What is the cost of accuracy for a concrete pour?

Success is often achieved by ensuring these three boxes are ticked - preparation, preparation, and preparation.

Concrete is expensive and with an average price of US$130 cubic yard can quickly add up, particularly when you are working on a large project.

For this calculation our theoretical building covers 60,000 square feet and measures 200' x 300' with an 8" concrete floor. A perfect pour with zero variance would require 1,481 cubic yards of concrete at a cost of approximately $192,592.00.

So what would happen if the floor preparation was less than ideal?

Additional cost is the answer to that. If the floor had a gradual variance of 1/4" from high to low then we would need another 23 cubic yards of concrete at a cost of a little over $3,000.00, but now imagine the variance was even greater with 1/2" from high to low. At this rate your additional cost has ballooned to over $6,000.00.

These variances are coming straight off your bottom line and at a time when margins are tight and competition with bids is very high, the last thing you want to do is leave money on the table.

SharpGrade addresses these issues with robust and proven technology.

Our patented QuadRod linkages are the most rigid in class and as a result you can accurately fine grade to within less than 1/8" (3mm), and with front and rear pivoting blades, also grade forwards and reverse which can save a huge amount of time and deliver an additional productivity gain.

Bryce Merrick from Merrick Enterprises commented “My SharpGrade prepared over 1 million square feet of flat work in 5 months to an average of +/- 1/100 foot. It has worked flawlessly, more than doubling my accuracy in comparison to my dozer, while increasing my productivity 3 fold. It has been an excellent investment”.

SharpGrade products are designed and manufactured to meet the highest standards while delivering the most accurate results, so if the bottom line is important to your business then preparation, preparation, and preparation should be your focus.

The above calculations are intentionally simplistic and intended to provide a very high level explanation of how accuracy can impact project costs, there are obviously many other factors to consider when calculating the true cost of productivity.

For more information on SharpGrade's range of grader and box blades please visit www.sharpgrade.com