Autolycus wrote:
The new shed/garage is to be about 16ft square - 25m^2. I built up
block walls to floor level, then contemplated the prospect of mixing
2.5m^3 of concrete and laying it. I am "none the better for being
born so soon", and my chief tamping-beam assistant isn't as strong as
she once was. Access to the site is a bit awkward, and there's a
chance a ready-mix wagon driver might have baulked at it, which would
have left me with 6 tons of concrete in the road, 70 yards from the
garage base.
So a Yellow Pages advert for "Fast Mix of Derby" ("exact amount mixed
on site, laying service available") seemed an attractive idea. £340,
which was about £65 more than Ablemix's price for supply-only, didn't
seem too bad for 2.5 cube of C25, though I hate the whole notion of
paying people to do jobs for me.

It was a disaster: the mixture was pure guesswork, and despite many
entreaties, the mixes varied from runny to sloppy (to put it
technically). They didn't care how much of it they splashed or
spilled (over my decent block paving). When the leader of the pack
tried to level it (with a tamping beam that wasn't long enough to
reach from side to side) it was so pudding-like he made no attempt to
compact it. By the time he'd "levelled" it to within a yard and a
half of the near edge, there was so much free water even he didn't
dare add more porridge-like concrete till he'd borrowed a bucket from
me to bail out some of the excess water. By the time he'd finished,
almost the whole of the surface was under water.

They kept a tally of how many mixer loads they had used, and claimed
that each load was 1/3 m^3. I had wacker-plated the whole area many
times, both before and after sand-blinding, and had gauged the depth
as accurately as if I'd been block paving it, so I knew exactly how
much concrete was needed. They claimed they'd used far more than
2.5m^3, and wanted an extra £58. This was a complete scam, which
they presumably usually get away with.

By this time the bozos were attempting to clear up by sloshing the odd
barrow of water over the block paving. They didn't even have an
intact yard brush.

They rang their boss, and I had a short and unpleasant conversation
with him. I paid them the originally agreed amount so they'd go away.

Four hours later, it was still far too wet to float properly, but it
was getting dark so I had to do the best I could. The surface is now
soft, sandy, and loose, and I'd be surprised to get 10N/mm^2 on a
cube test.
Yes, I know I should have been more demanding from the start; that I
have all sorts of theoretical legal remedies, and that it serves me
right for not doing what I've always done before, and mixed it myself,
to my standards. But I didn't, and now I just want to get the garage
built and move on. Fortunately it's a storage-only garage and shed, so
it won't get a lot of traffic.

The firm again: "Fast Mix of Derby", also trading as "Barramix" (sic)
of Nottingham, based at Hoveringham.

Never again.

Sounds about right, the usual trick of 'that's your X metres, do you want us
to carry on mixing?' is nationwide, as is their ineptitude at A) mixing, B)
barrowing and C) cleaning up.

We've just laid (yesterday) 3.75m3 of ready mixed stuff, it went down a
dream and is now as hard as rock and perfectly level, most ready-mixed firms
will quote for barrowing in at around £20 per cube, yes it's more expensive,
but considering that you still had to barrow the 'we mix you lay' crap, it
may have been wiser to get ready mixed...as an aside, how much did you pay
for 2.5m3?