FAQ

Concrete pumping, as it applies to C & R Preferred, consist of moving concrete from the mixer truck to a hard-to-reach area such as in the back of a house where no access is available for the backyard. We can pump concrete in an area up to about 180 feet from where our truck is set up using a boom truck. We can reach much further using a line-pump set up. (See some of our pictures for further explanation.)

We communicate with the contractor and setup a time to arrive on a job with sufficient time to setup our equipment, check all functions and be prepared for concrete at the scheduled time. We then work with the finishers to place the concrete exactly where it is needed in a precision manner in accordance with all applicable safety guidelines.

An easy one. No! We only pump concrete from point A to point B. We can recommend companies who sell concrete and form up and finish concrete projects if you need them.

A concrete mixer truck are the ones you see going down the highway with the drums spinning like a big top laid on its side. The mixer trucks dump their concrete into the "hopper" of a pump truck which then distributes it up to 180 away through a series of pipes and hoses connected to a mechanical boom.

You would need a concrete pump when you need to get concrete into a hard to reach area, such as behind a house if you are adding a room, patio, or pool deck and the cement mixer trucks cannot access. Also, if you are building a large project, such as a house slab or shop slab, driveways, sidewalks, etc. A pump truck can place concrete exactly where it is needed without the need for buggies, wheelbarrows, etc.

The short answer is Yes. Chances are you can always get a wheelbarrow where you need it but it would take a couple of hours to do what a pump truck can do in a few seconds. In the end, it is way more efficient and cost effective.

Our employees go through a great deal of training to take all measures necessary to help ensure this is not an issue. We maintain our equipment on a scheduled basis and take proactive measures so that all our equipment is always in the best possible operating condition when they leave the shop.

Depending on the size of the pump truck and the size of the job, we can pump 200 yards or more an hour, but that is on the extreme end of things. This is possible when pumping concrete into a huge project such as a parking lot at a mall with a large pump, a large finishing crew, and a steady supply of concrete.

More practical applications, such as a 2000 square foot house slab, would require about 120 - 150 yards of concrete. Depending on the speed of the finishing crew, concrete arrival times and other logistics, this might take anywhere from 4 - 8 hours.

Normally, the contractor orders the concrete, so it is generally very close. It works like this. The contractor uses a formula to determine exactly how much concrete is needed to fill a certain project. Say, he figures it will take 160 yards. He will normally order 140 yards and a "call back" or "wrap". After the 140 yards are used, they will take measurements and determine how many more yards they need for the "wrap", leaving very little, if any, waste.

Another option is to have a small slab, or slabs, preformed to dump any extra concrete into. If they are strategically placed, when you home is complete you can use them to put your BBQ pit on, or park the lawn mower, doghouse, or whatever.

Using a concrete pump truck can save time, money, and get a better end result than using other methods. Also, concrete pump trucks can get concrete into areas that are otherwise unreachable or would require so much physical labor as to make the project financially unfeasible. For example, you may want to add a patio behind your home but there is only a 4 or 5-foot passage into the back yard. You could either haul in about 750 wheelbarrows of concrete weighing around 300 pounds each or have it pumped over your house into the backyard in 2 or 3 hours.