How to assess whether to hire versus purchase a concrete mixer truck

Concrete equipment and heavy machinery required on any commercial or residential construction site is a big financial investment. A concrete mixer truck, bought new will set a company back by over £110,000. If that amount of capital isn't available or equipment is likely to only be used as a 'once-off', then short-term leasing or hiring a concrete mixer, or any other type of concrete equipment, maybe a more viable option.

Hiring a concrete mixer versus purchasing offers advantages

• lack of capital outlay for equipment purchase
• added convenience a less logistical demands required
• high cost of spare parts when concrete mixer breaks down
• where there is a lack on accurate records kept about equipment by construction companies
• procurement, unless paid in full, will incur interest - yet more costs that a business will need to recover to remain in profit. 
• maintenance, insurance, running costs, road tax and storage facilities are all added to the overall cost of owning equipment versus hiring.

Concrete mixer trucks and all other heavy concrete equipment require ongoing maintenance and upkeep which is generally related to frequency of usage. By hiring equipment, time is freed-up not having deal with maintenance requirements.

For construction companies contracted to a site a great distance from their primary location, transporting equipment to the project site can require a high degree of logistical planning and costs. Being able to hire concrete equipment delivered directly to the job site could be financially and logistically a far better option.

Given all the advantages, the financial ramifications of each are what probably drives the overall decision process. A lot of factors need to be considered when calculating the actual cost of buying over hiring concrete equipment and these aren't always accurate because it is difficult to get the true cost of maintenance, labour plus frequency of use offsetting the returns it will generate. There are certainly situations where it is more economical to own versus hire, however the following financial advantages should also be considered in the overall decision process:

• no depreciation - concrete equipment starts to depreciate in value from its first day on a building site 
• better cashflow - there are three options to consider when acquiring heavy concrete equipment. This can be by purchasing new, which is expensive and has a significant impact on cash flow. The second option is to buy used or second-hand equipment, which is less expensive depending on mileage and model but also impacts cash flow. The third option is to hire, which has less of a financial impact on budget.
• hire before purchase - offers an opportunity to hire with the option of purchasing to help in the decision process on the feasibility of acquiring a particular item of equipment.
• offers a much more affordable opportunity for smaller companies to compete with bigger corporates by accessing high quality equipment.

If your company are looking to hire concrete mixer trucks or any other other heavy concrete equipment in the UK, contact Utranazz. A wide range is on offer and they provide an unrivalled service to all customers whether buying new or used equipment, or are opting to hire. Staff are highly knowledgeable about all the equipment stocked and can make recommendations based on your particular project requirements, offer operational guidance, an after sale service or guaranteed service during the period of hire so that in the unlikely event of a break-down, equipment can either be replaced or spare-parts bought to the site and equipment restored to efficient working condition with minimal disruption.

Discover how concrete pumps have lead to great advances in the construction industry

Concrete pumps are machines used for placing liquid concrete in areas that can't be reached from the chute of concrete trucks. They have developed in technology over the years and are now available on the market in a wide range of sizes, concrete outputs, pressure variables and with additional accessories to suit specific concrete pumping requirements. In addition to advances in technical specifications, they now also offer operation engineers reliability and ease of use. Construction project managers want concrete equipment that meets productivity demands and expectations within budget and timelines. So, what does a concrete pump offer to meet all these expectations?

Types of concrete pumps

Truck-mounted concrete pumps are designed for concrete placement in the construction of civil and industrial buildings, and other large projects. The addition of a placing boom means that concrete can be directed into high rise buildings with booms reaching great heights. The functioning of a boom pump is controlled via an electro-hydraulic distributor.

Truck concrete pumps are available in a wide range of sizes with varying boom lengths. The Sermac make have boom lengths ranging from 21 to 66 metres and concrete outputs of up to 185m3/hour at pressures of up to 80 bars. They have either a 3, 4 or 5 section placing boom with the option of  ‘z’ fold, ‘roll’ fold or ‘multi-z’ fold opening, making them easy to manoeuvre and suited to all types of concrete placing work, even where space is restricted.

• For the most isolated spaces on a construction project, there is also the option of installing a telescopic boom.

• The presence of the agitator and hopper avoids any stagnation of concrete ensuring maximum efficiency during the pumping process.

• A potential concrete pumping hazard with the use of extended placing booms, is stability of the truck. This is overcome by fitting units with hydraulically operated stabiliser feet to ensure quick and safe placement of the pump at all types of job sites.

Trailer-mounted concrete pumps are also available in an array of outputs ranging from around 15 cubic metres to 120 cubic metres per hour over distances of 380 meters (with additional boom line added). trailer-mounted concrete pumps offer the ideal solution for placing concrete in hard–to-access areas because of their compact size, they can also be used as an alternative to truck-mounted concrete pumps on larger pours that require a slower output rate.

Placing booms make concrete placement more efficient and effective because they are designed to work within restricted areas such as high-rise buildings or structures that are unable to be to be supplied with concrete by truck-mounted pumps. Various boom lengths and configurations are available. They are electrically powered and controlled by remote control.

A trailer-mounted concrete pump with placing boom has a unique niche in the construction industry where high pour volumes are required and site access is restrictive. The Chimera model is the only trailer-mounted concrete pump available in the UK to have its own 14m 3-section 'Z' fold placing boom, which, if additional pipeline is added it can pump concrete at a vertical reach of 65 meters and a horizontal reach of 300 meters. It uses a remote-controlled articulating robotic arm (boom) to place concrete with precision and control speed of flow thereby saving on labour costs as builders don't need to guide the pump to control where concrete is being placed. The boom pump pours concrete at rates of 46 meters3/hour.

With the advances in technology and the ability to add different accessories to a truck or trailer-mounted concrete pump, the decision on what type of pump to buy, will depend largely on the logistics of construction project it is required for and budget. The availability of second-hand or used equipment helps overcome financial restrictions and the option of hiring a concrete pump, also helps with budget constraints investing in a equipment just for the duration of the assignment.

Concrete Batching Plants For Onsite Construction Projects

Construction project or site professionals have many responsibilities for running and managing a building site including budget control as well as delivery and storage of equipment and materials. Today, concrete equipment is advancing in a way that offers construction project managers a greater ability to adhere to tight budget controls and delivery of materials to exact time schedules. One such item of equipment is a bin-fed concrete batching plant.

Concrete can either be mixed and transported or produced at the building site as and when it is required thereby reducing transportation costs, avoiding delays and reducing material wastage. The distance travelled by a ready-mix concrete mixer and the time taken to reach its destination can affect the quality and cost of concrete. A mobile batching plant can be set-up within a hours and, depending on size it may not require planning permission, thereby saving the site manager budget and time spent filling out paperwork.

A concrete batching plant stores all the ingredients required for a specified concrete mix, dispatches them into a mixer, where they are homogeneously mixed to produce concrete ready for delivery to a concrete pump. The advantage to a construction site is that it offers fresh concrete delivered to exact specification for quality construction outcomes, reduces concrete delivery costs and avoids delivery delays. For high pour volumes such as for the flooring of a large commercial building, concrete needs to be poured at very tight timelines - scheduling is critical and a batching plant has the ability to meet these requirements.

Bin-Fed Concrete Batching Plant

There are different types of batching plants on the market. They are essential for operations requiring large quantities of concrete or for continuous high volume supplies over a number of days. Batch plant stock-piles prevent shortages caused by production or transportation difficulties. The concrete discharge height on some batch plants is suitable enough for concrete pumping too, again emphasising the benefits batch plants offer to project sites.

Types of Concrete Batching Plants

There are essentially two types of batching plants: a ready mixer and a central mix plant. A ready mix plant combines all the ingredients such as aggregates and cement. This is then discharged into a transit mixer truck and water is then added during transportation to the job site. A central mix plant combines the dry ingredients plus water. This is done at a central location and is computer assisted to ensure uniformity. 

Central mix batch plants can be further classified according to the additional equipment attached according to particular job requirements:

A bin-fed mobile batch plant is transportable and fitted with hydraulic off-loading legs, therefore no crane is required to lift it off the truck. The compact design means that they can be located at a project site and be up-and-running within an hour of arrival. A mobile batch plant can produce around 40m3 of concrete per hour. A cement silo can be located alongside a bin-fed batch plant.

Self-loading batch plants are ideal for use at building sites and operations that require 24/7 concrete production. The radial scraper loads the aggregates into a weigh hopper via a programmable computer. The mix is then placed into a pan mixer or drum mixer. They are electrically powered or diesel driven.

Batch plants can be fitted with a concrete mixer drum and are ideally suited to working on a job site. There is also the option of fitting a pan mixer and are ideally suited to precast yards. A dry batch plant can be set-up to supply a concrete truck mixer with aggregates a cement for concrete production via a conveyor belt discharge system.

Modern batch plants are integrated with advanced computer technology that allows for the generation of batching reports, inventory monitoring, concrete specification recipes - all of which allows for better and more cost effective concrete production.

Batch plant site location is important and there are a number of factors to be considered:

• position in such a way as to offer a free flow of heavy equipment traffic
• good drainage during inclement wet weather conditions so as not to affect the transportation of concrete away from the batching plant to job site.

A concrete batching plant is primarily used for road construction, commercial buildings, parking garages, dams and tunnel construction. They speed up the job of concrete production and delivery.

New and used or second hand batch plants are available from companies such as Utranazz Concrete Equipment Specialists.