Just taking a poll and I am just plain curious, how many years have you been in the concrete pumping business and how did you get in the biz? I'd like to hear the stories.

I have been in it for 3 years....the story..

I took a job at a ready mix plant on a tip from a friend of mine.While training (as a RM driver)..SHUT IT!!. Any how we went out in to the boonie's and there was this white cab over with this orange arm type thing hangin off of it.I told the dude training me that he was gonna have to empty the drum I wanted to watch this thing work.So yeah then and there I decided....THATS FOR ME!!!!.It took me 3 years of non stop harrasment and moving the family out of state,But I did finally get the job runnin a white cab over with an orange arm type thing hangin off of it..LOL when I started  a couple of the operators found out that I drove a RM truck and told me "YOU WILL LEARN TO DESPISE RM DRIVERS".And I told then "NAW man rm drivers are alright"....MAN I HATE BEING WRONG!!!! That's my story.

little over 4 years.

My great uncle owned a concrete pumping company who hired my father who 20 something years later got me a job. so my father got me in.

Been pumping for 22 years.Never owed a biz.I have had two great bosses in those years.One in Texas and one in ILL.

Scott

I was a concrete labor write out of high school my uncle called me to say he just sighed a contract for three year pumping job at UCSD so i loaded up my El Camino and went south to San Diego in 1984 still pumping concrete but back in northern ca (Chico).

Guess I should answer my own question. I've been in the business 12 years.  My best friend's mom was looking for help in the office of this concrete pumping company, doing filing, paperwork, answering phones, cleaning the bathrooms etc. (YEAH SERIOUSLY). Fun Fun, but hey a job is a job and it paid more than my job at the skating rink. It was part time, which was good because I was attending college also. Within a few months things got busier and busier and the job became full time. I tried going to College at night for another semester, but decided it wasn't for me. I was hooked into the life of concrete pumping and I've been here ever since. Of course I have since graduated from the restrooms to dispatcher dealing with s*** of a different kind, but I love it.(most days) LOL !!

WHO?? ...I....had...no    idea...

Dad said:  Jr, GET A JOB

Ray Said:  Ummm, OK?

Dad's buddy owned a pump company and I went and asked him about the bidnez.  He said, it's a fun job - you do a little bit of everything, it's never boring...you're a mechanic, electrician, operator, translator, problem solver, welder...you can start Monday.

So, Monday morning I began working with the owner, showing me the ins & outs of the finest piece of machinery known to concrete pumping: The Thomsen 845

This was 1994 - I was 21

It's funny how school seemed to take forever and then when you're thrown into the working world, 7 years goes by like a blink of the eye.

good times

I started in 2002 right out of school, i needed a job so i got one working with my uncle's company in Honolulu HI. I had about a 6 month period when i did something eles but i ended up getting back in to it and been doing it ever since. Right now im in Las Vegas planning on moving back though got laid off after 4 monts pumping out here.

I started my career as a car mechanic and the last 14 years I worked as a manager in fastfit center

I had my truckdrivers license but never drove one

So one day I decided to make a radical careermove  and  I am a proud concrete pumper for 15 months now

3 month ago I stept on a brand new 34 meter swing

35 yrs! Bob and I were here when rocks were invented! So was Many I think. Can't tell you much about pumping but I sure as hell can tell you what not to do!

38 yrs for me. been around for all the great advancements in the industry. still miss the good old challenges and elbas. thos were fun days. tow a pump to the job and pump on rear motor. tow back to yard

i've been in it for about 8 years.  with two companys.  i got out for about 3 years but you know what they say once its in your blood you cant do anything else and be happy.  i love it.

MY DAD RUNS HIS OWN CONCRETE PLACING BUSINESS, ONE DAY WE WERE POURING A HOUSE AND A BOOM PUMP SHOWED UP TO THE JOB , THOUGHT IT LOOKED REALLY INTERESTING , TALKED TO THE OPERATOR A LITTLE BIT , WENT DOWN AND APPLIED FOR A JOB AND 7 YEARS LATER IM STILL HERE , STILL INTERESTED , I LOVE MY JOB !!

I've been pumping for 11 years. & on schwing and reed line pumps, then 4 years on a boom. I started in the concrete industry in 1989. Yes, I did haul it, I learned alot about concrete by spending so many years hauling it. it is my opinion that a pump company should consider mixer drivers as possible operators. A good driver has alot to give.

scolew

I agree. I know a bunch of EX-mixer drivers that are now very good pump operators. The cream always rises to the top. ;~)

Started in 1984 as a RM Driver ( Dont tell any one) in 1990 started my own pump and finish company started with a C 30 and 4 guys 4+yrs later had 100 guys 2 boom and two trailers then sold out went to work for one of the larger companys moved into management changed companys a few times and back to being an operator. I get tired of all the broken promises they all seem to make but it does get in your blood.

Well Bob,how longs it been???? hehehe.

Saw Floyd and Jim last week.

Roy,

What are those two up to now?

I count 203 years of experience so far. Keep'em coming.

I worked on a cotton-mill as the operator of a painting line, then in my city the concrete factory has opened, have left to work on a mixer driver, through a half of year it be not become interesting. Already about 3 years I'm the concrete pump operator. And I like it more and more. Maybe i'm crazy ?lol

Started in may 0f '78, still going strong , just not as fast. I like to let the young ones go and pump, I just try to keep 'em running.

I got suckered into it in 94. Started with doing services to the pumps to help pay for college. Turns out I liked pumping more than college.

Thin: Don't forget the old Thompsens,with the V-8 Cat on the back and the 2' long exhaust. My hearing still suffers,but they sounded mean at full song...

Mudslinger

WHAT?

I have only been doing it full time for about four and a half years since a week after graduating high school. But I have been around pumps and helping dad work on them since i was two. I believe dad handed me the remote for the first time at eight years old. So if you count that I have fourteen years lol

Mudslinger'

That was a fun one to run.Been there.Very loud.

Ruck

Bob

Thanks for agreeing with me.

I’ve been running a boom pump since 1994. All on the same pump until there months ago. Now I’m on my 4th different remote it’s been a lot of fun learning the different booms and what you can do with them. I got into it when my mother and her new husband who were partners in a concrete construction co., bought a 1983 Putz 3arm 32M 12cel. It went down like this… Your mom says you’re pretty good at video games. (She new how much money I had wasted of the years.) You think that you’d like to try running this thing? Long story short, those video games were a much better investment (money wise) than all of my wife’s student loans. lol

Well Bob all I can say is recovering from a minor stroke.Life is still good but I guess but my finish line has changed.They say I'm at 90% but will believe it when I see it.Counting the blessings daily and double checking my spelling.

A COUPLE YEARS AGO MY NEIGHBOR WAS TOWING A YELLOW TRAIER THAT LOOKED LIKE A WOOD CHIPPER ...THAN ONE DAY I QUIT MY JOB AS BUSTBOY AT A LOCAL RESTAURANT .... THAN I SAW MY NEIGHBOR AND ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO GO HELP HIM FOR A DAY ... I ASKED HIM 4 WHAT ? HE SAID WERE GONNA PUMP SOME MUD .... I GOT HIRED THEN ON THE SPOT ..TWO WEEKS LATER HE AND THE OTHER GUY QUIT LOL I HAD NO CLUE ON WHAT I GOT MY SELF INTO...SO MY BOSS TRAINED ME  ON ONE OF OUR POURS THAN AFTER THAT I WAS BY MYSELF  RUNNING THE LINE PUMP ... ITS BEEN 2 YEARS ALREADY... AND I LOVE IT ... PAC RIM BABY  

Great stories. Thanks for answering the post.

i miss the old toggle switch remotes. dragging them down the road getting to the job with just an empty cord.

Thin: Don't forget the old Whiteman box. It had more switches than a nuclear powerplant. It was cool then because you could unplug it from the cord, Long ago and far far away...

ok sunshine here it is, benn running pumps since 1981.27 years and still going. My uncle owned his own company in Texas and when I was 17 he gave me a job, started off running a hercules trailer pump, since then I have run 875 thompson,2001 thompson, 32 to 52 meter putz, 28 to 55 meter schwing. and 1 old elba. I guess it is in my blood, don't plan on quiting anytime soon. 

Hey Ice, Me Too! but 10 yrs. behind ya. Started in 91 no uncle. Gut recruted by a buddys Dad in Washington state. Got to run all kinda stuff up here. Its where the Dinosuars retire. To the land of the sweet mud! GRAVY. They even had an old sqeezer. Never got to run it. I helped torch it to peices & scrap it. In 17 yrs. I seen Titans,ELBAS,Whitemans,Challenge,tons a Thomsens,Thomzmiesters, a 36m 901 SchwElba( my 1st boom ) even a 640 Thomsen ride'n on a ford pickup. I still Love these things...to pieces sometimes. Also the usual Schwings,Putz and a bunch of the newer ones aswell. Been on a mission to run as many defferent pumps as I can I guess. A guy could start a museum up here. It'd be full of "Consultants" and guys try'n to steal sunstrands & parts!     Pump-On!

If it was on an old Ford PU it was a 600.

I ran Pumpco unit #3, which was a 600. It was pretty cool; the sides came off of the valve body with big wing nuts. Talk about easy access for cleaning out, just unscrew the doors and it was all right there.

Yea Bob : We Dino's called them Bells.You had to be fast on the switch tho! See ,if you were pumping up hill ,and it plugged up in the bells,you were gonna lose either the mud in the hopper, or the mud up the hill! I always left enough hose to kink, but clearing the bells meant you were gonna clean up a mess! After 6 months,I got REALLY fast at clearing them!

Hey Bob! send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a pic of a thompsen 600

irbsjr@msn.com

Been pumping 10 years now. I always remember my first pour 3200m, Canary Wharf, London, yes that not too many zeros, three thousand two hundred meters.2 other boom pumps and one line pump. In the yard at 4:30am back in the yard 2:00am went home got showered 3 hours sleep then back to work.

I guess they didn't want me to think it was an easy job but I love it and still do  but with good planing and expierience I've made it alot easier

Trev

my dad is the president of a pumping company and has been in buisness since 85 but worked for the same company for 40 something years i first ran a boom in the yard with him next to me when i was four but allways loved it since i was a baby and went to the yard after school everyday and worked and learned did my first job by my self with a mechanic with me driving the pump to the job when i was 13 a 1988 Schwing 28 meter and did this when we were over booked and not enough operators, running booms all the way up to a 42 meter and the 105 conveyor belt till I was 17 then got in the union and ran a 1999 schwing 36 meter for about three months then he told me he needed someone to run the big booms he could trust so started running the 52 and the 58 and now running our new 08 61 meter so i've been doing this for about 20 years  

Bob I hope you got the pics .If you can would you post them so the young'uns get a idea how we started

There was an email with an unknown address in my box, and nothing on the subject line to entice me to open it so I thew it away. If that was from you I am sorry, please re-send them ;~)

SoCal 153,

You "Pump Kids" learned the right way. First in the shop and yard, then on the job. ;~) 

Here's a "Pump-Kid" for ya Bob. Been ride'n shotgun since he was 4-5. Been unfold'n booms since he was 7-8. Now he's 9 and likes to show-off his knowledge by doing stuff like climb'n up & peek'n in the turret to see what side I folded up on! Have'nt bothered to tell him we dont need to do that somuch anymore. I'll make sure he goes to college. I tell him If he really loves em, Go to school & engineer'em & build'em! He just passed hunters safety. I'm so proud I could cry!!!

Thats a 36 Concord he's runn'n here! (on the rite jobs ofcourse)           Pump-On Kids!

Thank you Bob it really pays off when your on the job and have a problem two weeks ago i was running my 61 meter and plugged up in my 5 to 4 hose shut it off right away turned the pump on took a half a stroke forward and it was plugged so i had the boom in a A-frame position and didn't hear the mud moving walked to the turret took two strokes back 1 stroke forward with my hand on the pipe and didn't feel nothing moving so then I went to the back of the pump took three strokes back and only a half a stroke forward so i knew it had to be in the ass end somwhere pulled up my tarp where the reducer turn's in to 45 degree elbows and saw it the pipes bulging right there with only 800 on the throttle and 1 on the remote box so I knew it was right there had my oiler get the tool box out broke it apart and found a piece of fin that was wedged in there real tight took a crow bar and a hammer got it out put everything back together in about 20 minutes. All the boom party's i've seen over the years sure helped me a lot and changing pipe and mechanicing in the yard sure brought my knowledge up a lot and how to fix things and fix things right as quick as I can with out getting any one hurt or myself . there's been a couple of incidents on the job where i've lost power to the pump and blew hydo lines and a couple other things and have been able to fix them without losing any mudd but i'm not one of those operators that don't call in when i'm down and think i can fix it myself I always call in tell them what I thinks wrong then always attempt to fix it and 90% of the time I do but just in case I don't I always want to make sure someone more knowledgable then me are coming to fix it with another pump just in case i don't get it running. The biggest thing I love about this industry is you learn something new everyday I honestly can't stand those guys that worked in the yard and did mechanic work for three years and act like they know it all I've been around pumps my whole life and I know no matter how much I learn or know there will always be something new to learn on pumps and the industry.

I hope I didn't bore anybody with my story or piss anyone off but thanks again Bob I wish the best of luck to the other pump kids Like me that grew up around pumps and love it as much as I do and the pump kids to come   

Nuthin better than having 'er up-n-pump'n before the cavalry arrived!

1st Pour 1988 Early phase of OTEP project in Kona,Hawaii (underwater) got famliar with linepumping and moved up & onward. 20 yrs. later, still pumping,still underwater, with a schwing 750. Ive Been around the WORLD!!

Bull shit Leroy, If you go to far inland yer Gills & Scales dry up! You been around the world by sea. Take yer ass to Wyoming an pump some shit! I'm jus Kidd'n Leroy. When you gonna take a steady job? I got one for ya! 2 yrs. minimum! lol    

shit tootall you know me baby. Thats why I asked who was making 100k & where Just putt'n out the feelers bigdogg! Gett'n Cold up here! But i got a life stye to keep.haha Think I can make 100 large down in the Rainforest? It'd keep the gills wet. 2 years? come-on man I aint kep a girl that long especally a pump! Youl be sea'n my mug soon enuff! word. Cali's sound'n good rite now!!

Pushing 39 years! I should have stayed in school LOL. I use to go out with my Dad as a kid. I was only 11 years old. I ran my first pump alone at 17 years old, 740 thomason LOL. We even had a 600 thomason that you had to build the BOOM . Stiff boom. I have spilled more concrete then most of you will ever pump LOL LOL. There are only a few men left like me. Bob is one of the only guys i know that go back that far.

TooTall,

Training the next generation huh? Too cool.

Ice,

You rock!

Yeah baby gotta bring'em up right! No future "Mixercans" here.

was operating a concrete saw for a company in 1988 that also had pumps saw a 1989 schwing 32m and fell in love hung up my saw blades and been pumping every since started on a whiteman 28m and been pumping every since,do not miss the whiteman one bit but still love the pumping industry

my finger tips still havent recovered from the toggle switches on the whitemans when i got on an Elba with the long sticks thought I was big shit then when I got my first wireless I thought I was Bill Gates now I dont know who in the hell I think I am

well it started back when i 19 and im 25 now i got into bcuz i was on my grandfathers job and i seen this young guy pull up in a nice truck with a pump and i didn't have a dl yet and he ask if i wanted to learn to pump so then he leaves and 3 months later i call a random pumper out of the yellow pages and ask if he would teach me how to pump and he said "get your ass up at 3:30 be on my job 4:30 and run the hose" ever since then ive been pumping and i love it and the girls love it too

been around pumps since i was 14 years old,now working for the same company going on 31 years.

Great stories guys. Pump on.