Italian Mason wrote:

On Mar 30, 10:11 am, "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?



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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"Concrete ain't rocket surgery no matter what the contractors tell
you."
You know I get this attitude all the time from people that watch to
much HGTV. When I'm at their house measuring for an estimate and Ive
already had a long day I tell them "so, since you watch the medical
channel do you think you can give your child a root canal in the
garage?" I don't think so... Every TRADE has its secrets that can only
be learned by EXPERIENCE. Let me tell you I have been doing this type
of work since I was 10 years old going to help my Dad. I am going to
be 40 this year and I have yet to do a CONCRETE job that did not have
at least 1 new variable factor that comes up at the time of the pour,
its always something and is usually out of my control. There easily
dozens of different factors that can turn an install into a removal.
Experience is what allows guys like me to over come these factors
again and again and produce professional results. Yea its not rocket
science but guess what if its not done right you will have a big heavy
reminder that will be there for a long long time....unless you want to
pay someone like us a licensed contractor to come and take it out and
do it right for double the cost in the first place. I don't mean to be
disrespectful and I will be the first one to vote for saving some
money but some things are just not as simple as they seem. Do you
think your boss could have a nice BBQ and invite a couple of guys over
to do your job? After all I'm sure it ain't rocket science?
ready to do it right? visit us at http://www.palmisanoconcrete.com



"Rocket science" + searching my old (bad) joke file =

"Did you hear about the problems with Italy's first rocket? Their
engines just don't have enough thrust to lift a concrete rocket!" ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida