How much to lay ready mix concrete yourself ?

Alan111

I got a quote of 1700 for half my back to get half of it concrete it's 60m2 would it be cheaper for me to do it myself ??
And would it be a difficult task ?
Don't mind trying but don't want to ruin my own backyard

Any help or even recommendation to someone would Help from the cork area

foxy farmer

Readymix concrete delivered would be 4-500 delivered depending on strength ordered. Thats 60sqm at 100mm thick which is 6cubm.
If you go at it yourself youd need about 14t of gravel at 18euro a tonne delivered. 60 bags of cement at 5euro approx. And the hire of a decent sized diesel mixer. A few lengths of 4x2 as well

CJhaughey

If you have no experience working with concrete I would take the quote for 1700 and let them do it if they are good workmen.
I assume the quote includes all prep work as well as the concrete and laying, does it need to be dug out and levelled much before the pour?
You need to have the levels all worked out beforehand so there is fall away from your house, or are you fitting drainage as well?
Ask to see other jobs they have done and references as well.

wexie

You wouldn't necessarily need a cement mixer and all that, nothing to stop a private individual from ordering readymix delivered to the house. that amount I wouldn't bother trying to mix it yourself. Last time I ordered any I think it worked out to be 150ish euro m3, delivered to the house.

But....certainly from my experience is that by the time the cement arrives at the house most of the work is already done and that's all the tricky stuff like the levels, slope away from the house, drainage,shoring and all that stuff.

If there'll be a lot of digging, leveling, hardcore etc involved it'd be a helluva job for one man to tackle.

IF you could do all of this yourself and be reasonably be comfortable that you know what you're doing then yes you could absolutely do it cheaper. Not sure it'd be worth your while though really. If if get guys to do this that know what they're doing I'd imagine it'd be a 2 day job at most.

tradesman

Dont diy! Concrete is not a material to mess with. You will not know how to get a good finish either. Get 3 quotes look at previous works done & leave it to the experts.

Water John

More important to get someone who's recommended, if contracting out.
At least use readymix, no point in doing that yourself. You can do all the prep yourself if you are confident, in the days beforehand. You'll need screeding boards, level, and two other people to help, on the day. A couple of shovels and a concrete hoe is really handy. Think what finish you want and have the tools to do that.

doolox

I have had many heart aches trying to do plastering, concrete and other wet trade work and it is always best to get an experienced trades man to do the job.

There are many jobs which you can do slowly and carefully, taking your time to anticipate all the wrinkles and snags and being able to rectify things and reverse procedures to do it right after a learning.

Cement, plaster and such like finishes do not lend themselves to this strategy.

Many DIY jobs are now becoming harder to do as building control regs, loan approvals and laws have been tightened up in the last decade.

Electrical work, gas and plumbing for heating systems are now off limits to most partly or non qualified people and you have no choice but to hire in the trade to get the job done.

Gone are the days when a competent handyman could install new windows, exterior doors or guttering etc. These are now specialist factory made items requiring special tools, jigs and techniques out of bounds to most DIY people.

Concreting needs to be done properly to avoid flooding, pooling and cracking which may occur in badly done work. Get references, recommendations and be careful who you hire.

Wildly Boaring

Concrete is 85 a cube Inc VAT ish. So €500
So 2 men for 2 days. Prep, pour, finish. €1000 - labour & transport
€200 profit and if it's easy pour with easy access and easy prep hope to get bit more profit back out of labour. Get another half day out of the boys elsewhere.

To do yourself
1. Is there much prep? Currently hardstanding I assume? Assume no one going driving on this.

2. Is it straight out of bottle or barrow the lot?
22 barrows in a cube = over 130 and a charge for bottle standing.

3. Can you finish concete. You will need help particularly to screed. A tamp finish is relatively handy to achieve. Make sure it's all right height with a straight screed and screed rails to a fall. Run a bull nose trowel around the edges. No massive material cost. Just enough 4x2 and some pins.

4. Can you look at a puddle for ever if it goes pear shaped.

Lumen

I decided to lay a 5sqm concrete base for an oil tank as one of my spring projects.

At this point the I'm ready to pour, and I'm expecting that to be simple.

What took the time was digging down 45-65cm, enough for 200-300mm of 804 and 100-150mm of concrete, as required by the regs I'm following.

I thought I'd do it by hand for the exercise. Terrible idea. Digging out about 3m3 heavy clay is not easy for a keyboard warrior.

Filling and levelling the 804, assembling and pegging the formwork, cutting the steel mesh were the fun parts.

Anyway, point is: it's the prep that takes ages, not the concrete.

Metric Tensor

Don't forget to compact the 804 with a whacker plate or vibrating roller before you pour Lumen!

Especially important when you're going to have 800 odd kg of oil resting on it!!

Lumen

Metric Tensor wrote: »

Don't forget to compact the 804 with a whacker plate or vibrating roller before you pour Lumen!

Especially important when you're going to have 800 odd kg of oil resting on it!!

Thanks MT, I should have mentioned that. The 804 has been sitting there uncompacted while I get around to hiring one!

ford2600

Before you start do you need to buy any tools for the job(which you probably won't use again)? Have you somewhere to put what you dig out? Have you a trailer? Can you reverse it?

Have you considered drainage? Can you drain to existing drainage network?

Will yard have to carry any heavy dynamic loads?

Golden rule in my experience with DIY is will take it least as twice as long as estimated. While pouring concrete isn't the most difficult skillset to learn there is a skillset, your backyard might not be the best place to be on the steepest part of the curve...

@lumen an 800kg load on 150mm concrete ain't much. By all means compact sub base, but in 30 years of doing quite a bit of concrete one has never failed with less concrete (home mixed) and with much heavier dynamic loads

Lumen

ford2600 wrote: »

@lumen an 800kg load on 150mm concrete ain't much. By all means compact sub base, but in 30 years of doing quite a bit of concrete one has never failed with less concrete (home mixed) and with much heavier dynamic loads

100mm is what the UK regs say, but it's difficult to get the sub base completely level so I have 100mm form work and a slightly concave subbase going down to about 170mm in the middle.

Concrete is minimum order 170 euros from Roadstone so I may as well use a bit more.

Plus I've overspecced it in case I get carried away and make an oil tank housing in the form of a Sphinx or something.

wexie

Lumen wrote: »

and make an oil tank housing in the form of a Sphinx or something.

I would definitely want to see pics of that

massey265

Lumen wrote:

I decided to lay a 5sqm concrete base for an oil tank as one of my spring projects.

Lumen wrote:

At this point the I'm ready to pour, and I'm expecting that to be simple.

At my calculations this only requires .5 m3 off concrete, around 40 euros worth, no concrete company will deliver that small amount.

Lumen

massey265 wrote: »

At my calculations this only requires .5 m3 off concrete, around 40 euros worth, no concrete company will deliver that small amount.

They will, it's just no cheaper than a larger amount.

Lumen wrote: »

Concrete is minimum order 170 euros from Roadstone so I may as well use a bit more.

CJhaughey

You can get mini mix trucks that hold around 3 m3 if you ask the guy when he'd be in the area with a part load they can often deliver a small amount.