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Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: Yard knh ()
Date: April 20, 2016 01:27PM

I was thinking of hiring someone to pour a patio in the back of my townhouse.
Size 20wide x 10long (approximately). The guy quoted be $3,000.

Is this reasonable?

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: 4wtxv ()
Date: April 20, 2016 01:29PM

Yard knh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was thinking of hiring someone to pour a patio
> in the back of my townhouse.
> Size 20wide x 10long (approximately). The guy
> quoted be $3,000.
>
> Is this reasonable?

That sounds about right for the price. You could try and get Julio to pour it and come out a bit cheaper.

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: Nipnotsignedin ()
Date: April 20, 2016 02:46PM

That's 7+ yards of concrete at 4" thick. that will be a "short load" and there is an up charge for that. Handy Man Concrete delivers in a smaller truck but it's a 5 yard truck so you will have to "order back" which means 2 deliveries. This creates a "cold joint" that will crack in during the weather changes between summer and winter.

You best bet is to build your patio big enough to use a full 9 yard truck. 9 yards will run you about a grand + or -. There is prep work involved prior to placing the concrete consisting of removing the top soil, at least 4" of stone, compacted. Polly vapor barrier, form work, placing the concrete and finishing it. Finish is an important component to prevent cracking. If the truck can't off load directly into the forms then the concrete will have to carried to the pour.

For a quote of 3K I'd be worried that the guy was planning on cutting corners. Concrete work is extremely labor intensive and that costs money. To me 3000 is red flag to cheap. Keep in mind that the job will look great for the first two years but as weather takes its toll the concrete will start to spall and break up. That will get worse and worse every year until your backyard looks like Woodbridge so buyer beware. To tell you the truth I wouldn't even take that price and try and force the guy to do it right. He could end up bolting on you and you'd end up paying additional money to have someone clean up his mess and do it right. Oh and make sure the guy uses wire mesh in the pour too. No option there or it will break up early.

Hope that helps.

Nip

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: portland cement ()
Date: April 20, 2016 02:56PM

Going to agree with Nip on this one. I just had my driveway poured and the price was more per square foot that what you are looking at. At that price, I am willing to bet corners are going to be cut. Look for things like not digging deep enough down, not placing a good base in there, not using mesh.

Spend the cash now, or in a few years, you'll be paying someone to haul it off and redo the poorly done first job.

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: Dash Riprock ()
Date: April 20, 2016 04:36PM

Impossible for anyone to say without knowing more details. Anyone saying that it's a good price or that they're cutting corners is just guessing either way.

You can call one of the concrete companies around here to get an idea of price for the concrete itself. Depending on amount and distance it will likely be about in the $1,000 to $1,200 range. Assume about another 10 to 20 percent for other consumables - gravel, mesh, drainage, etc., depending on location and prep required. Add more if it's in a difficult location. You then can back into a guesstimate labor to see whether that seems reasonable for 2 or 3 guys working for about a day and a half. Longer if there's more prep work involved. But none of that will tell you how well they'll actually do the job no matter who it is.

Some tips:

If all that you're ever going to do is use it as a patio, then you don't need any high psi concrete. No point in paying for it.

Order the concrete with retarder in it. That will give more time to work it, especially at the end for edging and finishing, and you'll end up with a better job and easier clean-up for them. It's cheap and doesn't really have any downside otherwise other than it takes longer to cure and you're not running a job where that matters.

Also order it with fiber mixed in. Again cheap and has a number of benefits, the main ones being that, for the most part and assuming good basic prep, it will prevent/limit typical cracking and will add some surface strength (not overall slab strength much). It will leave you with what looks like it has tiny hairs in it for a while but that will wear away relatively quickly.

If it's for an outdoor patio that doesn't need to be a perfectly troweled surface then go with a lightly broomed finish. Lightly being key. Don't want something real coarse. You can Google to see what that looks like. That will leave it more rough but will take much less time and time = cost. It also takes less skill. Assuming that you can train it to walk in a straight line, you can pretty much hand a concrete broom to a monkey and it will come out looking pretty good. Not the case with a trowel. You need to be good otherwise it will look like shit and/or will leave a weak surface which won't last long. It tends to be a more durable finish in the long run since it won't surface spall as easily and you typically won't have the light surface cracking and as many of the little pop-outs from spots where there was too much air or water or thin mix left from the float or some other problem. It also will be more slip-resistant and will better disperse whatever water may tend to sit on particular spots.

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: 4dYyN ()
Date: April 20, 2016 11:16PM

WTF-
20'x10'x0.33'=66cf/27cf/yd=2.44cyds ready mix is about $125 per yard delivered.

you wackos suck!

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: One in every forum ()
Date: April 22, 2016 07:19PM

4dYyN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WTF-
> 20'x10'x0.33'=66cf/27cf/yd=2.44cyds ready mix is
> about $125 per yard delivered.
>
> you wackos suck!



Then we have this intelligent response -

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: ArnoldWilder ()
Date: May 13, 2022 01:27AM

Thanks for the information.

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Re: Poured concrete in yard costs
Posted by: bessiebeardsley ()
Date: May 13, 2022 01:29AM

Firstly, concrete is stronger than asphalt. Secondly, it is cheaper than paving slabs, paving stones and stone, which are increasingly being used to form playgrounds in front of the house. It cannot be said that the concreting process itself is simpler than other options, but many people try to carry out this construction process without involving craftsmen. And this is a big mistake, because there are certain nuances that affect the quality of the final result, which home craftsmen may not know about. Consider contacting professionals from almightyconstructionnw.com.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2022 01:31AM by bessiebeardsley.

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