Job costing app for concreters

What to track on every concreting job

On a concreting job, the pour is the day everyone remembers, but the prep, forming and finishing days cost just as much. Track all of it against the job:

• Prep, pour and finishing hours, per person, per day: excavation and formwork days count as much as pour day
• Concrete by the cubic metre, straight off the docket, with any short-load or after-hours charge
• Pump hire and standby time, when the truck is late or the pour runs long
• Steel and consumables: mesh, bar chairs, membrane, formwork timber, pegs and sealer
• Excavation and disposal: machine hire and the tip fees for spoil
• Cutting, sealing and the return visit: they are part of the job, so log them against it

Pricing concreting work

A rate per square metre is an easy way for a client to compare quotes, and a fine way to present a price. It is a risky way to work one out, because two driveways of the same area can cost very different amounts. Build the price from the parts instead, then check what it comes to per square metre:

• Concrete by the cubic metre, so a change in thickness or an extra thickening reprices properly
• Prep: excavation, base, formwork and steel, which change with the site, the soil and the access
• Placing: pump or barrow, and how far the concrete has to travel from the truck
• Finish: broom, exposed aggregate, colour, saw cuts and sealing each take their own time and materials
• A minimum job charge, so a small path still pays for the crew, the gear and the day it takes

Working out the concrete

Volume is length x width x thickness, all in metres. A 6 x 4 metre shed slab at 100 mm thick is 6 x 4 x 0.1 = 2.4 cubic metres, before any thickenings or edge beams shown on the drawings. Add those from the drawings, allow for an uneven base, and round the order up. Ask your supplier about minimum loads and short-load charges before you price a small pour, because on a small slab they can be a big part of the concrete cost.

A worked example: a shed slab

Here is that shed slab, priced and then tracked. The numbers are illustrative, including the concrete price, and the hourly cost is the concreter example on the tradie hourly rate calculator: about $116 an hour, because rain days and heavy gear both cost a concreter more.

On pour day the truck is an hour late. The pump charges standby, the crew of three waits, and the order comes up 0.2 of a cubic metre short, so a second truck brings a short load. Logged on the day, the extras look like this:

Costs reach $6,448, which is 94% of the $6,870 price, and the profit falls from $1,374 to $422. The profit-at-risk alert fires on pour day, not when the bank statement arrives. That is the moment to note why the truck was late, raise it with the supplier, and order the next slab with a bigger allowance. How to price a concreting job walks through pricing a driveway from its parts.

Deposits, stages and the crew

For bigger jobs, set payment stages as percentages of the price: a deposit before you order, then the balance after the pour, or after the cut and seal. Progress claims and payment stages covers how to size them and the deposit limits in each state. Your crew logs formwork, pour and strip hours per day against the job from their phones, and the job shows labour building up against the invoice.

New accounts set up for concreting start with three quote templates to adjust: a plain driveway of about 40 square metres, a 6 x 4 metre shed slab, and a path of about 1 x 10 metres. The prices in them are placeholders until you put your own in.

What TrackYaTradie does not do for concreters

• No volume or area calculator inside the quote. Work out the cubic metres, then enter the quantity.
• No supplier ordering or docket scanning. Enter each docket as a supply cost, and attach a photo if you want it on file.
• No plant and equipment register or servicing schedule.
• No dispatch map or GPS tracking.
• Xero only: there is no MYOB or QuickBooks sync.