|
Hi Mike, I've built two concrete houses so far, another's started. We often use a loader bucket to transport concrete. In your situation I would have gotten the backhoe to transport the concrete while it was there, unless you hand dug that footing. Even my compact tractor bucket has often been pressed into service. When I first got started here I compared costs of ready-mix to what I would pay for the material. By buying tractor trailer loads I could realize $10/yd savings. Doesn't leave much for labor and mixer. Time for the ready-mix. I'm with you about pumping. Around here it works out to about $700 a pop. And then you get crappy looking concrete from the solids separation. I bought an antique crane just to pick up concrete buckets for high pours and inaccessible spots. Here, this would be a lot cheaper than pumping too, even with the crane rental, assuming you can rent a bucket. Once we used an all-terrain forklift to hoist a concrete bucket to the top of 15' walls. Worked out OK. Cost was under $200 for the day. If you can get your hands on a loader, that's the answer. Is the rest of your project going to be made out of bug food? Good luck.
| 
