Switch to Volumetric Concrete – Stop Paying for Waste
Looking to lower your concrete cost without compromising on quality? The secret to achieving this depends on how your concrete is delivered. Ready mix deliveries often result in waste because you have to estimate what you need beforehand. And if you overestimate, you pay for the excess. Volumetric concrete solves this by mixing the exact amount required once the truck arrives on-site. This eliminates waste, so you only pay for what you need.
You need a concrete supplier you can trust to be honest about volume and price. With a 20-year track record serving customers across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire, Custom Concrete has built its reputation on honesty and transparency. Our goal is to ensure that you get the exact right mix—and the best value—for your build, large or small.
Quick Guide – 3 Ways to Lower Your Concrete Cost
Need to reduce the cost of concrete delivery? Here are our recommendations:
- Choose Volumetric Delivery – Switch to on-site mixing to ensure you pay only for what you pour, by eliminating the cost of waste disposal.
- Avoid Part-Load Fees – Unlike traditional drum mixers, volumetric suppliers like Custom Concrete don’t charge penalties for smaller orders.
- Prepare Site Access – Check, prior to delivery, that the truck can get close to the pour site to reduce labour time and avoid additional pump hire costs.
Why Static Mix Deliveries Can Inflate Your Bill
Traditional drum mixers are excellent for delivering high volumes to large commercial sites where the exact capacity is known down to the millimetre. If you are building a high-rise foundation next to a batching plant, they are without doubt, the right choice.
But for renovators, home builders, and most construction sites, the “static” nature of these deliveries creates financial leaks. The most significant limitation is the “One Truck, One Mix” rule. Because a drum mixer is filled with a pre-mixed recipe at the plant, it cannot carry two different types of concrete. If your project requires a C20 mix for a footing and a stronger C35 mix for a floor slab, you are forced to order two separate deliveries.
This doubles your logistics costs immediately. You pay two delivery charges, and if those individual loads are small, you likely get hit with part-load fees on both trucks. Additionally, with drum mixers, you pay for what you order, not just what you use. If your calculations are slightly off, you are left paying for surplus concrete that you then have to pay again to have removed – a double-charge that eats directly into your profit margin.
With volumetric concrete you can calculate exactly the volume you need in advance, using our Custom Concrete Calculator. Should you need to tweak the volume or mix on-site, that isn’t a problem.
Volumetric Concrete – One Truck, Multiple Mixes, Zero Waste
The essence of volumetric technology is in its flexibility. Because the ingredients are kept separate until the moment of use, we aren’t locked into a single “recipe” for the whole load.
A volumetric truck is able to adapt to multiple mixes in one delivery, for example. The operator can pour a C20 mix for your footings, stop the auger, adjust the settings, and immediately begin pouring a stronger C35 mix for your slab – all from the same vehicle, in the same visit.
This capability allows Custom Concrete to handle complex requirements without multiple delivery charges. You get the exact grade of concrete you need for every part of your project, without paying for “dead” space in a drum or waiting for a second driver to arrive.
FAQs – Your Delivery
If you are new to volumetric mixers, you might be wondering about the physical logistics of getting a truck to your specific location. Here are some of the questions we get asked regularly on this topic.
Our volumetric trucks are 10 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 4 metres high – they’re bigger than a standard mixer. If your site has tight access or narrow driveways, let us know beforehand. As a general rule, if a bin lorry can get down your road, our trucks usually can too.
Our trucks carry extended chutes that can reach approximately 6 metres (20 feet) from the back of the vehicle. If your pour site is further away – behind a house or through a garden – we can easily arrange line pump or boom pump hire to move the concrete exactly where it needs to go.
It is surprisingly fast. Our volumetric mixers can produce approximately 1 cubic metre every minute. However, the beauty of the system is that we can slow this rate down to a trickle if you are filling awkward trenches or wheelbarrows, giving you time to work at the pace you need.
Only Pay For What You Pour
The days of paying for “dead” space in a drum mixer are over. Volumetric concrete offers the precision, quality, and flexibility that you need. Whether you are laying a large foundation or a small garden path, it’s a simple equation – if you don’t pour it, you don’t pay for it.
Lower your concrete cost today. Switch to Custom Concrete for your next project. Book your slot today and discover the benefits of volumetric concrete for yourself – 01525 861899