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Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 7:03 pm
by flowjoe
Spoke to three concrete mix companies in four days after 12 to 20 cube of foam-crete + pump to grout up a basement drainage system.
All promised to get back to me with a price, not one of em did.
Where`s Johnny aardvark gone ?, Giles who have you been using in Wimslow ?
Edited By flowjoe on 1281722745
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:00 pm
by mickg
aardvark have been purchased by mixamate but the phone number is still the same
I have used them twice in the last 4 weeks and the service, price and quality of concrete is a lot better than aardvark was
last year aardvark got a bit too choosy on where they would travel too and I was let down on a job across the road from where they had delivered to 6 weeks earlier
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:13 pm
by flowjoe
Cheers Mick, i`ll bell em Monday
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:59 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i dunno about mixamate up north but we bagged them years ago down south
drivers were lying, cheating, conniving, thieving,barstewards
this was in the days when they knocked it up in a mixer on the back of the motor, hard graft admittedly but they took too many libertys
one exception was chris,who was good as gold
if a slab is 2.5 M by 4 M and 100mm thick that makes 1M3
not according to these clowns who would say "you 'ave 'ad 2 metres geezer, bung me a pony and I will only charge you for one"
and on and on
we use custom concrete now and although its a little bit more expensive the service is spot on and they do what it says on the tin
so what happened to aardvark mick?
just took the dollar or expanded too fast?
LLL
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:29 pm
by flowjoe
lutonlagerlout wrote:so what happened to aardvark mick?
just took the dollar or expanded too fast?
LLL
There was a company up here producing the open top mix wagons (i think they were imported from the states) and they always had one or two ready built on show at their unit.
I havn`t seen any outside there unit for a while, maybe they now build to order.
Always seemed a big investment to me especially when they could sell two to your next door neighbour the following day, no territorial rights in that game.
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:33 pm
by GB_Groundworks
we use Cemex, the real big boys. all on account and good rates for bulk (52m3) £68 a metre C35 etc
depots at adlington and altringham for wilmslow we had 2 lorries on turn around from each depot
did all 453m2 of screed as well think it was about 45m3 of liquid screed in a day
amaracon or how ever you spell it are across the rd from a big site we did 2 years ago in poyton, we were there 3+ years used to see them coming and going all the time, big 8 wheeler on a scania/merc chassis £150k hefty finance payments and lots of them about now.
had some shit mixes out of them though, most now do free barrowing.
poured 25 metres the other day, barrowmix did it, green wagons 2 wagons and 2 vans, 6 lads of barrows done by lunch time on a 40 metre barrow to the footing.
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1281731933
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:36 pm
by flowjoe
Maybe the numbers are too small on my job for them to be interested, like i say things must be on the up 
Giles, did you do the old garage site in Poynton then ?
Edited By flowjoe on 1281731850
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:38 pm
by GB_Groundworks
i use cemex for anything over 3m+, the way cemex work though its cheaper to have a full wagon of 6m than say 4m best just skip the remaining
cemex do all the special grades etc i've used their agricultural mix designed to resist amonia in animal urine.
heres the spec for foam crete
http://www.cemexliterature.co.uk/pdf/Concrete_Foamed_Concrete_DS.pdf
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1281735455
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:04 pm
by lutonlagerlout
we used to use cemex but when they centralised their call centre to rugby it was a massive fail,used to be able to ring yup and speak to a person that you knew
once they centralised it the stuff stopped turning up on time
we pay about £95 per metre on 3M + with barrowmix but I dont lose anytime with lads standing around
you have to look at the bigger picture sometimes
LLL
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:08 pm
by mickg
sorry Flowjoe its not mixamate what bought aardvark its Barrowmix
Barrowmix
Not to sure what happened Luton, I phoned up 4 weeks ago and the phone was answered by a different person who said they had taken it over
i know what you mean with mixamate, I used them 20 years ago with the mixer on the back of the wagon and the guys used to shovel the stuff into the mixer by hand, the lads would do 10 - 12m3 a day which is no mean task
only thing with ordering 6m3 and only needing 4m3 Giles is filling a mini skip so thats costing £ 90 to dump it unless you can spread it elsewhere on a site, its not quite the same when you bury it under the rockery on a front garden ???
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:31 pm
by GB_Groundworks
we kept the numbers of the guys at the plants 
no central call centre haha
true, most our work is site based or out in the countryside can always find something to do with it, or we just mix it with some muck and cart it away ourselves.
Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1281738851
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:31 am
by lutonlagerlout
yes those guys were fit as a butchers dog then mick, I remember it was £50 per metre and the driver got £7 a metre for knocking it up
there must have been some HSE issues, I am sure chris (the only decent one,probably completely knackered now) told us he averaged £500 a week which is about 15m per day,but at that time brickies were on £70-80 a day so it was good money.
regarding the finance,the bloke we use tells me that in 2 years 1 lorry has paid for itself (6 days a week) but you are at the vagaries of the weather and economy
he did say they dont like going over 10 miles from base for a metre as the logistics dont add up
cheers LLL
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:16 am
by mickg
barrowmix is £85m3 plus £30 delivery
I don't mind the £30 delivery as its a competitive price per m3, its when companies say they don't go that far on the phone and your let down
you try buying the materials for mixing by hand and its a lot more than £85 not including your labour cost
maybe it was the economy that meant aardvark could not survive with the new fleet of wagons and overheads etc which has not been the best of times over the last couple of years, they also started offering a service using the concrete wagon and the worm drive on the rear to fire the MOT for a sub base onto the area required
they had a video on the website last year but i can't find it now of the wagon on a car park shooting the stone what must of been 20 feet in the air and 100 feet in distance but also varying the position to level the stone so to speak, I cant see that being in massive demand plus as a health and safety aspect it must of been a big NO NO
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:59 am
by lutonlagerlout
yeah that mot sprayer thing looked insane
we barrowed 6 tonne in yesterday morning in an hour with 3 of us, moving type 1 is not a big job
LLL
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 12:18 pm
by mickg
yeah same as Luton plus you get it exact rather than being too high, its easier to add more than to start having to remove any excess