On Mar 30, 1:11 pm, "Steve B" wrote:
"gpsman" wrote

So you want to work as a purchasing agent for the contractor and
pocket the "savings"?

I want to hire a concrete crew to lay a slab for my shop. I want to get it
for a reasonable cost.



Good luck with that. Who will warrant the work if the job is done
improperly? Should there be an issue down the road the contractor
will blame your concrete and the concrete supplier will blame your
contractor and you'll all end up with lawyers and you'll still have a
****ty slab, with a building on it.

Were you born negative, or did this come to you later in life?

He's right. This is not where you want to go "cheap". And concrete
problems are always "blame the other guy".

The state redid the road in front of my house. the tore out my apron
and put in a new one. after the first snow, the concrete just spawled
like you've never seen. You could take out layers with a plastic snow
shovel. DOT blames contractor. Contractor waives an "acceptance
form" saying it was approved by DOT. Neither of them really care. It
is ME who's stuck with the bad apron, not them.




Which contractor will be willing to accept such an arrangement?

There is such a building boom in my county (second fastest growing in the
United States) that it is difficult to get ANYONE to come and even bid work,
let alone do the work.

The

good companies will be busy pouring for clients who give them the
whole job, the crappy ones with bad reputations who are "judgment
proof" and scrambling for work will be your most likely source.

My source is local networking. Friends and family I have in the area. Dan
G hit it on the head with the $3.50 sf cost, but I wanted to hear what
others had to say. I DO know enough about it to look at a slab and tell if
it's done right.



If you want to save money, go the other way. The phrase "sweat
equity" accurately contains the word "sweat".

I don't "sweat" any more. I will be having angioplasty and stent work
within two weeks, and have had a five way (ala David Letterman) bypass and
aortic valve replaced. I do, however, shop things, and have the money to
hire the work done. BUT, I don't just call and pay whatever the guy says.



A "slab" is a "foundation", probably not the building phase where
construction savings should be maximized.

Like I said, I'll hire good people, watch the work, get a good slab, and
won't pay a lot of extra profit.

Same things with guys pouring driveways and flatwork. You can hire a
contractor and pay what they want, or you can get a crew, buy the concrete,
put on some barbecue and ice some beer, and save a lot.

Concrete ain't rocket surgery no matter what the contractors tell you.

- gpsman