Here are details of some of our recent jobs.
Palmix were asked to provide ST4 concrete at 2 am one morning in September to a main road into Bristol. This road had an overnight closure to allow for a new traffic island to be installed at the same time as the road was being prepared for surfacing.
Arriving on site just before our agreed time we delivered 3.5m3 of ST4 semi dry concrete for the night team. 35 minutes on site including the time taken to wash out and we were on our way home.
We were tasked to a job in a wonderful property on the sea front at Burnham-on-Sea which will be rental apartments in time for the summer season. The construction team had removed a sub-standard floor in the building and now needed to lay the new concrete sub floor.
On arrival the builders asked if we could send the concrete through the window and if not, they’d have to wheelbarrow it in. Our chute was just too wide for the space available and it was decided to remove the window.
Window out, auger height adjusted, chutes on and in it went. A bit more time spent at the start of the job meant the offload was quite fast and best of all there were no wheel barrows involved which seemed to make everybody happy.
1.5m3 of C20 mini mix concrete dropped through the window in less than 10 minutes, that would have been about 45 wheelbarrow loads to push through the building.
This job was perfect for the volumetric concrete lorry, all of its adjustable settings made the pour easier. We slowed down the belt which fed the mixing auger gently so the lads in the small room didn’t get swamped and had time to place the concrete. We were warned when they had nearly enough concrete and as a result there was absolutely no waste.
Great feedback from this contractor and we are looking forward to helping them again in the future.
Due to the our quality of our concrete and our punctual service at the Wick St Lawrence project, the groundworks contractor asked if we would be able to deliver ready mix concrete for a project Airside at Bristol Airport.
As you can imagine there is a long process and a lot of paperwork to get a lorry onto the runway at an airport and after sending in photos and filling various documents we were given air side clearance.
The process on arrival is similar to that of going on holiday, you still have to clear security with all that that entails, passes checked, empty your pockets and take your boots and belt off so that it can all be X rayed, you go through the body scanner. Outside next to meet the security team who search the lorry looking for hidden compartments where you could store guns or drugs! Once that’s done you wait for your escort to guide you across the runway to the job site.
Once on site its fairly straight forward and no different to any other job. We offloaded 1.6m3 of C35 at a concrete slump of S2 and then 2m3 of ST2 at S3 slump. Two different strengths and two different slumps, one after the other from the same lorry. This saves the on-site team time, you don’t need two separate deliveries reducing road miles and carbon footprint and as normal, there was no waste to deal with.
On completion the waiting escort vehicle then takes you to the gate, collects your passes and you are away. This minimax concrete delivery did take two hours mostly due to the security procedure so there was one hour of waiting time to be added to the bill but the contractor knew about that before we started and it was factored in to his price.
Palmix were recently chosen as the preferred concrete supplier for a new MOT bay in Winford.
We were tasked to provide C45 concrete over two visits to suit the requirements of the national installer. The first visit was to provide 7 cubic metres to form the sub base of the ramp and on the second visit we delivered 3m3 to fill around the shuttering.
The first visit actually required 8.2m3, substantially more than was first ordered. At Palmix we always carry slightly more material than has been requested for exactly this reason.
Estimating the quantities you require is always tricky, on this job, to get the ramp level with the finished floor the sub base had to be at exactly the right height. Another of the benefits of using a volumetric concrete delivery is the ability to start and stop production, when the team here had enough concrete we stopped, therefore there was no waste to get rid of which means there are no additional costs to recycle or dump the excess.
Now the contractor was able to measure from the sub base, a flat and level surface the estimation for the second load was much more accurate, 3m3 was ordered and the ticket from the lorry’s computer showed they had used 2.96m3
Why was Palmix Volumetric Concrete the best option?
1. The ability to carry more materials than ordered meaning you don’t run short.
2. The reassurance that you don’t need to be spot on with your estimation.
3. No additional costs to return to get extra concrete.
4. The flexibility to start and stop production.
5. No waste to dispose of
This job was programmed for a Sunday in Langford BS40. The national infrastructure company we do a lot of work for had a road closure in place and needed Palmix to make a local concrete delivery out of normal working hours.
With our can-do attitude we arrived on site at the agreed time and offloaded 4m3 of ST2 semi dry concrete for the lads to lay their kerbs on. Instead of just dumping it in a heap and leaving we offloaded a small amount, moved a bit, offloaded a bit more, moved a bit….you get the idea.
This removed the need and extra cost of having a mini digger on site and also reduced the amount of manual handling involved.
As we worked with the team through this job it meant that they had just enough concrete to complete their works and didn’t have concrete to dispose of at the end of their works. Another win for Palmix Volumetric Concrete and a happy but wet bunch of lads.
Working on a long-term contract for a National Infrastructure company Palmix Concrete supplied concrete for the road schemes in Failand, Brockley and Wrington BS40. Our punctual concrete delivery ensured that the contractor maintained progress and kept ahead of schedule.
With construction work of this size and nature it is inevitable that small delays crop up so using a local Volumetric Concrete delivery made perfect sense. If concrete had been ordered for a specific time and for whatever reason the site team weren’t quite ready, the concrete in the drum has a limited workable life span. Because we carry the materials in separate compartments, until we start mixing there is no concrete to go off.
Traditional Ready Mix Concrete or Mini Mix Concrete mixers are loaded at a batching plant and the concrete starts its curing process immediately. Depending on how far the batching plant is from the job site and the traffic conditions on route your concrete could be an hour or more old before it even gets to you. With Volumetric concrete the mixing process doesn’t start until you are ready.
The flexibility of Volumetric Concrete excelled again, from the same materials loaded on the lorry we were able to supply a semi dry ST2 and ST4 mix concrete for kerbs and S3 slump ST4 concrete for traffic light NAL Sockets. Over the course of the project, we provided over 100m3 of concrete in varying strengths and slumps and the feedback was amazing.
Volumetric Concrete is slightly more expensive than Ready mix or Minimix concrete but for that small extra cost per metre you get a fresh product, more offload time and no waste.
The Project Manager left this review… ‘’Great service and great product. Has reduced site wastage of concrete massively’’.
On one occasion we delivered 40m3 over two days and you could get all of the waste concrete in 1 wheel barrow, now that’s impressive.
We originally quoted for this job but we were unsuccessful, a decision based purely on price.
Palmix Concrete received a call from the team on site to ask if we could deliver at short notice as the original concrete supplier had promised on three separate occasions to deliver concrete and had failed to turn up.
As it turns out we were £9 per cube more expensive than the chosen supplier but as the site manager told me ‘no point in going for the cheapest if they don’t turn up’ The site team had expensive machinery and labour doing nothing while waiting for concrete.
Palmix made four more visits to this site delivering a range of concrete strengths, from a dry ST2, a semi dry ST4 and a C35 wet footing mix, totalling 42m3. Each visit we arrived just before the allocated time slot to ensure we didn’t keep anyone waiting and to try to get the programme back on time.
Further work followed on different sites as this contractor knew he could rely on us.
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