Time is Money - Contractor Uses A New Pump and Conveyor to Meet Tight Deadlines May 1999

Putzmeister Telebelt and 36-Meter pump quickly place footings and pump walls

Beaudry Services, a mid-sized contractor located in West Allis, Wis., knew it had a challenge ahead when the company contracted to pump the floors and walls for a 6,000-square-foot house this spring.

Beaudry owns 6 1/2 sets of Durand forms – the aluminum forms used to build the walls – and used five sets for the home's 950 feet of walls. Unfortunately, the Midwest weather changed quickly and the contractor suddenly needed the forms for several other residential jobs.

To complete the job quickly, Beaudry first used its Putzmeister Telebelt TB 105 to place 60 cubic yards of concrete for the footings and 300 tons of stone for the floors and foundation drainage areas. Then Beaudry brought in its new Putzmeister 36-Meter truck-mounted concrete boom pump to help place 216 yards of concrete for the walls. This was the contractor's first chance to use both machines at once.

An increased workload prompted Beaudry's purchase of the 36-Meter just two weeks prior to this pour. The company anticipated that the 105-foot horizontal reach and 117-foot vertical reach of the boom pump would be perfect for the increased number of residential jobs.

Although a standard concrete mix was used for the footings on the job, 1-percent chloride was added to the mix for the basement walls. This mix was used because a section of the basement was 16 feet high in order to incorporate a basketball court. To avoid overflow due to the different heights of the walls, only 8 feet of the walls were poured at a time, so the chloride was added to set the mix faster. Once the mix was set, the remainder of the 16-foot walls was pumped and finished.

Keeping up with the flow of concrete was a challenge. Since both machines were placing concrete at the same time, the concrete finishers had to work quickly to keep up. Another challenge was the difficulty of the pour. Because the house was designed with a number of unusual corners and bay window areas, Beaudry needed a lot of flexibility when pumping the walls. The operators placed the concrete without moving the equipment, and the walls were poured in about four hours.

Before Beaudry purchased the TB 105, the footings and stone around the drain tile were manually placed using a skid steer and a wheelbarrow. "I can't calculate how much time we saved on this job alone," said Robert Beaudry, company vice-president. He said that the job would have been "impossible to complete due to the additional hours and expense required if done manually." In addition, the purchase of the TB 105 and 36-Meter also eliminated the need to rent extra equipment.