When a Pump Earns Its MoneyA Line Hose Needs About 600mm
It is roughly 75 to 125mm across and it needs room for someone to walk beside it. If a person fits down the side, the hose does too.
Plant & Site
Concrete Pumping in Launceston
If the truck cannot reach the pour, the concrete still has to get there, and on a Launceston block that is usually the whole problem. A pump moves it over the house, down the side or across the yard, and it turns a job that would take a day of barrows into a couple of hours.
- Line and boom pumps
- Back yards and tight access
- Free site check
Why a Pump at All
Concrete Trucks Are Eight Metres Long and They Do Not Go Round Corners
An agitator truck can chute concrete about three metres from where it parks. That covers a front driveway and almost nothing else.
Anything Behind the House Is Past It
A back yard slab, a shed at the rear boundary, an alfresco off the living room. All of them sit beyond where a truck can stand.
So Does Anything up or Down a Level
Barrows do not climb, and taking a full one down a slope is how people get hurt on a job that should have been straightforward.
A Pump Takes It the Rest of the Way
From the truck at the kerb, through a hose, to exactly where it is going. That is the entire idea and everything below is about which machine does it.
And Sometimes the Answer Is No Pump
If the truck can reach it, we will chute it and there is no extra line on your quote. We check that first, every time.
Is It Worth It
A Pump Is Not Always the Right Call, and We Will Say So
We would rather tell you to skip it than take the money for a machine you did not need. This is roughly how it splits.
When a Pump Earns Its Money
- The pour is behind the houseThe single most common reason. If concrete has to travel past the building line, a pump is almost always cheaper than the labour to barrow it.
- There is a level changeUp to a raised alfresco or down to a lower yard. Barrows do not go up, and going down them with a full barrow is how people get hurt.
- The pour is large or on a clockAnything over about eight cubic metres. Concrete starts going off from the moment it is batched, so placing it fast is a quality question, not just a speed one.
- Access is under 900mmA standard side gate. A barrow fits and a bobcat does not, so the alternative to a pump is people, and a lot of them.
When You Do Not Need One
- It is a front drivewayIf the truck can back up to it and chute straight in, that is what we will do. No pump, no extra line on the quote.
- It is a very small pourA metre or two for a shed pad with clear access. The setup and wash-out time costs more than the barrowing would.
- The truck can get in the drivewaySome blocks have a wide enough drive and firm enough ground to bring the agitator round the side. We check this before we quote a pump.
- You have the people and the timeIt is your call. We will tell you how many barrow loads it is, and you can decide whether that is a Saturday you want.
The Two Machines
Line Pump or Boom Pump: They Are Not the Same Machine
Almost every residential job in Launceston goes on a line pump. The boom is for when there is something in the way that a hose on the ground cannot get past.
01
Line Pump
A compact trailer or truck-mounted pump that pushes concrete through a steel and rubber hose laid along the ground. It goes through side gates, down passages, around corners and under a house. Slower per cubic metre than a boom, and it is the right machine for perhaps nine out of ten back yards.
02
Boom Pump
A truck with a folding articulated arm that lifts the hose up and over whatever is in the way, a house, a fence line, a retaining wall, a neighbour's carport. It places faster and it needs room on the street to put its outriggers down. This is the one people picture when they hear the word pump.
03
And the Honest Third Option
The chute on the back of the truck. Free, immediate and perfectly good for a front driveway or a shed pad the truck can reach. We will always check this first.
Which one your job needs is a question about access, not about budget. We look at the street, the gate, the levels and what the hose has to get past, and there is usually only one sensible answer.
Tell us the site and the volume and we will say which machine it needs, or whether it needs one at all.
Where the Hose Actually Goes
The Side Passage Is the Whole Problem
Most Launceston blocks are a house with a narrow gap down one side and the good part of the yard behind it. That gap is what decides the day.
Corners Cost Pressure, Not Access
Every bend slows the flow slightly. It does not stop the job. It just means we plan the run rather than dragging hose and hoping.
It Can Go Under the House
Through a subfloor, under a deck, or through a garage and out the back door if that is genuinely the only route. It is not elegant and it works.
Steps and Levels Are Fine
The pump does the lifting. A hose up onto a raised alfresco is nothing, where a barrow up the same steps is the hardest part of the day.
What Actually Stops Us
A locked rear boundary with no way through, or a passage full of stored timber and bikes. Both are solvable, and both are much easier to solve the week before.
When the Only Way to the Back Yard Is Over the Roof
A boom lifts the hose clean over the house and drops it in the yard behind. Terraces, corner blocks, anywhere the side is built out to the boundary, and any job where the neighbour's property is the only thing between the truck and the pour. It needs a clear span on the street and a few minutes to set the outriggers, and then it places faster than anything else we own.
Choosing Between Them
Which Pump for Which Job
The honest version, with the case for doing nothing included. Read across.
Send us the address and we will look at the access on a map before we price it.
The Numbers
What These Machines Will Actually Do
The specifications that decide whether your job is straightforward, in the plainest form we can put them.
- Line pump hose diameter
- 75–125mm
- Practical line pump run
- up to 80m
- Boom reach, vertical
- up to 32m
- Boom reach, horizontal
- up to 28m
- Line pump output
- 20–30m³/hr
- Boom pump output
- 40–60m³/hr
- Minimum access needed
- 600mm
- Street space for a boom
- ~12m
Fits any gap a person can walk down
Further is possible, it just goes slower
Well over any single or double storey house
Front kerb to a rear boundary on most blocks
A typical 12m³ house slab in well under a day
Fast enough that finishing becomes the limit
Narrower than a standard side gate
Outriggers down, usually one or two car spaces
Those are the working ranges rather than a promise about your block. We check reach and route on site before anything is booked, because a boom that cannot get its outriggers down is a truck that has driven out for nothing.
On the Day
What We Need From You Before the Truck Arrives
None of this is difficult, and all of it is much harder once there is a truck on the street and concrete going off in the drum.
Clear the RouteThe side passage empty, the gate off its latch, and the dog somewhere else. Ten minutes of your time saves half an hour of ours.
Somewhere to Wash OutA pump has to be flushed at the end and that water and slurry has to go somewhere sensible. We bring what we need, we just need to agree the spot first.
Cars off the StreetA boom needs its outriggers down, which means space at the kerb. Worth a word with the neighbours the day before.
Tell Us About the GroundSoft fill, a septic tank, a rainwater tank or a recently trenched service line. A loaded pump is heavy and it should not be sitting on any of them.
And Tell Us If the Pour ChangedMore metres, a different mix, a second slab while we are here. All fine. We just need to know before the concrete is ordered.
How a Pump Day Runs
From the Site Check to the Wash-Out
Five steps, and the first one is the one that saves you money, because it is where we find out whether you need a pump at all.
01
We Look at the Access
The street, the gate, the levels and what the hose has to get past. This is also where we tell you if the truck can just chute it and you can skip the pump.
02
One Price for the Pump and the Pour
Written, covering both, so you are not adding up two invoices afterwards to work out what a slab cost.
03
Set up on the Day
Pump positioned, outriggers on pads, hose run to the pour and pressure-tested before a single truck backs up.
04
Pump the Pour
Concrete straight from the truck to the formwork. We book the agitators in sequence so the pump is never standing there waiting on the next load.
05
Wash Out and Go
The pump flushed somewhere sensible that we agree with you first, the hose packed, and the street left as we found it.
The Cost
What Changes the Price of Concrete Pumping
Pumping is priced off the machine, the setup and the time on site, and it is almost always quoted as part of the pour rather than on its own.
01
Which Machine It Needs
A line pump and a boom are different hire rates, and the difference is real. The access decides which one, so the access decides this line of the quote.
02
How Much Concrete
Volume sets how long the pump is standing there. A small pour is mostly setup and wash-out; a large one is mostly pumping.
03
How Far It Has to Travel
Hose length and the number of bends. Twenty metres down a straight side passage is not the same job as eighty metres around a house and up a slope.
04
How Long Setup Takes
Running eighty metres of line through a house takes time before a single cubic metre moves. So does packing it up and washing it out.
05
Whether We Can Get the Trucks in Sequence
A pump waiting on concrete is a pump you are paying for. We book the two together so that gap is ours to manage, not yours.
06
And What Else Is Happening That Day
If we are pouring as well as pumping, it is one price for the job. A pump on its own for someone else's pour is priced differently.
Every quote we write covers the pump and the pour as one number. You should not be reconciling two invoices to find out what a slab cost.
Common Questions
Concrete Pumping Questions We Get Asked in Launceston
How much does concrete pumping cost in Launceston?
There is no honest flat rate, because the price is driven by which machine your access needs, how much concrete is going through it, how far it has to travel and how long setup takes. A line pump into a back yard is a very different number from a boom over a double storey. We quote the pump and the pour together as one price, after we have looked at the site.
What is the difference between a line pump and a boom pump?
A line pump pushes concrete through a hose laid along the ground, so it goes through side gates and down narrow passages. A boom pump has a folding arm that lifts the hose up and over whatever is in the way, so it needs room on the street but it can reach over a house. Most residential jobs in Launceston go on a line pump.
Can a concrete pump reach my back yard?
Almost certainly. A line hose needs about 600 millimetres of clear route, which is narrower than a standard side gate, and it can run up to around 80 metres. If the side is built out to the boundary, a boom goes over the roof instead. The only genuine blockers are no route at all and a street with nowhere to stand a truck.
Do I really need a pump, or can we barrow it?
You can barrow almost anything, and sometimes you should. For a small pour with clear access we will tell you to skip the pump. Past about eight cubic metres, or anywhere there is a level change, barrowing stops being a saving. Concrete goes off on its own schedule and a slow placement shows in the finish.
How much access does a concrete pump need?
About 600 millimetres for a line hose and someone to walk beside it. A boom pump needs roughly twelve metres of kerb to put its outriggers down, which is usually one or two car spaces, so it is worth telling the neighbours the day before.
Can you supply the concrete as well as the pump?
Yes, and it is how we prefer to do it. When we book the concrete and the pump together, the gap between trucks is ours to manage rather than yours, and you get one price for the whole job instead of two invoices that have to be added up afterwards.
Tell Us Where the Pour Is and We Will Tell You What It Needs
Most of this is settled in one phone call. Where the pour is, how far it is from where a truck can stand, and what is in the way. If you can send a photo from the street and one from the pour, better again.
- We will tell you honestly if you do not need a pump
- Line pump, boom pump or straight off the chute. We say which
- Booked around the concrete, not the other way round
- One price for the pump and the pour together
Free Measure, Fixed Price
Find Out What Your Job Costs
One call and we come out, measure the real thing and put a price in writing. It costs nothing and there is no salesman in it.
One call. We measure it and put a fixed price in writing. Costs nothing.
- We come and measure itOn site, tape out, so the price is for your job and not a guess off a photo.
- A fixed written priceOne number you can hold us to. Not a range, not a rate, not an estimate.
- The crew who quotes it pours itThe bloke standing in your driveway is the bloke who does the work. Who you are dealing with.
- Measured on site, not guessed
- Fixed written price, not a range
- The crew who quotes it pours it
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