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Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:40 pm
by Tommy
..are they any good? Seen quite a few driving about.
Is it cheaper just to go for readymix, from a conventional wagon mixer?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:15 am
by lutonlagerlout
they are handy if a little bit more expensive
the good thing is you can tell the guy you need roughly 5 metres and because they hold 9m you are not stuffed if you under or over order
we use a crowd called custom concrete from beds and they are very helpful and reliable
unlike readymix drivers who all seem to have fell out of the pain in the a**e tree and hit every branch on the way down
cheers LLL
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:31 am
by Tony McC
As long as you get a reliable/trustworthy company, the Vol-mixers are bloody handy for those jobs where you can't be precise about the quantity required. AS LLL, says, they tend to be a bit more expensive, so for jobs where you'd be ordering concrete on an ongoing basis (say kerb-laying), the usual grumpy unhelpful readymix are a better option, purely on the basis of cost.
However, there are some flakey Vol-mixers out there who have a nasty habit of taking advantage of the less-knowledgeable customers, such as DIYers, and skimp on the cement content. After all, how many homeowners pouring their own shed base would be able to tell the diff between 15 Newton and 30 Newton concrete? It all goes hard!
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:33 pm
by Edgecraft
I'll second that Tony !
I had 3 metre dropped last summer for a job I was doing on my own, Half the barrows were dry and the others were like P#** , in the end it cost me more in time and effort to mix it up in the base than it would have done to pay someone to help me barrow a readymix in !
Waste of time complaining, just won't use them again or recommend them to anyone 
Darren
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:44 pm
by lutonlagerlout
the crowd we use are very helpful and ask what slump we want,also they have 3 separate compartments,grit sand ,20 mm agg and cement
so you can specify any mix you want
you can even have no fines concrete if you wanted
we used to use thief-a-mate ,when the drivers werent using your credit card details to log on to russian porn sites they were trying to mug you off on the quantities
"well geezah,you 'ave 'ad 5 effing cubes,but we'll do 4 fru de company and bung me a nifty for de extra,sweet as a nut ,sorted "
this was when we knew it was no more than 3.5 m3 gone in
in fairness, they had 1 driver chris who was straight and honest but that was it.
i know within .2 m3 what concrete i need ,but its handy having a safety margin with the volu trucks,esp for diyers
LLL 
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:29 pm
by jonnyaardvark
....like everything else in life some people will always take advantage of situations and tarnish the reputation of the good guys..
i run 6 vol-mixers soon to be 7 through out the M/C area selling 400 m3 + per week and we are increasing our customer base daily ranging from diy-ers to large contractors
as LLL pointed out your only as good as your people namely your drivers..customer service wins every time
we are a little bit more expensive but this is more than made up by a helpful and understanding shipping office,(this includes payments) customer service orientated drivers,no waiting charges..within reason and no part load charges
on the mix vol-mixers can have a problem regulating the water content of the mix during the first drop in the morning..when you load the night before the moisture in the aggs can settle to the bottom hence the first five barrows can be like p%%% but once thats out of the way everything should be fine..but good operators should minimise this problem..if a mix is continually wet and then dry this is a maintainence problem these mixers are expensive pieces of kit and need constant tlc
i can only see vol-mixers gaining more market share of the trad concrete market
jonny
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:03 pm
by Edgecraft
Hey Jonnyaardvark
I saw one of your trucks at the Denton roundabout a couple of weeks ago, Bl**dy big bit of kit !
Darren
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:20 pm
by jonnyaardvark
Hi Darren,
As Big Mick says in our office "they do turn heads "
Hope your bad experience with vol-mixers hasnt put you off !
jonnyaardvark
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:09 pm
by Edgecraft
Hi Jonnyaardvark
No not been put off, just wouldn't use the other company again !
I'll give you a shout next time I need some concrete barrowed in 
Darren
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:15 pm
by flowjoe
We had a company deliver and barrow to a site on merseyside last year.
Half way through we realised we (me) had forgot to take a company cheque, but somehow we had enough cash between the lads on site to pay for the delivery. (a minor miracle given it was the end of the week).
The ganger on the mixing gang could smell the cash and insisted he had no paperwork with him for a reciept, i told him without a reciept he got no cash.
So one barrowful short of the full mix he pulled the plug and said we would get no more, given we were putting in three bases for a summer house and two sheds i said he could either excavate the lot and take it away or p$£s o&%
He looked a little harder and found an old receipt book under the drivers seat, bless him !
Jonnyaardvark do you get you rigs from the guys in Poynton, they seem to knock them out at a fair old rate.
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:00 pm
by jonnyaardvark
yep flowjoe we use the cementech mixers supplied by armcon at poynton
think they sold about 80 last year ...not bad at 160k a piece
although they have taken a few back as a few operations have gone bust lately
they are good salesman they sell the dream but trying to build a business with 160k on drip around your neck and them selling trucks everywhere is a difficult ask
jonny
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:30 pm
by lutonlagerlout
we had custom concrete out friday and the guy said the wagon was from manchester somewhere
he asked were yours red johnnyaardvark?
problem is ,i imagine they will sell the same lorry to people 15 miles apart
LLL
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:37 pm
by jonnyaardvark
Hi lutonlagerlout,
no ours are sky blue
armcon who import the mixers from the states sell the mixers all over europe
did custom crete buy their truck new or second hand
jonny
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:51 pm
by jonnyaardvark
hi LLL
just been thinking if its a second hand machine and its a dark red machine on a scania .....it will be a mixer from Accumix in Wolverhampton i know he has part exd quite a few mixers and he is Armcons biggest customer
jonny
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:23 am
by lutonlagerlout
its definitely armcon and its from manc,hes getting another 1 soon not many about this area as we have 3 readymix plants in town
for me anyway the operator makes all the difference
cheers LLL