Concrete discounts

[mcbane]

I'm getting ready to put in my garage footings and slab. The total job is nearly 200 yds of concrete and I'm wondering if that is enough that I should be getting a volume discount from the concrete company. I know contractors all get discounts but concrete companies dont like to discount for DIY customers.
Has anyone with a larger concrete job been able to get a price break? If so, what sort of discount is typical?

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

It never hurts to ask but i doubt that you will get a discount

The only thing They might do is waive a short load fee if you only need a yard or two on the last truck


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[spudley]

Footings and slab and you need 200 yds? And you're DIY? My hats off to you friend.

 

[vavet]

200 yards???
Are you sure? That would pour a slab 54x100 x 1 foot deep.

 

[ConCretin]

I agree with vavet that 200 cy sounds like a lot for a residential garage so maybe check your math. It's not really about getting a discount, it's about getting a quoted price - hopefully from multiple suppliers before you build. My suppliers charge a set price for 'call ins' but will quote better prices for a job when requested in advance. It's definitely worth a shot.

Know what you want before you call and ask for a salesman rather than dispatch. Give my Guide to Floor Slabs below a read for some additional things to consider.

 

[BillK]

200 yards???

I was thinking the same thing. Thats 20 truck loads

 

[topp64]

For a diy’er the price per yard would probably be the same if you ordered 20 or 200 yards, around here anyway. But it wouldn’t hurt to check around for the best quote. Make sure to ask about extra charges on top of what they quote per yard. In my area they add a fuel surcharge for every load, various short load charges for loads under 2, 4, or 6 yards, and charge a Sat. delivery fee for each load hauled on Saturday. Diy’ers rarely get breaks on the extra charges where contractors do. You’ll probably get a lower quote if you pay C.O.D. too.

 

[Countyroadtrailers]

I saved 23 dollars a load on my slab I just laid over the counter price by going through the salesman instead of the desk people.

If it helps my perimeter footers, upright footers, and slab came in at 65 yards.

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[383]

I can't wait to see this garage. It's definitely worth pricing it with the sales reps from a couple of suppliers. They will work a little harder for a 200 yd order than a 20 yd order. Same thing with gravel, you will need several loads with a pour that size. getting a quote ahead of time is better than calling dispatch as you need it.

 

[mcbane]

Yes, almost 200 yards. High snow loads (300 psf), 21 ft eave height, and in seismically active area. You need an insane amount of concrete for footings.

 

[mcbane]

I saved 23 dollars a load on my slab I just laid over the counter price by going through the salesman instead of the desk people.

If it helps my perimeter footers, upright footers, and slab came in at 65 yards.

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that gives me something to shoot for. thanks

 

[Countyroadtrailers]

that gives me something to shoot for. thanks

I just pulled the invoice. 92.50 a yard. By far the best price I could find locally, but we are 35 miles from the plant.

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[dw1]

I just pulled the invoice. 92.50 a yard. By far the best price I could find locally, but we are 35 miles from the plant.

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That's a good price, I just finished building a house, my concrete buddy was letting me pay for the concrete at his price, it had to be paid by the 10th of the month every time we poured, last bill I pd was $120 yd. that was the only discount I received.

 

[Countyroadtrailers]

That's a good price, I just finished building a house, my concrete buddy was letting me pay for the concrete at his price, it had to be paid by the 10th of the month every time we poured, last bill I pd was $120 yd. that was the only discount I received.

Did yours have any additives or fiber? Mine was bare.

Our counter price for concrete with fiber was 125. I ended up doing wire and bar instead of fiber and bar but I remember the counter with fiber was 125.

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[ConCretin]

Yes, almost 200 yards. High snow loads (300 psf), 21 ft eave height, and in seismically active area. You need an insane amount of concrete for footings.

Mind sharing the dimensions, sizes, etc? I'm curious what kind of foundation you are building. Must be a beast.

 

[mcbane]

Metal building with 3 bays, 50 wide by 70 long. Front doors are 16x14 and 14x14 plus a walk door. Interior spread footings are 10'x10'x2.5', gable end footings are 8'x8'x2'. Eave line grade beams are 24"x18" with a 2.5' frost wall on top. Interior transverse tension ties are 18"x18". Gable end grade beams are 24"x44" due to large door openings and resultant high lateral forces on end wall columns. I could have made these smaller but would have had to tie into the slab, which I didnt want to do.

Floor slab is 8" on 8" AB - I will occasionally have 20K axle loads on the floor. 6" slab would probably be ok but I'm an engineer

 

[mcbane]

That's a good price, I just finished building a house, my concrete buddy was letting me pay for the concrete at his price, it had to be paid by the 10th of the month every time we poured, last bill I pd was $120 yd. that was the only discount I received.

A very good price. In my area, typical price is $130/yd.

 

[Partsguy57]

Metal building with 3 bays, 50 wide by 70 long. Front doors are 16x14 and 14x14 plus a walk door. Interior spread footings are 10'x10'x2.5', gable end footings are 8'x8'x2'. Eave line grade beams are 24"x18" with a 2.5' frost wall on top. Interior transverse tension ties are 18"x18". Gable end grade beams are 24"x44" due to large door openings and resultant high lateral forces on end wall columns. I could have made these smaller but would have had to tie into the slab, which I didnt want to do.



Floor slab is 8" on 8" AB - I will occasionally have 20K axle loads on the floor. 6" slab would probably be ok but I'm an engineer

Over engineered......

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[mcbane]

Over engineered......

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Just curious: if it were your structure would you design for less than the snow load, wind speed, or ground acceleration specified by the county? Or would you reduce the safety factors in the building code?

 

[Partsguy57]

Just curious: if it were your structure would you design for less than the snow load, wind speed, or ground acceleration specified by the county? Or would you reduce the safety factors in the building code?

I'm not going to waste much time here.... slab for instance 6 inch is more then adequate for 20000 lbs as my shop is 5.5 and I regularly run log trucks, dump trucks, belly dumps and other far greater weights.. zero issues... private street we did for 3 duplexes we built.... firechief made us rip out the approach ( the city had just did themselves one year early) for "saftey" and pour a 6 inch for their ladder truck....(over 80000 lbs) mini storage we are building right now the city...reread the city has us going back to the engineering firm to lesson the concrete requirements as they are so far overkill for what is needed. Anybody building in the real world will agree that engineering has gone off the rails in some of the requirements they demand and you and your shop is a example of this. You even thinking you need a 8 inch slab is a glaring example of this. My last shop... all 2x6 construction 14 shop ceilings, upper bonus room. Far heavier and taller then your shop and nothing near the concrete requirements you think you need.....( that first stall is 50 feet deep)

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[matt_i]

I don't think you'll get a discount because that's just 1 days' work in 365. It would be different if they were going to pour at your location every day for half a year...also important is the number of competitive plants locally that are willing to bid on the job. Most important is coordinating the schedule with the plant, the crew, and possibly the pump truck because that's going to tie up a fair number of trucks for the day...

Just make sure you saw those control joints the next morning after the pour and figure out how you are going to cure the concrete for max strength...I recommend a curing sealer for easy one-shot results.

 

[mcbane]

My last shop... all 2x6 construction 14 shop ceilings, upper bonus room. Far heavier and taller then your shop and nothing near the concrete requirements you think you need.....( that first stall is 50 feet deep)

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My dimensions are 50x70, 21 ft to eave, so quite a bit larger than the garage in your photo. The steel above the foundation is 92,000 lbs. After taking snow load reductions allowed by code due to roof pitch, required design snow load is still 840,000 lbs. That is a heavier load situation than the typical 2x6 construction can handle.

 

[Partsguy57]

My dimensions are 50x70, 21 ft to eave, so quite a bit larger than the garage in your photo. The steel above the foundation is 92,000 lbs. After taking snow load reductions allowed by code due to roof pitch, required design snow load is still 840,000 lbs. That is a heavier load situation than the typical 2x6 construction can handle.

My shop is 2600 and yours 3500 so you are not quite a bit larger. I can guarantee you that my 2x6 weighs more then your steel and we have snow load requirements here also in the n.w. I can promise you that you will never crack a 4 inch slab with the amount snow you can stack on top of your shop before it collapses. ( shop not slab) a 8inch is way overkill period. 92000 lbs is nothing lol.. we carry more then that on our lowboy going doing the road.... on a much smaller footprint... 8 inch slab for a home shop or even commercial is laughable if you think you need that. Cheers

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[dw1]

Did yours have any additives or fiber? Mine was bare.

Our counter price for concrete with fiber was 125. I ended up doing wire and bar instead of fiber and bar but I remember the counter with fiber was 125.

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No fiber, it was $ 120 yd, I did rebar in my porch, patio and drive way. I did fiber in my barn floor several years ago. Concrete prices vary like anything else, I know when we poured the basement floor, I wanted to use the concrete plant a few miles away, but they would not do business with me as an individual and my buddy dealt with the company across town so that's who we used.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Hey, don't blame the engineers for "overengineering" a project, instead blame the lawyers.






.

 

[Partsguy57]

Hey, don't blame the engineers for "overengineering" a project, instead blame the lawyers.






.

There is truth in that also... the mark of a good engineer is engineering to what is needed nothing more. To go past that is stupid and a waste of hard earned capital. We are in a battle with a stupid out of town engineer right now on our latested mini storage project. The city inspectors and everyone involved is knows it is way overkill and the city themselves said go back and have the engineer clown redo. On a 8" slab for a home shop if a engineer handed me that I would laugh my *** off and hand it back to him and fire him on the spot and walk. Made for some good laughs today at a family get together when I brought up. ( everyone there is involved in heavy equipment construction etc... ) common sense is dead in this country.

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[WNYflyer]

Metal building with 3 bays, 50 wide by 70 long. Front doors are 16x14 and 14x14 plus a walk door. Interior spread footings are 10'x10'x2.5', gable end footings are 8'x8'x2'. Eave line grade beams are 24"x18" with a 2.5' frost wall on top. Interior transverse tension ties are 18"x18". Gable end grade beams are 24"x44" due to large door openings and resultant high lateral forces on end wall columns. I could have made these smaller but would have had to tie into the slab, which I didnt want to do.

Floor slab is 8" on 8" AB - I will occasionally have 20K axle loads on the floor. 6" slab would probably be ok but I'm an engineer

Holy ****, I just read the snow load requirements for Truckee, 300 psf that is like 15' of snow ! Like you said you aren't going to stick build out of wood with that snow load and building dimensions. What kind of roof deck and purlin spacing do you end up with on something like that? You better pay particular attention to getting those tensions ties at the base of columns in correctly given I am assuming a very high tension/kick-out force at the column bases (assuming rigid frame). Around my area with a 50 psf snow load we are usually adding concrete to hold the building down from wind rather than needing it for snow loading.

 

[Partsguy57]

Holy ****, I just read the snow load requirements for Truckee, 300 psf that is like 15' of snow ! Like you said you aren't going to stick build out of wood with that snow load and building dimensions. What kind of roof deck and purlin spacing do you end up with on something like that? You better pay particular attention to getting those tensions ties at the base of columns in correctly given I am assuming a very high tension/kick-out force at the column bases (assuming rigid frame). Around my area with a 50 psf snow load we are usually adding concrete to hold the building down from wind rather than needing it for snow loading.

The engineering of the building for snow load is one thing, the amount of concrete he thinks he needs is overkill. Period.

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[4 FN 27]

Talk to the Sales guy and see what they can do for you.

I did my Driveway a couple of years ago...grant it I had an in, they sponsored my Race Car back in the day but going through a Sales guy early in my project I saved quite a bit...For the entire property I am at about 700 +/-.

If you don't ask...you don't get.

My Driveway: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337102

 

[mcbane]

Going with a 6" slab would save only 10% on concrete for the overall project and less than 1% on total project cost. Most of the concrete is for footings needed for snow, wind and seismic loads. I'm sure people have skimped with 6" slabs and H20 axle loads and gotten away with it. Others have to adopt sayings like "concrete always cracks badly".

 

[Partsguy57]

Going with a 6" slab would save only 10% on concrete for the overall project and less than 1% on total project cost. Most of the concrete is for footings needed for snow, wind and seismic loads. I'm sure people have skimped with 6" slabs and H20 axle loads and gotten away with it. Others have to adopt sayings like "concrete always cracks badly".

If you think you need 200 yards of concrete to hold a 3500 square foot building down because of snow,wind, earthquake and what you park on it you are in a dream world. The earthquake **** is bull stein on a shop because if it falls down with half that amount concrete you have far bigger problems you will be dealing with.

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[4 FN 27]

"concrete always cracks badly".

4 guaranties with Concrete:

1. It will get hard.
2. It will crack (not that bad).
3. No one will barrow it.
4. No one will steal it.

The best advise I got was from myself...stick to your plan.

Had I listened to anyone other than myself I would have a 4 inch driveway and a 1/2 the shop I do...

 

[mcbane]

Holy ****, I just read the snow load requirements for Truckee, 300 psf that is like 15' of snow ! Like you said you aren't going to stick build out of wood with that snow load and building dimensions. What kind of roof deck and purlin spacing do you end up with on something like that? You better pay particular attention to getting those tensions ties at the base of columns in correctly given I am assuming a very high tension/kick-out force at the column bases (assuming rigid frame). Around my area with a 50 psf snow load we are usually adding concrete to hold the building down from wind rather than needing it for snow loading.

Purlins are 16" apart, 12" deep. Tension ties are serious, though the worst forces are seismic uplift combined with shear. Anchor bolts are 1.5" diameter and 5 ft long. And you are right, mass of concrete in footings is determined by wind and associated uplift forces. If not for wind I would have paid for a soils report to get better bearing pressures and use smaller, lighter footings.

 

[mcbane]

The biggest laugh I got in my neighborhood is from a self proclaimed expert who told me engineers always over design. The next winter we had several full collapses in the area and he expertly told me that I am wet behind the ears - "this is snow country, collapses happen". In any case, I no longer give credence to people who cant tell GVWR from axle load.

 

[Partsguy57]

The biggest laugh I got in my neighborhood is from a self proclaimed expert who told me engineers always over design. The next winter we had several full collapses in the area and he expertly told me that I am wet behind the ears - "this is snow country, collapses happen". In any case, I no longer give credence to people who cant tell GVWR from axle load.

Yea the slab split and the building fell.... sure... lmao

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[WNYflyer]

The biggest laugh I got in my neighborhood is from a self proclaimed expert who told me engineers always over design. The next winter we had several full collapses in the area and he expertly told me that I am wet behind the ears - "this is snow country, collapses happen". In any case, I no longer give credence to people who cant tell GVWR from axle load.

I hear you, number of axles, axle load and spacing along with number of tires and tire pressure. Just need to look at a Goldhofer to get a sense of how that works.

 

[mcbane]

Yea the slab split and the building fell.... sure... lmao

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Score yourself a D- on structural know-how. With spread footings and tie beams, the slab has nothing whatsoever to do with possibility of collapse. You could use a gravel floor and the structure would perform the same.

 

[Partsguy57]

The biggest laugh I got in my neighborhood is from a self proclaimed expert who told me engineers always over design. The next winter we had several full collapses in the area and he expertly told me that I am wet behind the ears - "this is snow country, collapses happen". In any case, I no longer give credence to people who cant tell GVWR from axle load.

Yea I only worry about gvwr..lol you are you trying to kid you clown. Gvwr is the least I care about.

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[Partsguy57]

Score yourself a D- on structural know-how. With spread footings and tie beams, the slab has nothing whatsoever to do with possibility of collapse. You could use a gravel floor and the structure would perform the same.

Exactly!!! And now why do we need 200 yards of concrete on 3500 square foot because of snow load?

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[Farmall450]

Hey, don't blame the engineers for "overengineering" a project, instead blame the lawyers.






.

^what he said.

Also, a good chunk of engineering is exactly what partsguy said was dead: getting the most done with the least possible, generally for financial or physical constraints. Any dope can build something heavy enough to last, but it sure as hell won't be feasible.

Concrete is pretty cheap; there's no sense in skimping on your own build that the OP presumably plans on keeping around for a while.