Business revue: Steve's U-Cart Concrete

[CaberTosser]

I needed 1 1/4 cubic yards of concrete for a part of our house build, but found a traditional concrete truck pretty expensive for the amount we need; plus our offload time took a while to hand-bomb in 5-gallon pails to where it was going; never mind hiring a pumper for such a small amount by their standards. I'd seen the trailers in traffic so I reserved a unit for this morning. The owner Steve was friendly and helpful and got me set up pronto. He even allowed me to add in the polymer reinforcing fibres that I had sourced from Northland Construction supplies in the batch feed auger. I towed the thing to our house and did the pour with my brother helping. We rented a vibrator from him as well, and had a slow installation. I had exceeded the 3 hour window by an hour and then discovered my keys were locked in another vehicle:scared0015: After significant attempts to detach the trailer so we could hook it up to my brothers truck we gave up. The trailer was at too great an angle and configured such that we couldn't manhandle it off. I had a eureka moment in recalling a locksmith showing me how to get into my work van some time ago. the van the keys were in was the same type. I used the method to retrieve my keys and off we went to return the trailer. During our attempt to detatch the trailer and towing it 10 yards down the alley I noted somethign was awry. The hitch had become dislodged and we were towing from the safety chains. Easy fix. Then, trying to tow the brakes were still on:sign0176:; I quickly figured out the breakaway-cable cam reset and off we finally were. The lady trying to turn in where we were doing our emergency brake reset sure could have been less snotty though.

I phoned the rental place to let him know we were finally en route and was there in 15 minutes. The proprietor was very understanding and only charged me a fraction of the late fee. I imagine in his busy season this might not be the case, as other clients could be waiting for their rental; I think I was the only one in there today. I feel he was more than fair with me due to the fact he had a booth at the Home & Garden show he could have been at, thankfully his wife was there, but he could have been generating more
clientele by being there. It's nice that he didn't get upset or make me feel lousy for having inconvenienced him. A good businessman, if you ask me:).

[Albertadiver]

sounds like an adventure!

And a good business too.

[CaberTosser]

I wanted to add I have no interest or relationship with Steve's U-Cart, but wanted to let you fellows know that such a service even exists. The rental, concrete and mixing cost less than either a big delivery truck, but also by my rough calculations less than the same amount of concrete in ready mix bags. I figure ready-mix would have been another $100, and then I'd still have to mix the crap; a huge labour and spine saver!

[Geezle]

We need to see more posts like this :)

Seriously, more often than not people post about things to complain about businesses for whatever reason - people are upset and they want to vent about it, and that's fine...in small doses. It's nice to see the other side of things though - when things go right and a business will go above and beyond to help out their customer, especially if it isn't expected. It happens more often than one would expect these days, and we should share more of the good experiences to balance the rest of this mess out! :)

:sign0087:


edit: actually the forum hasn't been as full of 'rants' lately and this is a good thing :)

[CaberTosser]

Geezle, I agree that more positive threads/posts would be a good thing.

I knew from phoning for my reservation that the proprietor had a Home & Garden Show booth for the weekend, but that he showed up to serve me. Being his only customer (to my knowledge) today, it's nice that he treats any/all customers as important. Saying he had a booth to man sure would have been an adequate reason to stay closed on such a quiet off-season day. I'm sure the place must be humming in the summer season, but you could have fired a cannon there today and all that would have happened is his border collie and other dog would be off to retrieve said cannonball. I felt pretty lousy for holding him up longer than necessary and wanted to spread the good news of his unique business.

BTW: anyone looking for some bright & shiny newer style stainless steel washer tubs for firepits, he's got over a half-dozen in there he's selling, though the price escapes me they're close to $50-ish.

[Grizzly Adams]

So how much concrete can you get in one of these and what's the per yard charge? I assume the 3 hour window is the time before she sets up solid?:lol: Never really been a fan of that fiber reinforcement. Usefulness is debatable and makes concrete difficult to finish.

Grizz

[CaberTosser]

Grizz, the 1 1/4 yards I got was $412 all-in, with trailer rental and cleaning, but not including my tardiness fee. The rental contract stipulates $45 for every half-hour late; but he didn't charge me nearly that much for the 2 hours+ behind I was. I opted to have him take care of the cleaning as I'd have had to run lengthly hoses, etc. I think his website said 1 1/4 yards was the max, but perhaps I'm wrong; there were trailers there that looked bigger than what I got today; I'm guessing they would be capable of perhaps 2 yards? He seemed to have about a dozen or so trailers that I could see.

The fiber reinforcement was something I felt like using/trying out, and it's not being finished as it's remaining in it's vertical-wall plywood forms and has no exposed surfaces; so that aspect didn't affect my decision.

[Cattle Dog]

When i need a bit of concrete:

I go to the concrete mixing plant in the nearby town,
and they sell me about 4/5 ths of a barrel full:
So i tell them how many miles the haul is so that he knows what he is selling won't set up too soon:

So we throw down some thick cardboard in the back of the truck, put down his (lender) blue plastic barrel (regular size, think 4 feet high, think it is 40 gal), and we wait for a cement truck to fill up with the right concrete , and the truck simply takes on an extra portion of concrete from the batch plant, then the truck slurries out some concrete into the barrel, then away you go to your project, and away the cement truck goes to his project.

So i back up to my small project, and pail out the concrete, or at least 2/3rds of it, then maybe empty the barrel off the back of the truck, trowel it out, and it is done. Then wash out the barrel right away, and return it the next day.

So, in summary, phone the concrete plant first to see if they do that for small amounts,
set up the time, zoom in, load-up, drive back home, and go around corners very carefully.