When delivering concrete, you will meet a variety of types of customer, and their needs are sometimes different. It pays in this business to be versatile, adaptable and above all else: persistent.
It’s the persistence aspect that goes the distance with any customer; we WILL help you with your concrete needs, no matter how tricky it may be. There are some extremely hard-to-reach sites with very little access, and a concrete pump just isn’t possible, which means you have to get creative. We do not turn our back on deliveries, we find a way! And it pays to do so.
But how does this vary from residential customers to commercial jobs for contractors/builders? Believe it or not, it sort of doesn’t. At least, not by much, anyway. Your typical residential job is somewhere between one and six cubic-metres of concrete, almost always wheel-barrowed in. This is because the homeowner has the choice: order the concrete and have it barrowed in (unless it’s a straight pour right into the hole) or they can pay an extra £600-700 to hire a pump. It’s a no-brainer, really.
For commercial jobs, they are typically a much larger quantity of concrete (anywhere from six to forty cubic-metres) but access is usually a lot easier (due to it being a worksite) but it’s a shared space where different aspects of construction are all working simultaneously. Despite this, some contractors will still be reluctant to hire a concrete pump. They will look at their books and wonder if a pump is a necessary expense if it can be done another way, which is entirely their right. However, work sites can get busy, and muddy, so the plan usually involves using heavy machinery – like a digger with a big enough bucket, or a tipper – already present on site to help get the concrete in the hole.
And that is why in a round-about way, residential and commercial jobs – from our perspective – are very similar in terms of what to expect, and how to prepare for them.
We have had some really awkward jobs in the past (no surprise there!) but the customer or contractor will always remember how you responded at the time, how in the end you got the job done, which is all it takes for you to become their go-to concrete firm.