Get a concrete truck

[JamieB]

Get a concrete truck. Much easier than mixing by hand. Even with a short load charge it is often cheaper than the cost of bags alone. Many folks here purchase mixers just for the foundation. Just call a concrete provider and they will deliver it to you.

[david s]

Mixing your own aggregate, sand and cement is cheaper than pre-mixed bags of concrete.

[MarkJerling]

Get a concrete truck. Much easier than mixing by hand. Even with a short load charge it is often cheaper than the cost of bags alone. Many folks here purchase mixers just for the foundation. Just call a concrete provider and they will deliver it to you.

I had the same experience here. Did the math on cost of sand, stone and cement and called the Readymix people. Granted, I paid trade prices, but that applied to the sand / cement / stone prices too.
I did both pours with concrete truck delivery: The large foundation slab as well as the suspended slab and "block fill" (In my case, cavity between bricks fill)

[fhausback]

If it was closer in cost, I would have bit the bullet and ordered a truck. Buying bags at HD with a pallet discount was near 1/2 the prices I was quoted for a couple short pours. On top of that, the trucks were so busy, first time customer wanting 1 partial load had to wait behind the contractors with accounts.

Prices were sky high during early covid when I did my concrete pours (piers, base slab, block fill, hearth slab).

[JamieB]

Prices do vary around the world, where I am at its is the same cost to buy Redimix bags as a short load of concrete from a truck. Mixing concrete is a lot of work.

[rwiegand]

we've got a guy locally here who has a truck that mixes concrete on demand-- he makes exactly as much as you need. More expensive per yard, but solves the problem of what to do with the extra yard and a half you overestimated. He'll also dispense it as quickly or as slowly as you can use it, though there is a per minute charge once you go past a set time. Cheaper than doing things in a panicked rush and getting it wrong though.