when the truck arrives please allow proper time for mixing, installing chutes and job site assessment.
2. Make sure you are ready to pour when the truck shows up at the scheduled time. Not being ready when the first truck shows up will affect our ability to service the remaining loads.
3. If you request our mixer to leave the road and drive onto your jobsite property, you must sign the delivery slip taking any and all responsibility for all damage to our truck and the jobsite property. If you are not sure about the site the builder or end user should be there!
4. Help guide the trucks onto your jobsite. Know what is underground and watch for overhead wires and tree branches. Our trucks are heavy, tall, and wide.
5. We do not carry any extra chutes. We carry the maximum the manufacturer suggests.
6. If you add additional chutes, you must properly brace them!
7. A mixer truck has many blind spots, be very careful working around the truck. Make sure the driver is aware of your location at all times. Never walk behind the mixer or under the chutes.

Quality Control

1. Know the slump you intend on pouring and let the dispatcher know at the time of ordering. There is standard equipment available to test slump and air. If assistance is needed please notify us when ordering.
2. Do not add water for slumps over 6 inches. If you need to place concrete at higher (looser) slumps you should only do so with mid or high range water reducers. Without these chemicals you will get segregation of the mix (stones piling up and cream flowing away) and possible low strength.
3. Adding one gallon of water to one cubic yard of concrete will:
   • Increase slump 1 inch
   • Decrease Strength 200 - 300 psi
   • Increase shrinkage potential by 10%
   • Increase air content by 1/2%
4. Do not finish concrete until all bleed water has disappeared from the surface. Weather is very influential on concrete's ability to be ready to finish. When there is low humidity, winds, direct sunlight, high temperature or worse a combination of the above, the concrete may appear ready to finish however only the surface is dry. On days like this you should protect the surface with a vapor retarder.
5. Never sprinkle water on to the surface of drying concrete during finishing.
6. Never steel trowel air entrained exterior concrete.
7. We recommend always using 4000psi concrete where it will be exposed to freeze thaw. This is the minimum required by ACI.
8. Cut jobs into slabs as square as possible and not more than 2 1/2 feet apart for every one inch of thickness.