A Day in the Life of a Concrete Screeder – Back in the Day

5:00 am – Alarm goes off.

Coffee starts straight away 14 cups before I leave and it never really stops

6:00 am – On site. More coffee while the crew gets organised.

7:00 am – Pour starts.

Six of us in the gang.

36 concrete trucks. 1,800 m².

I was the only screeder.

From 7:00 to 11:00, it was flat out. Every square metre screeded by me.

No breaks. Just keep moving.

Then straight into finishing.

By 3:30–4:00 pm, the slab was burnt in with a top-quality finish.

5:00–7:00 pm – Pub with the boys. Back then it wasn’t unusual to knock back 20–30 beers.

Home around 6:30 pm.

Dinner.

Another coffee.

Bed.

Then the alarm goes again at 5:00 am.

Tomorrow?

A 2,400 m² car park.

Same crew.

Same pace.

Same work ethic.

I don’t drink coffee like that anymore, and the cigarettes are long gone—but those were the days. Hard work, big pours, and a lot of pride in the finish.
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A Day in the Life of a Concrete Screeder
50 Coffees and 100 Cigarettes
If you’ve never worked around concrete, you probably won’t understand the relationship between concrete, coffee and cigarettes.
For years, they were almost part of the equipment.
On a big pour I could drink an unbelievable amount of coffee — sometimes 50 cups in a day — and smoke 100 cigarettes or more.
The day would start early, and once the concrete started coming, there was no stopping just because you were tired.
Truck after truck would arrive. My job was to keep the concrete moving, get it to the right level and keep screeding until the slab was done.
I’ve worked on some enormous pours over the years, and when you’re in the middle of one, you don’t really think about how much you’ve done. You just keep going.
Coffee and cigarettes kept me going.
Looking back now, I honestly don’t know how I did it.
And believe it or not, that was just a normal day in the life of a concrete screeder.
I’ve got plenty more stories from my years in the trade — some funny, some bloody hard work, and a few that were downright crazy.

Pouring half of this on Friday. Have a good feeling it’ll be a good day

I am a new concrete company owner. Maybe I’m doing something wrong but all of the dumpster companies I’ve used in the area are never on time. Is there something I can do differently? I can schedule them staggered. Say 8 AM and 12 PM. The first one will show up early at 7 and we will hurry to get it filled so they can pick it up. Then the next one we will be waiting to show up at 12 and won’t show up until 2. This usually puts a holdup on things. Is this just industry standard?

EDIT: Changed 12 AM to 12 PM not midnight lol

I’ve done polished concrete and epoxy coatings for years now. Had the chance to polish my own floors in my house. Full aggregate polished to a 3000 git. Enjoy

Hi, all, I’m contemplating purchasing a volumemetric mix truck to set up a small business. What would you do to evaluate the quality of a used one of these machines? Is there anything in particular to look out for or when you find one that looks promising would you just hire your own mechanic to give it a full look over? If anybody has any additional advice related to these products, I would appreciate hearing it as well either as a business owner or somebody who works with them.

Think I need more reinforcement? Have that 2x4 I was gonna use as a runner up the center but then I can't screed as easy. Might put pins infront of the faces and pull as I go. Any advice?

Some customer Nu Rock walls we did toay

My company runs it's own concrete jobs, usually small pours for pools / driveways / indoors,... We have a trailer pump, so we work for plants and other companies too.

We're interested in buying a 43m boom pump as our next step in the business. What can we expect? How much different is running a boom pump vs trailer pump?

We get paid by the m³. How many cubic metres of concrete can we expect to pour on a job, on average?

The trailer pump can be hard work. Is running the boom pump as tough?

2400 SF to wrap up an interior reno

Always someone trying to make our job more difficult than it already is.

How do you find a good concrete form carpenter who can actually read plans?
I run a concrete company in California and I’m looking to bring on someone experienced with structural/foundation work not just someone who knows how to form and pour flatwork.
I’m looking for a form carpenter/foreman who can actually read a set of plans, understand footing and foundation details, rebar callouts, elevations, hold-downs, anchor bolts, dimensions, etc., and then build it correctly in the field from the plans.
For those of you doing foundations regularly, where do you find guys at this level?
Would you look for a journeyman form carpenter, concrete foreman, layout carpenter, or someone with superintendent experience?
Also, what would you expect to pay someone with this level of experience in California?
I’m not looking for the cheapest labor. I’m trying to find someone who really knows structural concrete and can look at the plans and know exactly what needs to be built.

Hey all! Just wrapped up a big pour on for board formed walls, and im finding large air holes and small bubble holes everywhere. (See pics)

I feel like I did everything right, we pre sealed the wood of the forms with boiled linseed oil, we caulked between board joints, we used 40 mpa concrete with a high slump, small rock. Form was also treated with form release agent * wonder if we used too much??

We also vibrated extensive, every 12 to 16 inches up and down a few times.

Does anyone have any ideas on what happened?

Also, anything helpful about parging board form like this, which I am dreading

New asphalt edging border that were 16” wide and 250’ linear feet, straight shots only 🏹

I usually push 8510 however With ghost Shields pricing increase is there any alternative that's good at blocking oil stains on General broom finished outdoor concrete jobs driveways and such

I wish I would have listened to all the advice and directions given by safety, I wish I wouldn’t have competed with everyone I worked with. I wish I would have asked for help with really heavy shit we carried every day. I wish I would have been more careful with my body. I wish when I had pulled a screed for 1/2 the pour and was asked if I needed a break I would have taken it. I hope that any young guys in our trade pay attention to what I am saying pans understand safety is for your benefit and no one else. Be smart, because when you’re old you will pay for all your injuries and damage to your body.
If you want to call me a pussy keep in mind I was a concrete guy from 14-58 and even though I my body is worn out at 60 i am sure I could still muster up an ass whooping for you!

Materials guy new to the industry with a tough question. Not selling anything (today). If you had some new kind of sealant or topcoat product - something really new and supposedly radically better - how do you get people to try it?

If the job is too small, there's no budget for R&D. If it's too big, you have to stick to spec. I don't know how to get started.

I won't talk about the product here, because that's not what the forum is about, but I'd be grateful to know what kind of contractor, civil eng firm or asset owner would even consider it.