Concrete ready mix vs mix your own

Zachary Hoyt · Mar 4, 2014

I have done both but it has been a longer time since I mixed my own. Last time I ordered concrete it was way too sloppy and I told the driver I didn't like it but I didn't have a slump cone so I couldn't prove it. It seems that concrete is now around $100/yard on the truck and I am thinking about mixing my own again, I have an old mixer that I got at an auction last summer. Is there a general rule of thumb for the likely difference in cost between the two methods? If they are about the same I would likely go with ready mix and get a slump cone but if there is a substantial savings I would want to mix it here. I would have to buy cement by the bag and get sand and stone trucked in.
Zach

old · Mar 4, 2014

Last time I saw it at $100 per yard in this area was at least 10 years ago. Have not checked it as for now but bet it is a good bit higher. I prefer doing it my self but I also have my own sand and gravel for doing it right on the place

rrlund · Mar 4, 2014

I don't know what the difference is anymore. My uncle used to say it was about half the cost to do it yourself. I have a tractor mounted mixer that takes and entire bag of cement on one batch and we poured a heck of a bunch of concrete around here with it. It took a whale of a lot of labor though. Back when we were all young and all it took to round up help was hamburgers and beer it was a no brainer. I haven't used it in a long time though. It's easier to just make a phone call after I make sure when one or both of the boys can be here to help.

Billy NY · Mar 4, 2014

How much are you typically using and what is it for?

When ordering from a batch plant, I assume you state what kind of mix design or strength, 3000, 4000, 5000 psi etc. You tell them you will be taking test cylinders for compressive strength testing, they'd be fools to send the wrong or defective mix, knowing it will be tested per ASTM criteria.

Sounds like the water/cement ratio was off, and that would definitely ruin any mixes strength.

Small jobs, mixing your own is fine, but you do need to do it uniformly, and if its critical, test your mix design by having it tested, then once proved, use the exact same design, and materials.

Larger jobs, small mixer will not cut it, you can't make enough to keep up, you will have cold joints, where its set up, you do not want structural components built that way.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 4, 2014

Depends How many yards you buy, They have a small load charge that makes it higher than ell, Used to be 3 yards or under where I worked, If the load was over 3 yards then it was cheaper than you could buy the sand, stone and cement for. But that has been 20 years ago.

jm. · Mar 4, 2014

Zach Standard 5 bag mix is around 85 bucks here if I order 6 yds or more. Have my own trucks and sand and gravel around $6.50 a ton 30 miles away. Cement is all over the board but buying it in the bag 100 bags at a time I feel like my mix my own cost me about 3/4 of what the delivered cost. If we are pouring small things like post ect. we mix larger floors I order it in.

Larry NEIL · Mar 4, 2014

Dry tamp concrete for floors and walks was normal up through the 40"s. Mix it up for a 5-6 bag mix stiff put it in place and screed it off about 1" lower than the desired grade. Next day come back and mix sand cement only for the last inch and trowel it. Some of that old stuff fell apart, some of it was harder than all Billy-He11!

Sparktrician · Mar 4, 2014

Not sure what you are pouring....but it is $100/yard delivered here (or less) that is a pile of work if it is a big pour....plus all the other issues...

Ken Macfarlane · Mar 4, 2014

We have a mixer and have mixed a lot of cement but I can't beat the ready-mix price doing it myself even with free gravel.

Dick2 · Mar 4, 2014

Back in the 50's, ReadyMix wasn't around our area. We had our own mixer that we used. The main disadvantage today would be gathering enough help for a crew to make a big pour. We had several guys that would help us. We poured a 30 X 52ft. barn floor in one day with a full crew - everyone was on the verge of collapse by the time we finished.

We trucked all of our own gravel and sand and shovelled it all by hand. Hard to find anyone today that will work that hard.

RodinNS · Mar 4, 2014

If I could buy ready-mix here for 100/yard not even on my worst day would I consider mixing my own. Bagged cement alone will cost you that much per yard here.

Rod

tomtirediron · Mar 4, 2014

I just looked at that last night with Menards flyer that came out. Had type 3 air entrained Portland for $9.99/ 95 lb bag. Looking at a MnD.O.T. concrete mix design I have here on my desk as an example, for a 3300 psi bridge mix it calls for 533 lbs of portland/yard. Looking at about 56.00 a yard for just the cement. If your aggregate source is extremely cheap I"d consider it but that first $56.00 and hassle factor about kills it for me.

Zachary Hoyt · Mar 4, 2014

Thank you all, that is very informative. I am thinking it would come to 6 or 7 yards but it would spread over 20 separate mini-pours, one for each column, so the cold joint problem should not arise. I will have to make the final determination in a year when I am ready to actually get started forming, but from what I am hearing it sounds like the truck might be the way to go since I work by myself and it doesn't seem that the savings would be all that much once I bought the materials.
Zach

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 4, 2014

It's the cost of the bag. Any bag, cow feed, mineral mix, fertilizer, seed corn, cement, is going to cost you $2 a bag over bulk price.

jimg.allentown · Mar 4, 2014

Something to consider:
You should specify the slump when you order or they will take it upon themselves to determine the slump rate that will be delivered.

A few years ago, I put in a concrete driveway. A good close friend had been working professionally as a concrete finisher. When the truck arrived, the concrete was a bit too wet. Way too wet. It took a LONG time for it to begin to set properly. The driver recognized my friend, and said that we should have specified the slump, as they use different slump for "harry the homeowner" than they do for people that know the product (professionals). Nearly ruined the driveway, as it began raining before the concrete set up.

PJH · Mar 4, 2014

Zach, around here, last time I checked, they'd adopted a 4 cy minimum for private work. If you wanted one cy, they'd bring it to you, but they'd bill you for four. Plus, they want to be washing out in around 30 minutes. They're loose on the dump time, unless something stupid is going on. They simply have bigger fish to fry, plus they never know what they'll get into when they pull onto a private job. I would think they'd be decent enough to tell you if they have a minimum charge when you made your order, but you never know.

JayinNY · Mar 4, 2014

Lol, around here we use #5 slump, it sets up faster, but as you said drivers make it looser for homeowners.

Traditional Farmer · Mar 4, 2014

The big advantage of getting it delivered is you put it down all at once which will mean a better job,also there are additives that can be put in concrete to do various things that you can't go buy at retail places.As far as slump its no excuse
for the concrete being sloppy when you order the concrete go to the plant and order it tell them about last time if the company is any good they'll get it striaght.Also you can get a superplaticizer to add to the mix on the job that'll make it go down easier.BTW wait until warm weather to pour and do NOT add Calcium Choloride to the mix no matter how much the finisher cries about it.I worked in the concrete industry for 25 years and can say that easily 95% of the non state or commerical concrete is poured out of spec.then people wonder why the concrete
cracks dusts etc.

Ray · Mar 4, 2014

I had some cement poured last summer for a building apron and a sidewalk.The guy said he liked to mix his own and it would save me money.
By the 5th dump his mixer quit and we had to rent one,he ran out of cement twice and it was midnight before the job was finished.Next time i'll call the ready mix truck and be done with it.I don't care what it cost,it's deductible if you buy it,not if you do the job yourself.

john in la · Mar 4, 2014

Forget the cost of the material.
There is no way I would do a several yard pour with a mixer when I could save the labor and have it delivered for $100 a yard.
On the other hand if I had several small pours to do; knowing concrete degrades the longer it sits in the truck; the company is gona charge for truck waiting time; I would consider using a home mixer because hiring enough people to do a pour like that in a timely matter would be cost prohibitive.

When we poured a house slab for my sister; knowing house private loads are wetter and weaker; we told the concrete company every load would be slump and break tested.
I borrowed a slump cone and a few cylinders from a friend.
I never did have the cylinders broken but just the idea of knowing I was testing the concrete made me believe the company was sending loads that would pass the test.

Bryan inIowa · Mar 4, 2014

I used bag mix when poured my basement footings. Did it in sections of40 ft or so. Access was big issue. Pumper was 300 min each time. Had two mixers set up in basement. 120 bags stacked. Mixed it and poured with 5 gal pails.took about 4-5 hrs . Hate to think if only had 1 mixer. Repeated that process 3 more times. Did have a chute built to slide bags under house..

dpendzic · Mar 4, 2014

exactly right! there are plasticizers, retarding densifiers, air entrainment, fiber strand additives,etc that is very difficult to do on your own--and if its more than a cubic yard the mwork involved to mix it is unbelievable.
Ask for a local government approved mix, which means all the aggregates have been tested and the mix design optimized. Always specify the 28 day strength required and take test cylinders then the responsibility is on them. If you have super plasticizers added then the slump is not important

Mike M · Mar 4, 2014

I don't think I read mention of another option.

We poured some piers for a double wide and at that time the guy that drilled out the holes also had a mixing truck that held the dry ingredients and would mix it as needed on location. Hardly any waste and you did not have to rush to meet a time limit. His truck had to go back for a reload as it didn't hold enough for all of it at one time.

I'd try and see if such a truck exists in your area !

Bobl1958 · Mar 4, 2014

Zach - if you specify a 5" slump from the plant, it should be pretty close. A lot of times you would be required to pour a 4 -4 1/2" slump on pads, but that depends on the Engineer and the conditions. Let me tell you the crews putting the 4" slump down will holler like mad for water. Obviously the more water, the weaker the concrete. Usually, for the homeowner, if you have between a 5" and 6" slump you will be fine. If you have a slump cone, the procedure (in a nutshell) is to fill the cone 1/3 full and tamp the concrete 25 times with a 5/8" rod. Not supposed to use rebar but some do. Fill the next 1/3rd and tamp clear through another 25 times. Fill the final 1/3 and tamp 25 times. Lift the cone and measure the amount of drop the pile of concrete settles off of the slump cone. The farther it falls the obvious wetter it is.
Having said that, the concrete company is usually pretty close to what you ask for. I have been involved with 1000's of yards over 30+ years and have probably only turned down less than half a dozen loads. The concrete company will usually send it a little dryer that asked for if they know someone is checking. The driver can always add a little water on site.
You can get away with a pretty fair variance if it is not heavy structural. 2500# mix is fine, but 3000# mix if it requires a lot of strength or a lot of vehicle traffic. Bob

Spook · Mar 4, 2014

I had a 40x40 barn, plus a 40x20 apron put in 4 years ago. The company did all the prep work, and finishing. They used compactors and brought in sand to make grade, using a laser to get everything right. They did a great job of finishing, and in 4 years, no cracks at all. I'm very happy with the job, and it cost me $5500. I think that is cheap for what I got.

Geo-TH,In · Mar 4, 2014

If you do a 7 bag mix, you are looking at over $70 with tax included. I have a mixer, and free sand and gravel. Only mix up small amounts. The big jobs, I get a man in the concrete business to do the work. He usually gets contractor's price from the ready mix place, which almost pays for his work. The last job I had him do was a 30x50x 6 inches. He charged me $500 to do all the work, including the finishing.

farmerjohn · Mar 4, 2014

I always figured that with concrete you get one try to get it right and live with the results for years, so better get someone who knows what they are doing, its worth it to me.

Tom OConor · Mar 4, 2014

In 1972 I built a new grain system and poured the complete system with a 3-point hitch mixer on a ford tractor only because I didn't have the money for ready mix. It was about half of the cost to mix your own at the time. That fall a neighbor asked if he could borrow my mixer and I told him only if he promised to never bring it back would I let him use it. Great man of his word as I have never seen it since nor have I looked for it.

moresmoke · Mar 4, 2014

Its been about 5 years since I've done some of both. At that time ready mix and the bagged cement only cost about the same. Adding in the cost of aggregate and labor only made sense up to about 2 yds. The mix company charged a min of 4 yds, but they were really good about delivering what I wanted if I could keep the driver from adding water.

Stephen Newell · Mar 5, 2014

It takes 45 80lb bags to make a yard of cement if you use the ready mix cement. At 3.59 per bag that comes to 161.55 plus what ever the carpractor charges.

Traditional Farmer · Mar 5, 2014

You don't make CONCRETE out of pure cement.Cement is the material thats holds the aggregates together in concrete.

James Williams · Mar 5, 2014

Zachary,you need a good driver

Concrete ready mix vs mix your own

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads