Large Concrete Pours on Commercial Sites: How to Avoid Waiting Time Charges

On a large concrete pour, the price per cubic metre is agreed when you order. What isn't agreed is how long each truck sits on site, and that is where waiting time charges come from. On a commercial pour with a dozen or more loads, those charges can add up fast. Most of them are avoidable if the delivery schedule is built around the pump, not around the order.

How Waiting Time Charges Work

Ready-mix suppliers allow each truck a set amount of time on site to discharge, often around 30 minutes per load. Once a truck goes past that window, the supplier bills waiting time, usually by the hour or part hour. The clock is normally measured from the arrival time on the delivery ticket, not from when the concrete starts coming out.

The free window and the hourly rate vary between suppliers and between plants. Get both in writing when you place the order, so you know exactly what you are being measured against on the day.

Why Trucks End Up Queuing

The site sets the pace of a pour, not the plant. With one pump on site, only one truck can discharge at a time. If the pump gets through a truck every 30 to 40 minutes and the plant sends one every 15 to 20, a queue builds with every load. By mid-afternoon you can have three trucks lined up at the gate, all of them on the clock.

We saw exactly this on a large commercial pour we booked earlier this year. When the waiting time invoice came through, we lined every charge up against the delivery tickets. Most of the cost sat on three loads that had arrived stacked because the despatch interval had been tightened at the plant. The pump had been running continuously all day. The site hadn't slowed down. The trucks had simply been sent faster than one pump could take them.

Plan the Pour Around the Pump

The fix is to agree the despatch rate before the day, based on what the site can actually place.

• Talk to the pump operator first. Ask how long a full truck realistically takes to discharge on this pour, allowing for the reach, the pour type and any repositioning. That number sets your despatch interval.
• Agree the interval with the plant. Give them a start time for the first truck and a fixed gap between loads. Ask them to call before changing it.
• Allow for set-up. The first truck should arrive once the pump is set up and primed, not while it is still being rigged.
• Hold the final load. Order the bulk of the volume up front, then measure what is left before calling off the last truck. Ordering a balancing load avoids paying for concrete you send back.

Work out the volume carefully before you order: length x width x depth for each section, plus a small allowance for uneven sub-base and spillage. Most truck mixers carry somewhere between 6 and 8m³, so your total volume tells you roughly how many loads to expect and how long the day will run.

Sort Out Access and Wash-Out

On a tight commercial site, think about where the next truck waits while one is discharging, and where a truck goes to wash out once it is empty. A truck that cannot get in or out holds up the one behind it. Wash-out water needs to be contained in a designated area and kept out of surface water drains.

Keep the Tickets That Settle Disputes

Every delivery ticket should record the despatch time, the arrival time on site, and when discharge started and finished. Ask the site team to check those times as each truck leaves and keep a copy of every ticket. If a waiting time invoice turns up later, those tickets are the only evidence that shows whether trucks queued because the site stalled or because they were sent too close together.

When you review the invoice, look for overlapping arrival times. If two or three trucks were on site at once while the pump was running without a break, the delay sits with the despatch schedule, and that is the conversation to have with your supplier.

Clear the Ground Before You Pour

Most commercial pours follow a breakout and dig. The soil and broken-out concrete need to be off site before the shuttering goes in, which usually means a run of grab loads in the days before the pour. Our guide on calculating grab hire loads covers how to estimate how many you will need.

Concrete and Waste on One Booking

WasteHub books ready-mix concrete for commercial projects alongside the skips and grabs on the same job, so the site deals with one contact for the waste going out and the concrete coming in. We confirm the despatch timings with the plant before the day. If waiting time is charged, we check it against the delivery tickets before it reaches you.

Concrete is one of the services we arrange for commercial projects outside London as well as in it. Planning a pour? Call 0204 638 2307 or get a quote and tell us the volume, the date and the site.