Concreters
Pour, spread, smooth and finish concrete and install reinforcements to strengthen concrete for structures such as floors, stairs, ramps, footpaths and bridges. Read and interpret construction plans, and supervise Concreter's Labourers.
Pour day with weather coming
You are a concreter leading a crew of four on a house slab, with three truckloads of concrete booked to arrive through the morning. It is 6am. The first truck is due at 7. The forecast has changed overnight and now shows a chance of heavy rain by early afternoon. The builder wants the slab down today.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I know it might rain, but I have got the plumber on Thursday and he cannot be moved. If we pour today, it is done. If we pour tomorrow, I lose a week. Can you just get it down fast and cover it?
Go ahead and pour at full speed, then cover the slab as soon as it is down
Pouring fast works until the trucks bunch up. The surface is rushed, the finishing is uneven, and the rain arrives before the last section has set enough to be protected.
Promise him the slab will beat the rain, and call all three trucks in back to back
The trucks queue up and the crew cannot keep pace. Wet concrete is left sitting while the rain arrives, and the slab is finished in a hurry in the worst conditions of the day.
Check the radar, then agree on a start time, a stop point and a backup with Warrick
The radar shows the rain starting later than the forecast said. You agree a stop point that makes structural sense, and pour in an order that lets you finish by midday.
Sorry, I am new. The truck driver wants to add water to the mix to make it flow better and says it will be easier to spread. He seems to know what he is doing. Should I tell him yes?
Let the driver add the water, since he is the expert on the mix and Dev is new
The mix flows beautifully and the slab is easy to finish. But extra water weakens the concrete, and no test will ever show it, until years later when the surface begins to crumble.
Tell Dev no, and ask the driver to stick to the mix that was ordered
The driver shrugs and agrees. The concrete that goes down is the concrete that was ordered, and Dev learns that nobody changes the mix without the person in charge.
Tell the driver to add a small amount, but not too much, to compromise
A small amount sounds harmless, but there is no safe amount that nobody has agreed. You made a guess about the strength of something that holds up a house.
Excuse me, your truck is blocking my driveway, and the noise is dreadful. I have a hospital appointment at eleven. The last crew parked on my lawn. Can you move it?
Apologise, ask the driver to move when the pour allows, and give her a time
You find a gap between the trucks and have the driver move at nine. Mrs Whitlock gets out on time and leaves a note thanking you for being honest about it.
Tell her you cannot stop a pour in the middle, so she will have to wait
You are right that a pour cannot stop, but she hears only a refusal. She rings the council, and the crew deals with a complaint on top of everything else.
Ignore her and carry on, because the truck cannot move and the pour is urgent
She gets her neighbour to drive her instead, and then rings your boss about the noise, the blocked drive and the rudeness. Your boss is not impressed.
How it went
By noon the slab is down, finished and covered when the first drops fall. Concreting is hard, fast and unforgiving, and the plan you make at 6am matters more than the muscle you use at 10. Do you like work where preparation decides everything?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The truck that came an hour early
A fictional case set in a concreting crew pouring driveways, house slabs, footpaths and pads for sheds and workshops.
The situation
Ada's concreting crew was booked to pour a driveway for the Hartigan family at 9am. At 8am, the concrete truck pulled up, an hour early because the plant had finished sooner than expected. The forms were not quite finished and the steel reinforcing had not been checked by the building inspector. Mr Hartigan, in his work clothes, urged the driver to start pouring right away so he could make it to work.
What they did
Ada told the truck driver to hold, and explained to Mr Hartigan that concrete cannot be taken back once it is in place. She finished the forms and had the inspector confirm the steel before any concrete went in. The truck waited for forty minutes, which cost extra, and the driver was not pleased. Ada told Mr Hartigan how long it would take and how the day would go.
How it turned out
The pour started at 9:15 and went smoothly. The driveway passed its inspection and the Hartigans parked on it a week later. Ada still thinks about how easy it would have been to just say yes at 8am.
What would you do?
- Why can't concrete simply be removed and redone if something is wrong?
- How would you handle someone who is in a hurry and pushing you to start?
- What does a good concreter need to plan before the truck arrives?