After working 1 and a half weeks in a fairly unrelated trade (pipefitting.) This is something I'd consider doing. Now, by the time I'd actually have the need to do something like this, I'd have a lot more skill in my current trade. Before I started, I have ever used a level, or an angle grinder or really done that much with my hands other than hammering nails, or screwing in some screws. But i gotta say learning a skill like this is a lot of fun. It doesn't feel like a job to me.
Ok so plan a vacation, get ready and packed and then the day you are ready to go you have to start the slab. Then after the 40 plus hours and the nights till your done, if there is any time left for your vacation then you can go. That is a perspective for you.
I have my boys help me, 10 and 12, and the value that I'm giving them is worth a lifetime. Even if they hate doing this kind of work, at least they know it and know to study hard in school and go for something they would enjoy doing. And then they also learn the value of hard work.
If you watch the entire video, he puts that "taking away" into context -- meaning if you value your time to do other things, then this would be 'taking away' from that time and therefore not worth it. I'm a big DIYer, but I'm guilty of underestimating the time required to do it myself vs the expense of hiring someone. After all said and done, sometimes it's better to hire just to avoid the incredible hassle it might be. Definitely up to the individual, but (for example) I'm not sure I have the time or patience to do something like this for myself.
@@cputeq007 Yeah it's important to take on small versions of a new DIY first, to see if it is actually something you can tackle on your own. There are quite a few things I have learned to let the experts handle. Still, I can save myself a ton of money by doing a lot myself. For example, pouring concrete I will set the forms and get ready to pour myself, then have a concrete guy come do a final check/fix of the forms, and also have the concrete guy come on the day of pour to help with finish. Another example, with electrical work I will pull the wires, do the makeup in the boxes, and then have an electrician wire the breaker box and check all my work. Then I do the finish work. You learn what parts are easy and hard to mess up, then do those parts, and have the expert finish it up. Saves money and still get quality work.
I get a good chuckle when i watched this video because what he said in the video is soooo true. I did my own stone patio with gravel and concrete slab under the stones and it took me three months to do it correctly. But when I sit in the back in the evening, it is a wonderful feeling knowing I did it all on my own. Very gratifying.
Great breakdown and content. There’s a few things to consider for people considering saving the money and DIYing. 1. Drive stakes flush with top of forms. High stakes will get in the way of screeding and floating. 2. Add water. Not too much but the mix looked too dry when you were trying to screed it. 3. Hire finishers just by themselves about 300 to 400 each for the job. Even if it’s like two hours. If it’s six hours. Same price. If you go total DYI then you need all the finishing tools on a pole. If you don’t hire finishers make sure to have extra helpers to tool edge because it has to be done at the right time and is time consuming. 4. Get a full load of 3/4” angular gravel from a dump truck. Same price usually as loading 1/2 yards up at a time in trailer or pickup. That’s if you have room for a stockpile somewhere and can use what’s left later. But this video gets 100 points for using angular gravel not round pea gravel. That and sub grade prep are more important than high strength concrete. 5. Learn what an expansion joint is vs a control joint and plan them out before the pour. 6. Some people will need to consider pumping costs. There’s big rock pumps and small rock pumps. Small rock is 3/8 mix. Not as durable ok for patios and stuff. Big rock like a 1” max mix is better for driveways and garages. Pumper will also usually have finishers he can recommend too.
No need off set your screed.solved you leave 3 1/2 inches of stake by the time u drive it all the way and does not leave much to grab. Do this if you have a 2x12 not a 2x4
I'm a building contractor. You did an excellent job of pointing out the pitfalls and time requirements for completing your own projects. Very fairly portrayed scenario that you laid out - is your time worth $50/hour (or is $2500 worth 2 weeks of your summer project time? For a ton of us, yes it is. For others who may not be comfortable with the process, then the added expense is obviously worth it. Cheers!
No doubt, doing this yourself is for someone who is able and willing. There's definitely a place for pros. I'm a hard core do it yourselfer, for the fun and adventure of it. But I am often covered head to toe with cuts and bruises. Some of the stuff I do is downright dangerous. Bottom line, if you don't know what you're doing and you can make $1000 a week working, you are better off hiring it out to a pro.
Ill pay a contractor my time its worth more in 2 weeks i make more then what im saving if i do it my self just did my back patio 52x16 and expended front garage 10x27 paid total $3,750 i live in texas contractor didn't had many jobs and i also got him a job with 2 more neighbors big pours so he cut me a deal he charged 1 of my neighbors $8k for something just a bit bigger and $4k for the other same back patio
@@mikeholman4284 I get your point but he saved closed $3k or so for 39 hours work. That is a nice paid work week. Whereas the person making $1000 a week at your regular job now has to sit in a cubicle etc. for three weeks to pay for that. And forgoing learning a new skill. As a somewhat advanced DIY'er myself that is a nice savings. I would rate the job 4 or 5 out of 10 for difficulty. Good points though :).
Thank you for an unbiased video. I'm a diyer who poured many slabs (all smaller than you did by a fair amount). I can honestly say that a 3,000$ price difference is not as much as people may think. I like doing things on my own, and I don't care about perfect. But I do car about family time, and my back hurting, and having to clean concrete from my clothes, my nose, etc. For small pours I will always do it myself until I'm unable. But for anything larger than a simple 8x8, I'm contracting at least the pouring and finish work. I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew...
Great video! There’s a lot to consider for a noob that you briefly mentioned, if at all: 1. Pitch - how much you need, the direction, etc. 2. Footers - depending on what you’re building - how deep, where to put them, etc. 3. Bldg Code - some municipalities require a permit and inspection depending on what you’re putting on the slab and if it’s attached to your house. Plan ahead for that! 4. Concrete - knowing what strength concrete to use for what purpose If you want to waste contractors time, you could get a proposal that would clue you in on most of these things, even though you know you won’t use that contractor. You could also drive through neighborhood construction sites and “catch a laborer in the act” and see if they or someone they know does work on the side. They would have a ton of knowledge and skills and would typically come at a cheap rate. I’ve gotten FREE concrete poured that was leftover from another large job - took a couple of weeks in waiting for the opportune moment, but only paid $1,200 for 7 yards, grading, forming, finishing, etc.
This choice is EXACTLY what I'm facing now, and my 16' x 24" mini-barn slab would be almost identical in size to yours. I know I could handle all the prep work and would enjoy doing it, but thanks to your clear documentation of the physical work involved in actually pouring and finishing the slab, I know my post-surgical spine couldn't handle it. Thank you SO much for a terrific learning experience.
I usually don't... I prefer to let the concrete crew do everything turnkey. I've only done it on projects that were smaller that I didn't need a full crew for. @@robertcampbell1994
@robertcampbell1994 just got a quote today. It's for a 14x20x4 slab. $2200 for pour and finish $3500 for forming, pour, and finish $6500 for ground prep, forming, pour, and finish I think I'll do the prep and forming because I have no concrete tools or friends that could help.
5/24/22 wow!! I am a single mom and I absolutely love learning new things. My dad used to take me to work with him as he owned his own construction company. I used to ask my dad why, and NOW I could not be more grateful and thankful he did that. I own my home and after my grandmother passed my disabled aunt moved in, not having the room to accommodate her I purchased a 12x20 shed. Well not realizing the cons of not having a stable foundation it started settling and sinking. So with watching the DIY and video chatting with my dad and some community help I think I’d love to try to take this on. **** you explained everything to a T. I am so grateful I found this video. *** I won’t be starting the project just yet, as I will still be saving $$ but I will keep you posted on how it turns out! Thank you
I am a Hardscaper, I do the construction side of landscaping. I think you did an amazing job pointing out the differences and such for this project. More homeowners need to watch videos like this for so many reasons such as the homeowners that think we are taking advantage of them. The only thing I would add in this video is to show the contractor side of things such as paying the workers, insurance, years of experience, etc. BTW: your 3 quotes are very low and in my area, I could not do that low of a bid ( you mentioned this at the beginning about location). Anyways, well done sir and thank you for the time it took to explain all this info! 👍🏼
Excellent video to show us our options. I did this myself like 20 years ago. Paid a family member with experience 700 bucks and he helped me get this done. I can't recall what I spent on materials back then. Did it during my vacations. It just shows that any DIY project can become anyone's next video.
Awesome breakdown. For a slab that your just putting a shed over, having it finished super smooth to me wouldn’t be a big deal. If it was for a shop floor or something similar I would definitely get somebody with some experience to help with the finishing. Im all about DIY and saving a dollar. Thanks for the video.
As someone who does this kind of work; I really respect a diy. If they can do all the hard work of prep, they probably can place and finish the concrete. I always consider the prep leveling and such as a dry run for the concrete without the time pressure of finishing the concrete. Having said this ; (I pour flatwork about 10% of the time and carpenter the rest) if I wake up in the night with a nightmare - it is invariably what I call a concrete nightmare. The tool that flashed on the screen when you said [rent] a bullfloat was not a bullfloat. It is was what we call a fresno and our local concrete supplier suggests that if you own one of those: leave - it home. No problem though, the tool you used was an actual bullfloat. I thought I saw someone running water as you cut control joints. Wear a good N95 mask and cut it dry.
Great content here. In MS I know some of the concrete suppliers have different rates for different people. I ended up saving 30 per yard by going through a contractor I know. Just because he order 1000s of yards a week. Finishing a slab is an art. And folks always remember to wet the slab while it cures so it slows curing
For me, as a farmer, I have to keep a severe lid on all costs because it means I’ve got that much more pressure on me to produce that year. It means I’ve not only got to grow (the easy part) but to also find more customers than usual who are in a buying mood right at the maybe two or three day moment that my year’s worth of effort is picked (the hard part), all while battling freak storms/heat waves/wildfires/floods or insect/rodent/mildew/fungus pressures. I’m home all the time anyway so doing a DIY slab doesn’t really mean balancing the economics of taking time off work to get a job done, it’s more measured in how will having a clean solid floor to walk on that I can hose down to keep my produce away from mud on my boots speed up my turnaround time on washing vegetables for market, vs operating on a dirt or gravel floor? And then it comes down to are my skills good enough to produce an end product that will satisfy a surprise health inspection or do I need to hire the pros so I can guarantee a glassy smooth concrete finish that I can squeegee off my disinfectant water from instead of waiting for a rougher DIY surface to air dry? A $2800 savings is potentially a career-length shortfall in cash to catch up on but the payoff may be in the career-length increase in efficiency on the farm. And then with inflation now putting a whole new crunch on everything there’s even more pressure to get projects done sooner than had been planned on over the fear that next year the cost could be 30% higher and thus farm efficiency becomes permanently out of reach.
Super informative, detailed, and accurate. You have a new subscriber as I appreciate the time and hard work put into this video and project as a fellow DIY content creator. I’m glad this video was suggested to me in the algorithm, keep up the great work. 👍🏼
I am very impressed with thorough analysis and cost & quality comparisons. You thought of just about everything! Showed a different side of all those fun videos you put together. This would definitely help me in my decision....for me, I would hire cause my skills aren't anywhere near your level. This is also very different from your other videos, but I loved it. I wish there were these kind of videos for all the projects I think about tackling myself. Nice job and keep the info and videos coming!
Thanks for this video. Its a reminder to myself. If you want something done right do it yourself. Worse is when contractors come in and do a worse job. I have had to live with this many times on multiple jobs around my house. Its a terrible feeling when you have to live with some other contractors work and then have to redo it. The worse on that happened to me was on a major pond build .
I keep hearing this "time is money" business. I think that this is, for the most part a lie. Granted if this project takes away from time that you would be making money doing something else then maybe that's true. However for most people, if you weren't using your own time to do this project, most likely you'd have another project around the house that would take your time as well, for free. To me, if you get the quality you want from a project and it saves you $$ then its a no brainer! Not only have you done something that you can feel good about but you might have increased your knowledge base in doing it and that in my opinion is worth it's weight in gold.
We have poured lots of driveways ourselves and while they turned out great for a drive, I wouldn't even think about pouring a slab that would be an interior floor, which are polished smooth and have to be very level. We poured my dads drive 20 years ago and the slap was 40 feet wide and by 80 feet long and 14" thick. We cut any control joints in it, but so far it is holding up fine. It was me, my father and two other guys.
As a concrete finisher myself, I love when people do their own DIY’s because it really tells you something about them. Especially when it comes to pouring a concrete slab. Because like you mentioned in the video of QUALITY is something big for you, I’d suggest either hiring a contractor or maybe a friend that knows how to finish. Sometimes you can even find guys like me who will go and pour and finish for a day rate. You still save a lot of money and get the same quality work. Also I do think you really paid WAY TOO MUCH for that rock. We normally dig here 8”. (4” of roadmix & 4” of the concrete) but 4 yards of roadmix HERE (Idaho) would cost you anything from $50-$80. Big price difference. Assuming your slab was 24’x12’ (288 sqft) overall I think you did a good job! It takes some guts to dig that out by hand and wheelbarrow everything out! 😅 p.s contractors in NY are EXPENSIVE!!!
I will give it to contractor any day. My price here in Pittsburgh PA is between $8-$12 PSF. For $2,400 I will rather hold a cup of coffee and watch the contractor do their thing from my porch swing :)
@@kjhnsn7296 Yeah, I feel your pain. I have a 19x25 garage to do, full foundation to 5ft below grade. I'm kinda rural, so there's only 3 companies local enough to do it, and none of them even want to be bothered because it's a "small job" compared to doing a house. I feel that's what's going on with you too. They're going for easy money.
Just stumbled upon your channel, as it was randomly recommended to me. Although I don't own a home yet, I found this incredibly informative and I appreciate your breaking it all down and providing a nice structure. I suspect I'll benefit immensely from your channel once I own a home!
This was super informative. We chose to have a contractor do ours because it was not only an 8x27 patio extension, but a path through the side yard and a driveway extension. It took them about three days total but it was worth it because there is zero chance Id have been able to do it as nicely as they did. We spent $4300 on the job but again it was worth it.
Because contractor knows what's best for customers. If you find a good contractor with fair prices don't ever loose it. Often times people like to same some money on any guy on the street, they end up after pay more at the end for fixing an repairs.
I'm still a fairly new homeowner but do contractors for such projects have lifetime warranty? Let's say the concrete/stone patio cracks, will they fix it typically?
As I’m not a concrete finisher, but I run equipment enough (not regularly but I’m familiar) I hired a company to finish my concrete slab, 28ftx28ftx5in. I spent right at $3400 in October of 2021. That was total price. Here it is 6 months later, the only crack in the concrete happened at the only joint I had cut in, and as of right now I’ve got roughly 30k lbs of vehicles on the slab daily. I feel in my aspect, I paid a very fair price for what I’ve got, it was worth it to pay a finisher because I did not want a broomed finish, but a smooth one as I mechanic on occasion with my vehicles. It is a job that is not for everyone, respect to you for knocking if out. I’ll stick to doing the ground work side and someone else to do the rest
I’m wanting to put a concrete slab on the side yard behind the RV gate as a 2nd car work station just outside. This helped me in many ways Great info! Thank you
👏 I think it’s great that you support calling a contractor. I’m not a pro and I love diy and learning but I can’t do everything and even if I could I don’t have time to do everything. You make a good point. I imagine if it took you two weeks, it would take me months, a contractor it is lol Great video with a ton of info that’s relevant to the job.
This is put together so well. In 8 minutes (I skipped over a few parts) I knew very clearly that I did NOT want to pour my own concrete. Thanks, fella!
Great breakdown, as my daddy would say," if you can save money and teach the kids how to work with their hands". Life isn't always about paying someone or buy something, when we can do it ourselves. Great video
Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It made my decision to hire a contract much easier :) all valid points, especially the imperfections and having to live with them if i chose to DIY as a novice.
That’s great Matt!! Glad it provided some information useful to you. Good luck with your project. One thing I would add is vett your contractor. Take a look at some of their work.
Excellent analysis. I built a concrete patio over a few weeks, total cost of materials about 1k USD but took a lot of time and research.. and it’s never as straightforward as you see on UA-cam videos.
My slab will be for a basketball court in my backyard and it will be covered with those plastic interlocking tiles. So doing the slab myself saves me the money to buy the tiles and a nice goal potentially under what i've been quoted...great video loved all the cut scenes
You did a very nice video. I can tell you that in my area, I would have charged around 3000$ for that job. I would have subbed out the grading and rock, pour and finished myself. Its what I do so small enough to do alone. I use 2 days to do things like that. Every thing you said was dead on accurate except that its easy figure out how to finish even with less experience. Takes some years to get good at it. Pretty huge difference in what I do compared to rookies. Seems like its hard to find a good enough helper to finish these days. With your situation, you needed a little more water in the mix and less on the ground. Drivers will push you to unload fast, but too much on ground is working you to death, less control. Pour couple feet, smooth it out, couple feet smooth it out, feels too dry add a little water, keep that certain creaminess that makes it easy to work but not too much that weakens the strength. Need an older patient driver willing to go slow. Plants will always send a pro theirs first, rookies will be later in the day, its hot, maybe left over concrete, I dont pour after 9 AM, too many things go wrong or need more help. Its all like you said, do it everyday and you know what to do and expect. Just remember its a timed event. Very well done video, you covered everything. Should really help a few DIYers out.
Did not mention a little cash to the driver as a tip. I am a 60 year old driver and my wife is in a better mood when I pass on to her the tip I got from a DIYer when I get home late.
Might even consider using concrete pavers set on decomposed granite. Cheaper, easy to do a little at a time, serviceable for years and years, can look really impressive.
Labor is at least twice the cost of materials, usually three to four times. Good rule of thumb for just about anything - from car repairs to construction.
Ya, with 4 people at $20+ per hour, takes 3 hours to pour.... if it's a big job not really, small job.... most certainly. Like that for any renos though
We had a regular crew of aquaintances that helped do slabs for each other. It was kind of fun. The owner was the boss for the day. They werenot the most perfect but they worked. Prep beforehand was done by the slab owner. We did them for garages,barns, manufactured homes, shops etc. We have a lot of ledge here,so mine were usually perched on ledges somewhere. We havent done any for years.
Spent 12k on a 5" slab for my back patio 45'x13'. Up hill, they had to use a concrete pump to get it up there and pour underneath an existing roof. No way in hell could I have done it myself.
I am looking into pouring a slab for my small chicken processing setup and this is really making me think about asking for some family help for a couple days and doing it myself. Thanks for the info!!
One thing I’d like to point out if it was me, and of course this had to do with experience, but I would rent a mini skid/ toro dingo. It would cost $175-200 for the day, but probably cut the combined ground prep and gavel time into a third. Saving those 10-12 hours would make all the difference. At this point your making (saving) $67 an hour. Not too bad.
I just got quoted $4, 500 for a concrete slab. I make $11/hr, which means that's me working for 81 weeks, counting no Saturdays. Even if I double the time it took for you to do yours, say four weeks, it's still way more cost effective for me to just research and do it myself. And I'll be learning as I go, which I find more valuable to me than watching someone else kick it out in a few hours.
As someone who is in the tile business (a job many diy folks love to do) i have people who show me thier diy projects. I NEVER criticize their job, however....they invariably say "if I were to do it again I'd......". I also never say " I bet you wouldn't accept or be happy with that job from me". Knowing what NOT to do is as important as knowing what to do. The only thing I hate more than doing something is doing it twice. Don't forget to add that into your equation.
Thanks man. This video was my deciding factor. I’ve done cement pillars, footings for posts, even cement countertop. I want my driveway done right the first time and I don’t want to take that in myself. I want it draining probably, level, and of course smooth. Plus it’s my driveway so I want it done FAST! Going with a contractor! Great content. You gained a subscriber for this one
Excellent overview of pro vs amateur. I did two large pours at home. Enlisted 7 or 8 people for help help and we did it in one day, both came out great. There is no way to do a pad bigger than 10 x 10 unless you are qualified, I've see guys do 40 x 30 by themselves, but they had years of experience. Fun job.
Working with concrete is not difficult ("if you don't finish high school you'll finish concrete"). HOWEVER, it is time sensitive as you touched on. I would definitely save this one for the experienced diy'ers. Or go spend $5 on a bag of conc and play with it. Once the truck shows up and starts pouring, you don't have time to make another home depot run or watch youtube video's, that conc is setting and it goes quick. Another perhaps more appealing option could be do all of the work leading up to the pour and sub that out to a contractor. You won't save as much but for most it would probably be worth it.
Your savings with a 49 hour window is right around $57/hr. Tonight’s conversation with the wife, “Honey, I’m quitting work to lay slabs for a living 😂”. Great vid sir!
Great video. Other factors to consider. The contractors may have a waiting list, and will often prioritise bigger projects. I wish I had better skills, sadly I still go with the contractor option. Lol
Im in construction and i still question at times if i want to do the projects myself. Sometimes its nice just to sit back and watch someone else work for a change. However im in construction so im not what you call rich and like a good diy to save money. Ive done some concrete work but i wouldnt want to pore more than a 10x10 pad lol.
Comin from a pro, you did surprisingly ok, not surprising from a very smart person, the numbers was helpful, I've been thinking doing jobs on my own, and that's really a lot of help for me.
Nice content. I am in the "thinking about it" stage. One of the things I am considering is doing all the prep work, ground, forms, rebar, etc. etc. and hiring for the actual pour and finishing of the concrete. I will talk to several contractors to see what they think about this. Personally, I enjoy the process and don't mind putting the time into it, so that is not an issue. But on the other hand, it would be nice to have a crew handle the pour and give me a professional finish, especially if they are willing to let me get in there and get my hands dirty ;-)
@@KomarProject $2796.39/39 hours means you earned $71.70 doing it yourself. 39 hours over 2 weeks is a part-time job. Just under 5 hours a day. It's called sweat equity for a reason.
When everything is going well DIY seems the way to go. However when things don't go as fantasized, there is no substitute for experience. Concrete too stiff out the chute, it starts raining out of nowhere in the middle of the pour!, form blows out Yikes! better have someone around who has been there and done that!
on a couple of my farm projects I found it was cost effective to do the parts of the project like all the prep work, and then pay to have a some experienced guys come out and pour and finish the floor. I can put the base in and compact, and lay out wire or rebar, drains and pipes and all that. Do what you can do and hire out the work that requires experience and skills and knowledge you dont have
Exactly! But a contractor will not let you know these things, because money is involved and the more you do the less they make. The gravel this guy used looked more like crushed concrete, of course it would be harder to move and spread.
I generally research an do most things myself these days simply because most contractors I’ve used just didn’t live up to expectations and as it turns out don’t do the job as well as me.
Works out at personal time cost of $60 per hour for the project (3K saving @50Hours). So probably worth doing for anyone earning less than $120k pa who values their free time at their hourly earning rate.
When you have Nephews that do this all the time its cheaper. One kitchen table in trade. My cost $675.00 plus $775.00 concrete for a 16x32 slab. ( plus $100.00 beer run). What they don’t know is That their wives will talk them into helping their uncle who they love so much in building the shop 12 foot tall walls. It’s good to be loved by your family. 🤣🤓
as a civil engineer, I think doing it fully DIY is kinda impossible for most people, and it's a waste of money to hire a contractor for just A CONCRETE SLAB! I believe the middle solution and the best option is to hire somebody (especially concrete finishers) and do it together. this way you could save money, time, and sweat. and they might offer to bring their tools with them which saves money too. BTW, I loved your video, and you seem a very nice person to grab a beer with.
Love you videos as always. The one thing I have a small Issue with is while you did calculate time you didn't necessarily assign value to it. For me I'd add "hourly wage value" x project hours to the rest of expenses. Based on where I put your time you only saved about $300 and the time is only on your 49 hours
It's interesting to see these prices and compare them to what I paid last summer. I had a 14x14 shed slab and 15x40 patio poured at the same time for $5200 bucks, done in two days. $7 per sq/ft is the going rate around here. I live in the suburbs of Green Bay Wi.
It’s between 11-14 sq ft in ohio right now. The demand is so high, it’s impossible to get someone to even take a job or come look at it unless there’s alot of money involved
Brother that’s a 1 day job with 2 guys 2 days with one guy….if he has all his material and plans accordingly…overall good video and you probably right on most…in my opinion the most important part is running the shoot or pump.
This is just fantastic ... the subject and more so the quality of the video and the presentation... This is a #1 type video teaching and info video!!! Great stuff.
Great video, for me it reaffirms doing things myself. Overall, I've found that the mistakes I make are typically minor compared to hiring a crappy contractor (because even doing homework you can end up getting one, or you get a worker that cuts corners w/ the boss isn't looking.) Most of the time I DIY the whole thing OR I will sub contract our specific things beyond my skillset where I'm not willing to purchase the specific tools...and I know a guy that is awesome at it. Plumbing comes to mind, there are a lot of things I can do in plumbing, but there are some areas where for me it is better to hire out parts of it, and be assured it is done right and these things are few and far between.
Dude, speaking the truth. If the owner is not working on my stuff (AC, Cars, Fences) anything, I always get the rookie sent to my house. Always. Just do it myself. Nobody does good work, and I have learned to request the owner do the work and I insist on it, or you do not get my business. Too many bad experiences.
Interesting project and nice finish for doing it yourself. However a contractor would have definitely used a waterproof membrane, some-kind of monolithic edge and a true minimum 4 inch thickness, whereas you had 3.5" nominal lumber but some parts looking at the video were closer to 3 inches, maybe a fraction less. Also, one does not need to cut any stress joints. I did a 40 x 28 slab 20 years ago with no stress cuts, and that slab is still perfect with no cracking at all. You still have a nice slab though :-)
The trick is to find a concrete finisher who wants extra work and schedule him in advance for the pour. It's a win/win scenario and best of both worlds. You save money by doing all the prep work yourself, you get to control the job and make sure its done correctly, the finisher will do a better job than you will, he gets extra cash for a few hours and is happy, and you watch his technique and learn something valuable for the next time.
To avoid having to shovel tons of concrete back out leave yourself a good 2-3' not poured before screeding ... That way all the excess concrete has somewhere to go. Some ppl pour a section screed and repeat so that it's not so labor intense.
Absolutely agree. We also use metal expansion joints “keyway”. So we will pour a bay and screed. And major low spots get a handful or two thrown in. Three to four people is best because you can have two using a come a long and then screed, one person directing the shoot/driver, and one prepared to begin floating.
Great video Bart, lots of little things in there that you could easily not think of. Just curious as to why you didn’t add in a monetary value for your time (49hrs).
@@KomarProject penny saved is a penny earned, I built my own house in 2012 and at that time if I had a contractor do it, it would have cost more to build than it would have appraised for, but now the house is worth twice as what it cost me to build, I did use people to do plumbing and electrical, heating and cooling, hired my concrete, I did the rest,took me a year to complete, stay strong
I always do the balance test to decide my diy projects. I tend to tackle the smaller projects myself and use the money saved to put towards pros for the bigger ones
Did you need to compact the gravel also? If not, why not? I was assuming that it’s better to compact it so it doesn’t move around overtime. But yea, noob question here coz I wanna do mine in my next house Last time I hired someone to do mine and it cost a lot of money
He mentions it later in the video when going over the budget. Yes, you need to compact the gravel. Failing to compact the subgrade is the main cause of differential foundation movement.
Yes you need to compact the gravel. You can do it by hand on a smaller pad with a tamper of rent a plate compactor. I have a full video showing all the steps from start to finish. It may help answer some more questions. ua-cam.com/video/oSAHqs2kFl0/v-deo.html
Amazing video. Based on price and if time is not an issue, it is a no brainer to DIY. I understand you pay for the quality of work with a contractor (hopefully) but these prices are insane. If someone has the ability to perform various DIY projects, you will save so much money and you will learn a valuable skill.
I'm an HVAC contractor and my team deserves to make a good living wage for the work they do. I will NOT compare to DIY prices. DIY is great if you have the skill to do it.
I have this disease where I struggle to pay someone to do something. But I have to say I think I am happier when a project is done when I paid someone to do it. I’ve only paid someone to do a complete garage door and opener replacement, paint 80% of the interior of my house (done lots of painting but just moved into a new house and wanted a quick win), and replace 1 propess plumbing fitting for a tee on a gas line because I didn’t have the proper tool. I’ve flipped a house doing a complete demo/rebuild of walls, decks, pavers, retaining walls, landscaping, peeled trusses off a garage and built an entire new roof structure, and the list goes on. I don’t seem to get the happy feeling when I do a project because once I finish it I seem to immediately start thinking about the next one that needs to be done and I think it zaps the joy out of it. When I paid someone I come home from work to see it finished and I’m absolutely happy I didn’t have to grind it out. lol
The problem with diy concrete is you have one shot to get it right and its time sensitive, if you screw up youve got a huge mess on your hands and added demo and disposal costs to redo it.
And he got most of it wrong in the video. Wrong base, poor cribbing, poor finishing, didn't cure or seal. He didn't save money, he wasted money doing it wrong.
There are also the hybrid solutions. Quite often you can do a lot of the time consuming work, but pay for assistance in steps where time is less of a factor but skill is important. E.g. I was fixing up a living room and I did all the demo and prep myself. The wood imitation carpet I decided to go with is cut to fit on location. Since I had everything entirely prepped I only actually needed the two carpet guys for less than 30 minutes even though it is a complicated layout and the carpet piece was huge. This step would have taken me ages and I couldn't have gotten a similar result doing it myself for several reasons. I've used this concept lots of times to just get carpenters or handymen in for just one step in the process or just to do the finishing touch. You shouldn't be afraid to do 90 % of the work and then get help for just the final 10 %. For the handyman they save a ton of time, effort, materials, coordination and planning. Something they rightly charge you for otherwise. I find a lot of carpenters and handymen care more about their hourly earning and their income/effort ratio and less about being involved from start to finish.
I did Oct 2018 - Oct 19 full inside house painting - walls, window trims, doors and door trim, baseboards. (Look as good or better than painter) Along with painting cabinets in 3 bathrooms and laundry, and put in the thick vinyl click planks for floors in those rooms (not easy because the rooms were smaller, had multiple doorways, angles, holes, etc. + 1/4 round cut along all walls in those rooms and the main floor downstairs. I did have HDepot do carpet. And july '21 had floor resanded and stained on main floor. I was about to do it myself, but found a guy who did it 40% less than estimates given in 2019. Now I'm going to work on spray painting my kitchen cabinets summer 2022. Re-tiling kitchen above counters also. I'm 58 yo woman and I've saved us thousands of $$$. I pay attention to detail. The wood floor and carpeting, I'm glad that I had someone do that. Outside I'd like to purchase the gadget that allows you to use cement and make continuous boarder around gardens in the yard. That will be a 2023 project. Then ALL DONE. In between all those projects helped take care of my mom w dementia, two children's weddings, and started sewing again. Love hands on work
As a ny resident; you did a fantastic job for your cost. It makes so much more sense to do it yourself if you know how cause that pad would have easily been 7k + here. It’s the only thing stopping me from doing my concrete patio, just don’t have the time and I’m not paying the cost for someone to do what I can do
Learning to do something for yourself like this isn’t “taking away” from your life, it is enriching your life.
After working 1 and a half weeks in a fairly unrelated trade (pipefitting.) This is something I'd consider doing. Now, by the time I'd actually have the need to do something like this, I'd have a lot more skill in my current trade. Before I started, I have ever used a level, or an angle grinder or really done that much with my hands other than hammering nails, or screwing in some screws. But i gotta say learning a skill like this is a lot of fun. It doesn't feel like a job to me.
Ok so plan a vacation, get ready and packed and then the day you are ready to go you have to start the slab. Then after the 40 plus hours and the nights till your done, if there is any time left for your vacation then you can go. That is a perspective for you.
I have my boys help me, 10 and 12, and the value that I'm giving them is worth a lifetime. Even if they hate doing this kind of work, at least they know it and know to study hard in school and go for something they would enjoy doing. And then they also learn the value of hard work.
If you watch the entire video, he puts that "taking away" into context -- meaning if you value your time to do other things, then this would be 'taking away' from that time and therefore not worth it. I'm a big DIYer, but I'm guilty of underestimating the time required to do it myself vs the expense of hiring someone. After all said and done, sometimes it's better to hire just to avoid the incredible hassle it might be. Definitely up to the individual, but (for example) I'm not sure I have the time or patience to do something like this for myself.
@@cputeq007 Yeah it's important to take on small versions of a new DIY first, to see if it is actually something you can tackle on your own. There are quite a few things I have learned to let the experts handle. Still, I can save myself a ton of money by doing a lot myself. For example, pouring concrete I will set the forms and get ready to pour myself, then have a concrete guy come do a final check/fix of the forms, and also have the concrete guy come on the day of pour to help with finish. Another example, with electrical work I will pull the wires, do the makeup in the boxes, and then have an electrician wire the breaker box and check all my work. Then I do the finish work. You learn what parts are easy and hard to mess up, then do those parts, and have the expert finish it up. Saves money and still get quality work.
I get a good chuckle when i watched this video because what he said in the video is soooo true. I did my own stone patio with gravel and concrete slab under the stones and it took me three months to do it correctly. But when I sit in the back in the evening, it is a wonderful feeling knowing I did it all on my own. Very gratifying.
Great breakdown and content. There’s a few things to consider for people considering saving the money and DIYing.
1. Drive stakes flush with top of forms. High stakes will get in the way of screeding and floating.
2. Add water. Not too much but the mix looked too dry when you were trying to screed it.
3. Hire finishers just by themselves about 300 to 400 each for the job. Even if it’s like two hours. If it’s six hours. Same price. If you go total DYI then you need all the finishing tools on a pole. If you don’t hire finishers make sure to have extra helpers to tool edge because it has to be done at the right time and is time consuming.
4. Get a full load of 3/4” angular gravel from a dump truck. Same price usually as loading 1/2 yards up at a time in trailer or pickup. That’s if you have room for a stockpile somewhere and can use what’s left later. But this video gets 100 points for using angular gravel not round pea gravel. That and sub grade prep are more important than high strength concrete.
5. Learn what an expansion joint is vs a control joint and plan them out before the pour.
6. Some people will need to consider pumping costs. There’s big rock pumps and small rock pumps. Small rock is 3/8 mix. Not as durable ok for patios and stuff. Big rock like a 1” max mix is better for driveways and garages. Pumper will also usually have finishers he can recommend too.
Great tips
Regarding the stakes, I’ve also just taken a sawzaw and trimmed to size after they’ve been placed.
No need off set your screed.solved you leave 3 1/2 inches of stake by the time u drive it all the way and does not leave much to grab. Do this if you have a 2x12 not a 2x4
@@randomutubr222 if can’t work with high stakes your fried my friend
Yes 🙌 you nailed it
I'm a building contractor. You did an excellent job of pointing out the pitfalls and time requirements for completing your own projects. Very fairly portrayed scenario that you laid out - is your time worth $50/hour (or is $2500 worth 2 weeks of your summer project time? For a ton of us, yes it is. For others who may not be comfortable with the process, then the added expense is obviously worth it. Cheers!
Thanks for the info brother. Cheers
No doubt, doing this yourself is for someone who is able and willing. There's definitely a place for pros. I'm a hard core do it yourselfer, for the fun and adventure of it. But I am often covered head to toe with cuts and bruises. Some of the stuff I do is downright dangerous. Bottom line, if you don't know what you're doing and you can make $1000 a week working, you are better off hiring it out to a pro.
I'm more than willing to pay an expert $75 hr, above that, I'm willing to take twice as long learning and doing it myself
Ill pay a contractor my time its worth more in 2 weeks i make more then what im saving if i do it my self just did my back patio 52x16 and expended front garage 10x27 paid total $3,750 i live in texas contractor didn't had many jobs and i also got him a job with 2 more neighbors big pours so he cut me a deal he charged 1 of my neighbors $8k for something just a bit bigger and $4k for the other same back patio
@@mikeholman4284 I get your point but he saved closed $3k or so for 39 hours work. That is a nice paid work week. Whereas the person making $1000 a week at your regular job now has to sit in a cubicle etc. for three weeks to pay for that. And forgoing learning a new skill. As a somewhat advanced DIY'er myself that is a nice savings. I would rate the job 4 or 5 out of 10 for difficulty. Good points though :).
Thank you for an unbiased video. I'm a diyer who poured many slabs (all smaller than you did by a fair amount). I can honestly say that a 3,000$ price difference is not as much as people may think. I like doing things on my own, and I don't care about perfect. But I do car about family time, and my back hurting, and having to clean concrete from my clothes, my nose, etc. For small pours I will always do it myself until I'm unable. But for anything larger than a simple 8x8, I'm contracting at least the pouring and finish work. I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew...
Hahaha I bite off more then I can chew all the time. But I love it
Mmffnfnn...ggnnogg....
For many 3k is a months gross salary. DYI is worth a little time. Plus concrete isn't complicated, just heavy
@@commonsense7877 3k is what I get in a month if I work 40 hours of overtime lol! That's the exact reason I plan to diy as much as I can
You should switch jobs to pouring concrete.
Great video! There’s a lot to consider for a noob that you briefly mentioned, if at all:
1. Pitch - how much you need, the direction, etc.
2. Footers - depending on what you’re building - how deep, where to put them, etc.
3. Bldg Code - some municipalities require a permit and inspection depending on what you’re putting on the slab and if it’s attached to your house. Plan ahead for that!
4. Concrete - knowing what strength concrete to use for what purpose
If you want to waste contractors time, you could get a proposal that would clue you in on most of these things, even though you know you won’t use that contractor. You could also drive through neighborhood construction sites and “catch a laborer in the act” and see if they or someone they know does work on the side. They would have a ton of knowledge and skills and would typically come at a cheap rate. I’ve gotten FREE concrete poured that was leftover from another large job - took a couple of weeks in waiting for the opportune moment, but only paid $1,200 for 7 yards, grading, forming, finishing, etc.
This choice is EXACTLY what I'm facing now, and my 16' x 24" mini-barn slab would be almost identical in size to yours. I know I could handle all the prep work and would enjoy doing it, but thanks to your clear documentation of the physical work involved in actually pouring and finishing the slab, I know my post-surgical spine couldn't handle it. Thank you SO much for a terrific learning experience.
I have formed up a ton of projects, but I always hire a crew to pour and finish the concrete.
@@TheErockaustin I’m curious, how much money do you think you saved by properly forming the layout yourself?
I usually don't... I prefer to let the concrete crew do everything turnkey. I've only done it on projects that were smaller that I didn't need a full crew for. @@robertcampbell1994
@robertcampbell1994 just got a quote today. It's for a 14x20x4 slab.
$2200 for pour and finish
$3500 for forming, pour, and finish
$6500 for ground prep, forming, pour, and finish
I think I'll do the prep and forming because I have no concrete tools or friends that could help.
@@RandyLottholy shit
5/24/22 wow!! I am a single mom and I absolutely love learning new things. My dad used to take me to work with him as he owned his own construction company. I used to ask my dad why, and NOW I could not be more grateful and thankful he did that. I own my home and after my grandmother passed my disabled aunt moved in, not having the room to accommodate her I purchased a 12x20 shed. Well not realizing the cons of not having a stable foundation it started settling and sinking. So with watching the DIY and video chatting with my dad and some community help I think I’d love to try to take this on.
**** you explained everything to a T. I am so grateful I found this video.
*** I won’t be starting the project just yet, as I will still be saving $$ but I will keep you posted on how it turns out!
Thank you
Awesome. Keep me posted
Hey uh.....still single?
Dude! You are a legend! This video is exactly what I needed. They way you set out the numbers was so helpful. Keep making these.
I am a Hardscaper, I do the construction side of landscaping. I think you did an amazing job pointing out the differences and such for this project. More homeowners need to watch videos like this for so many reasons such as the homeowners that think we are taking advantage of them. The only thing I would add in this video is to show the contractor side of things such as paying the workers, insurance, years of experience, etc.
BTW: your 3 quotes are very low and in my area, I could not do that low of a bid ( you mentioned this at the beginning about location).
Anyways, well done sir and thank you for the time it took to explain all this info! 👍🏼
Thanks so much Tony! Great input
Excellent video to show us our options. I did this myself like 20 years ago. Paid a family member with experience 700 bucks and he helped me get this done. I can't recall what I spent on materials back then. Did it during my vacations. It just shows that any DIY project can become anyone's next video.
Awesome breakdown. For a slab that your just putting a shed over, having it finished super smooth to me wouldn’t be a big deal. If it was for a shop floor or something similar I would definitely get somebody with some experience to help with the finishing. Im all about DIY and saving a dollar. Thanks for the video.
As someone who does this kind of work; I really respect a diy. If they can do all the hard work of prep, they probably can place and finish the concrete. I always consider the prep leveling and such as a dry run for the concrete without the time pressure of finishing the concrete. Having said this ; (I pour flatwork about 10% of the time and carpenter the rest) if I wake up in the night with a nightmare - it is invariably what I call a concrete nightmare.
The tool that flashed on the screen when you said [rent] a bullfloat was not a bullfloat. It is was what we call a fresno and our local concrete supplier suggests that if you own one of those: leave - it home. No problem though, the tool you used was an actual bullfloat.
I thought I saw someone running water as you cut control joints. Wear a good N95 mask and cut it dry.
"I don't make mistakes, I make variations". I loved that.
Great content here. In MS I know some of the concrete suppliers have different rates for different people. I ended up saving 30 per yard by going through a contractor I know. Just because he order 1000s of yards a week.
Finishing a slab is an art. And folks always remember to wet the slab while it cures so it slows curing
Great tip David
For me, as a farmer, I have to keep a severe lid on all costs because it means I’ve got that much more pressure on me to produce that year. It means I’ve not only got to grow (the easy part) but to also find more customers than usual who are in a buying mood right at the maybe two or three day moment that my year’s worth of effort is picked (the hard part), all while battling freak storms/heat waves/wildfires/floods or insect/rodent/mildew/fungus pressures.
I’m home all the time anyway so doing a DIY slab doesn’t really mean balancing the economics of taking time off work to get a job done, it’s more measured in how will having a clean solid floor to walk on that I can hose down to keep my produce away from mud on my boots speed up my turnaround time on washing vegetables for market, vs operating on a dirt or gravel floor? And then it comes down to are my skills good enough to produce an end product that will satisfy a surprise health inspection or do I need to hire the pros so I can guarantee a glassy smooth concrete finish that I can squeegee off my disinfectant water from instead of waiting for a rougher DIY surface to air dry?
A $2800 savings is potentially a career-length shortfall in cash to catch up on but the payoff may be in the career-length increase in efficiency on the farm. And then with inflation now putting a whole new crunch on everything there’s even more pressure to get projects done sooner than had been planned on over the fear that next year the cost could be 30% higher and thus farm efficiency becomes permanently out of reach.
You are the true heroes-the farmers. These actors aren't worth the manure you pour on the soil.
may a spring pop up on your property that washes all your veggies. 😂
Super informative, detailed, and accurate. You have a new subscriber as I appreciate the time and hard work put into this video and project as a fellow DIY content creator. I’m glad this video was suggested to me in the algorithm, keep up the great work. 👍🏼
I am very impressed with thorough analysis and cost & quality comparisons. You thought of just about everything! Showed a different side of all those fun videos you put together. This would definitely help me in my decision....for me, I would hire cause my skills aren't anywhere near your level. This is also very different from your other videos, but I loved it. I wish there were these kind of videos for all the projects I think about tackling myself. Nice job and keep the info and videos coming!
Just red
Thanks for this video. Its a reminder to myself. If you want something done right do it yourself. Worse is when contractors come in and do a worse job. I have had to live with this many times on multiple jobs around my house. Its a terrible feeling when you have to live with some other contractors work and then have to redo it. The worse on that happened to me was on a major pond build .
You failed on your vetting process
3:49 his work time to completion, 4:24 incl. miscellany, 9:36 tools cost, 10:17 consumables cost, 11:25 contractor's quotes
I hope you believe in Jesus God bless you
I keep hearing this "time is money" business. I think that this is, for the most part a lie. Granted if this project takes away from time that you would be making money doing something else then maybe that's true. However for most people, if you weren't using your own time to do this project, most likely you'd have another project around the house that would take your time as well, for free. To me, if you get the quality you want from a project and it saves you $$ then its a no brainer! Not only have you done something that you can feel good about but you might have increased your knowledge base in doing it and that in my opinion is worth it's weight in gold.
We have poured lots of driveways ourselves and while they turned out great for a drive, I wouldn't even think about pouring a slab that would be an interior floor, which are polished smooth and have to be very level. We poured my dads drive 20 years ago and the slap was 40 feet wide and by 80 feet long and 14" thick. We cut any control joints in it, but so far it is holding up fine. It was me, my father and two other guys.
As a concrete finisher myself, I love when people do their own DIY’s because it really tells you something about them. Especially when it comes to pouring a concrete slab. Because like you mentioned in the video of QUALITY is something big for you, I’d suggest either hiring a contractor or maybe a friend that knows how to finish. Sometimes you can even find guys like me who will go and pour and finish for a day rate. You still save a lot of money and get the same quality work. Also I do think you really paid WAY TOO MUCH for that rock. We normally dig here 8”. (4” of roadmix & 4” of the concrete) but 4 yards of roadmix HERE (Idaho) would cost you anything from $50-$80. Big price difference. Assuming your slab was 24’x12’ (288 sqft) overall I think you did a good job! It takes some guts to dig that out by hand and wheelbarrow everything out! 😅 p.s contractors in NY are EXPENSIVE!!!
I was thinking the same thing. Here in Kansas it’s $20 a ton for that gravel. But I guess the cost is different everywhere.
I agree, the gravel is too expensive! I’m in California Bay Area and it’s $60/cubic yard… 4 yards of gravel would be $240
What part of Idaho are you located?
I will give it to contractor any day. My price here in Pittsburgh PA is between $8-$12 PSF. For $2,400 I will rather hold a cup of coffee and watch the contractor do their thing from my porch swing :)
@@kjhnsn7296
Yeah, I feel your pain. I have a 19x25 garage to do, full foundation to 5ft below grade. I'm kinda rural, so there's only 3 companies local enough to do it, and none of them even want to be bothered because it's a "small job" compared to doing a house. I feel that's what's going on with you too. They're going for easy money.
Just stumbled upon your channel, as it was randomly recommended to me. Although I don't own a home yet, I found this incredibly informative and I appreciate your breaking it all down and providing a nice structure. I suspect I'll benefit immensely from your channel once I own a home!
This was super informative. We chose to have a contractor do ours because it was not only an 8x27 patio extension, but a path through the side yard and a driveway extension. It took them about three days total but it was worth it because there is zero chance Id have been able to do it as nicely as they did. We spent $4300 on the job but again it was worth it.
Yup for some people it is. I think I may have a contractor do our Driveay. Just too much for me
Because contractor knows what's best for customers.
If you find a good contractor with fair prices don't ever loose it.
Often times people like to same some money on any guy on the street, they end up after pay more at the end for fixing an repairs.
Holy heck. I just got quoted $4500 for an 18'X31".
I'm still a fairly new homeowner but do contractors for such projects have lifetime warranty? Let's say the concrete/stone patio cracks, will they fix it typically?
@@ronni3723 contractors guarantee concrete from theft and that it will crack.
You really hit the nail on the head with an unbiased way of evaluating this kind of project, awesome video thanks!
You gave me the most complete expectations for my project. Top quality content and breakdown. Subbed my dude.
You are very welcome brother. And if your thinking of doing it yourself there is a video I did on this slab on how to
Definitely worth it doing it your self
I don’t care even if it takes me a month haha 3000$ saved
As I’m not a concrete finisher, but I run equipment enough (not regularly but I’m familiar) I hired a company to finish my concrete slab, 28ftx28ftx5in.
I spent right at $3400 in October of 2021.
That was total price. Here it is 6 months later, the only crack in the concrete happened at the only joint I had cut in, and as of right now I’ve got roughly 30k lbs of vehicles on the slab daily.
I feel in my aspect, I paid a very fair price for what I’ve got, it was worth it to pay a finisher because I did not want a broomed finish, but a smooth one as I mechanic on occasion with my vehicles.
It is a job that is not for everyone, respect to you for knocking if out. I’ll stick to doing the ground work side and someone else to do the rest
Are you in Georgia? What company did you have pour it?
2021 When prices skyrocketed? Sorry, but 24 feet by 24 feet would be more like $15,000.
I’m wanting to put a concrete slab on the side yard behind the RV gate as a 2nd car work station just outside. This helped me in many ways Great info! Thank you
Very welcome. I also have a full video showing how it’s done with one person. Maybe that will help as well. Good luck
👏 I think it’s great that you support calling a contractor. I’m not a pro and I love diy and learning but I can’t do everything and even if I could I don’t have time to do everything. You make a good point. I imagine if it took you two weeks, it would take me months, a contractor it is lol
Great video with a ton of info that’s relevant to the job.
This is put together so well. In 8 minutes (I skipped over a few parts) I knew very clearly that I did NOT want to pour my own concrete. Thanks, fella!
Great breakdown, as my daddy would say," if you can save money and teach the kids how to work with their hands". Life isn't always about paying someone or buy something, when we can do it ourselves. Great video
Like the saying goes you can buy someone a fish and they will eat for a day or you can teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime.
Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It made my decision to hire a contract much easier :) all valid points, especially the imperfections and having to live with them if i chose to DIY as a novice.
That’s great Matt!! Glad it provided some information useful to you. Good luck with your project. One thing I would add is vett your contractor. Take a look at some of their work.
Excellent analysis. I built a concrete patio over a few weeks, total cost of materials about 1k USD but took a lot of time and research.. and it’s never as straightforward as you see on UA-cam videos.
No it never is. Magic of editing lol
My slab will be for a basketball court in my backyard and it will be covered with those plastic interlocking tiles. So doing the slab myself saves me the money to buy the tiles and a nice goal potentially under what i've been quoted...great video loved all the cut scenes
From where are you buying the Basketball _interlocking titles? thanks
You did a very nice video. I can tell you that in my area, I would have charged around 3000$ for that job. I would have subbed out the grading and rock, pour and finished myself. Its what I do so small enough to do alone. I use 2 days to do things like that. Every thing you said was dead on accurate except that its easy figure out how to finish even with less experience. Takes some years to get good at it. Pretty huge difference in what I do compared to rookies. Seems like its hard to find a good enough helper to finish these days.
With your situation, you needed a little more water in the mix and less on the ground. Drivers will push you to unload fast, but too much on ground is working you to death, less control. Pour couple feet, smooth it out, couple feet smooth it out, feels too dry add a little water, keep that certain creaminess that makes it easy to work but not too much that weakens the strength. Need an older patient driver willing to go slow. Plants will always send a pro theirs first, rookies will be later in the day, its hot, maybe left over concrete, I dont pour after 9 AM, too many things go wrong or need more help. Its all like you said, do it everyday and you know what to do and expect.
Just remember its a timed event. Very well done video, you covered everything. Should really help a few DIYers out.
Did not mention a little cash to the driver as a tip. I am a 60 year old driver and my wife is in a better mood when I pass on to her the tip I got from a DIYer when I get home late.
Your videos are straight to the point, I love it! Thank you for being so concise but quick about your explanations and play backs!
Very welcome Lindsey! Glad it helps
Might even consider using concrete pavers set on decomposed granite. Cheaper, easy to do a little at a time, serviceable for years and years, can look really impressive.
Yeah when I built a shed I did it over crushed stone and just had a wood subfloor in it. Seemed far cheaper and I had no need for a concrete floor.
reality bites - but you did a GREAT job of exposing the reaility and not the "TV version"! Lots of great info.
Thanks so much. !!!
Labor is at least twice the cost of materials, usually three to four times. Good rule of thumb for just about anything - from car repairs to construction.
Ya, with 4 people at $20+ per hour, takes 3 hours to pour.... if it's a big job not really, small job.... most certainly. Like that for any renos though
We had a regular crew of aquaintances that helped do slabs for each other. It was kind of fun. The owner was the boss for the day. They werenot the most perfect but they worked. Prep beforehand was done by the slab owner. We did them for garages,barns, manufactured homes, shops etc. We have a lot of ledge here,so mine were usually perched on ledges somewhere. We havent done any for years.
Spent 12k on a 5" slab for my back patio 45'x13'. Up hill, they had to use a concrete pump to get it up there and pour underneath an existing roof. No way in hell could I have done it myself.
I am looking into pouring a slab for my small chicken processing setup and this is really making me think about asking for some family help for a couple days and doing it myself. Thanks for the info!!
One thing I’d like to point out if it was me, and of course this had to do with experience, but I would rent a mini skid/ toro dingo. It would cost $175-200 for the day, but probably cut the combined ground prep and gavel time into a third.
Saving those 10-12 hours would make all the difference. At this point your making (saving) $67 an hour. Not too bad.
Absolutely would! Great point
DIYer here who learned by being on a concrete crew. Definitely going to do my own.
I just got quoted $4, 500 for a concrete slab. I make $11/hr, which means that's me working for 81 weeks, counting no Saturdays. Even if I double the time it took for you to do yours, say four weeks, it's still way more cost effective for me to just research and do it myself. And I'll be learning as I go, which I find more valuable to me than watching someone else kick it out in a few hours.
Im more interested in how you are able to own property at 11/hr
Dude, you need to up your income badly
As someone who is in the tile business (a job many diy folks love to do) i have people who show me thier diy projects. I NEVER criticize their job, however....they invariably say "if I were to do it again I'd......". I also never say " I bet you wouldn't accept or be happy with that job from me". Knowing what NOT to do is as important as knowing what to do. The only thing I hate more than doing something is doing it twice. Don't forget to add that into your equation.
Thanks man. This video was my deciding factor. I’ve done cement pillars, footings for posts, even cement countertop. I want my driveway done right the first time and I don’t want to take that in myself. I want it draining probably, level, and of course smooth. Plus it’s my driveway so I want it done FAST! Going with a contractor! Great content. You gained a subscriber for this one
Thanks Charles. Glad it could help
Excellent overview of pro vs amateur. I did two large pours at home. Enlisted 7 or 8 people for help help and we did it in one day, both came out great. There is no way to do a pad bigger than 10 x 10 unless you are qualified, I've see guys do 40 x 30 by themselves, but they had years of experience. Fun job.
Working with concrete is not difficult ("if you don't finish high school you'll finish concrete"). HOWEVER, it is time sensitive as you touched on. I would definitely save this one for the experienced diy'ers. Or go spend $5 on a bag of conc and play with it. Once the truck shows up and starts pouring, you don't have time to make another home depot run or watch youtube video's, that conc is setting and it goes quick. Another perhaps more appealing option could be do all of the work leading up to the pour and sub that out to a contractor. You won't save as much but for most it would probably be worth it.
I wonder if you have become a finisher or still trying to finish high school?!
Rare that contractor will go for that. Because if the forms aren't done right, they will not repair it for you, and your stuck with the issues
Your savings with a 49 hour window is right around $57/hr. Tonight’s conversation with the wife, “Honey, I’m quitting work to lay slabs for a living 😂”. Great vid sir!
Great video. Other factors to consider. The contractors may have a waiting list, and will often prioritise bigger projects. I wish I had better skills, sadly I still go with the contractor option. Lol
Great points.
Like my dad always said. Learn to do things yourself and it will save you so much money. Thanks for the video!
Im in construction and i still question at times if i want to do the projects myself. Sometimes its nice just to sit back and watch someone else work for a change. However im in construction so im not what you call rich and like a good diy to save money. Ive done some concrete work but i wouldnt want to pore more than a 10x10 pad lol.
It was a large slab
Comin from a pro, you did surprisingly ok, not surprising from a very smart person, the numbers was helpful, I've been thinking doing jobs on my own, and that's really a lot of help for me.
Nice content. I am in the "thinking about it" stage. One of the things I am considering is doing all the prep work, ground, forms, rebar, etc. etc. and hiring for the actual pour and finishing of the concrete. I will talk to several contractors to see what they think about this. Personally, I enjoy the process and don't mind putting the time into it, so that is not an issue. But on the other hand, it would be nice to have a crew handle the pour and give me a professional finish, especially if they are willing to let me get in there and get my hands dirty ;-)
Ya it’s a lot to think about. Hope the video helped to sway you one way or another brother. Good luck
@@KomarProject $2796.39/39 hours means you earned $71.70 doing it yourself. 39 hours over 2 weeks is a part-time job. Just under 5 hours a day. It's called sweat equity for a reason.
When everything is going well DIY seems the way to go. However when things don't go as fantasized, there is no substitute for experience. Concrete too stiff out the chute, it starts raining out of nowhere in the middle of the pour!, form blows out Yikes! better have someone around who has been there and done that!
on a couple of my farm projects I found it was cost effective to do the parts of the project like all the prep work, and then pay to have a some experienced guys come out and pour and finish the floor. I can put the base in and compact, and lay out wire or rebar, drains and pipes and all that. Do what you can do and hire out the work that requires experience and skills and knowledge you dont have
Exactly! But a contractor will not let you know these things, because money is involved and the more you do the less they make. The gravel this guy used looked more like crushed concrete, of course it would be harder to move and spread.
I generally research an do most things myself these days simply because most contractors I’ve used just didn’t live up to expectations and as it turns out don’t do the job as well as me.
I did a 15x15 a while back. Never again. I will gladly pay the pros to do any future concrete.
It is a lot of work. For sure
Works out at personal time cost of $60 per hour for the project (3K saving @50Hours).
So probably worth doing for anyone earning less than $120k pa who values their free time at their hourly earning rate.
I like diy purely for the reward of knowledge and skills gained. Nothing beats it for me!
When you have Nephews that do this all the time its cheaper. One kitchen table in trade. My cost $675.00 plus $775.00 concrete for a 16x32 slab. ( plus $100.00 beer run). What they don’t know is That their wives will talk them into helping their uncle who they love so much in building the shop 12 foot tall walls. It’s good to be loved by your family. 🤣🤓
Hahahahaha that’s the beat way of doing it lol
as a civil engineer, I think doing it fully DIY is kinda impossible for most people, and it's a waste of money to hire a contractor for just A CONCRETE SLAB!
I believe the middle solution and the best option is to hire somebody (especially concrete finishers) and do it together. this way you could save money, time, and sweat. and they might offer to bring their tools with them which saves money too.
BTW, I loved your video, and you seem a very nice person to grab a beer with.
Thank you for your advice makes big difference you are right on that
Love you videos as always. The one thing I have a small Issue with is while you did calculate time you didn't necessarily assign value to it. For me I'd add "hourly wage value" x project hours to the rest of expenses. Based on where I put your time you only saved about $300 and the time is only on your 49 hours
He saved *$57 an hour. That's more than worth it. Does the guy normally get paid *$50? Cuz I'm not understanding how it is you say he only saved $300.
Plus some people enjoy working on their own projects and with their kids in the yard building memories.
So you think a concrete layer should make 2000$ + a week salary? If you are hiring let me know
Great video! Very thorough, and cool how you presented “time” as a cost as well, because that is so true.
It's interesting to see these prices and compare them to what I paid last summer. I had a 14x14 shed slab and 15x40 patio poured at the same time for $5200 bucks, done in two days. $7 per sq/ft is the going rate around here. I live in the suburbs of Green Bay Wi.
i happen to be putting up a detached garage in Allouez. May i ask the contractor you went through
@@Jesse-hq2sg Sienna Concrete out of Appleton. I live in Suamico. I only hired out for the concrete. I built the shed myself.
It’s between 11-14 sq ft in ohio right now. The demand is so high, it’s impossible to get someone to even take a job or come look at it unless there’s alot of money involved
Brother that’s a 1 day job with 2 guys 2 days with one guy….if he has all his material and plans accordingly…overall good video and you probably right on most…in my opinion the most important part is running the shoot or pump.
Hmmmmmmm, you forgot to add in the 49 hours of labor to your DIY cost. At a minimum of $30/hr that adds $1,200 to your costs.
This is just fantastic ... the subject and more so the quality of the video and the presentation... This is a #1 type video teaching and info video!!! Great stuff.
Thanks so much. Happy to help you make a decision
Great video, for me it reaffirms doing things myself. Overall, I've found that the mistakes I make are typically minor compared to hiring a crappy contractor (because even doing homework you can end up getting one, or you get a worker that cuts corners w/ the boss isn't looking.) Most of the time I DIY the whole thing OR I will sub contract our specific things beyond my skillset where I'm not willing to purchase the specific tools...and I know a guy that is awesome at it. Plumbing comes to mind, there are a lot of things I can do in plumbing, but there are some areas where for me it is better to hire out parts of it, and be assured it is done right and these things are few and far between.
Dude, speaking the truth. If the owner is not working on my stuff (AC, Cars, Fences) anything, I always get the rookie sent to my house. Always. Just do it myself. Nobody does good work, and I have learned to request the owner do the work and I insist on it, or you do not get my business. Too many bad experiences.
I got 2.5 mins in and then called a contractor.
But you learned nothing new.
I did this once and don’t think I’ll ever do it again. If I ever need another concrete slab poured, I will happily write a check.
Interesting project and nice finish for doing it yourself. However a contractor would have definitely used a waterproof membrane, some-kind of monolithic edge and a true minimum 4 inch thickness, whereas you had 3.5" nominal lumber but some parts looking at the video were closer to 3 inches, maybe a fraction less. Also, one does not need to cut any stress joints. I did a 40 x 28 slab 20 years ago with no stress cuts, and that slab is still perfect with no cracking at all. You still have a nice slab though :-)
Depends on how good your prep of the ground underneath is.
I'm not understanding the cut stress joints either. I haven't seen them in real life, but everyone does them on UA-cam. lol
The trick is to find a concrete finisher who wants extra work and schedule him in advance for the pour. It's a win/win scenario and best of both worlds. You save money by doing all the prep work yourself, you get to control the job and make sure its done correctly, the finisher will do a better job than you will, he gets extra cash for a few hours and is happy, and you watch his technique and learn something valuable for the next time.
To avoid having to shovel tons of concrete back out leave yourself a good 2-3' not poured before screeding ... That way all the excess concrete has somewhere to go. Some ppl pour a section screed and repeat so that it's not so labor intense.
Absolutely agree. We also use metal expansion joints “keyway”. So we will pour a bay and screed. And major low spots get a handful or two thrown in. Three to four people is best because you can have two using a come a long and then screed, one person directing the shoot/driver, and one prepared to begin floating.
I had a kid do me a massive back 15x20 and he did it solo, and did an excellent job.
That’s awesome ! Sometimes you find great contractors
Yea he was a hippy kid with dreadlocks driving a yellow bug with forms hanging outta his car. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Great video Bart, lots of little things in there that you could easily not think of. Just curious as to why you didn’t add in a monetary value for your time (49hrs).
Because I wanted a value without it. Most of the time when you do diy projects your time cost is not figured in. At least that’s the way I look at it
@@KomarProject penny saved is a penny earned, I built my own house in 2012 and at that time if I had a contractor do it, it would have cost more to build than it would have appraised for, but now the house is worth twice as what it cost me to build, I did use people to do plumbing and electrical, heating and cooling, hired my concrete, I did the rest,took me a year to complete, stay strong
@@KomarProject I don't understand why you talked so much about time is money if you weren't going to factor that in.
I always do the balance test to decide my diy projects. I tend to tackle the smaller projects myself and use the money saved to put towards pros for the bigger ones
Did you need to compact the gravel also?
If not, why not? I was assuming that it’s better to compact it so it doesn’t move around overtime. But yea, noob question here coz I wanna do mine in my next house
Last time I hired someone to do mine and it cost a lot of money
He mentions it later in the video when going over the budget. Yes, you need to compact the gravel. Failing to compact the subgrade is the main cause of differential foundation movement.
Yes you need to compact the gravel. You can do it by hand on a smaller pad with a tamper of rent a plate compactor. I have a full video showing all the steps from start to finish. It may help answer some more questions. ua-cam.com/video/oSAHqs2kFl0/v-deo.html
Great info!! Some folk will never have a patio unless they do it themselves... it is the reality of "limited resources". 😕
One ten hour day with 4 guys is 40 man hours... the same as it took you.
Do contractors allow you to do all the prep yourself then they come in and do the pouring themselves and leveling?
Some might. You would have to discuss that with them. Might be a great alternative
Yeah you can hire finishers if you know a guy
A lot of independent contractors will allow you to do form work and such.
Wow! That was a great video. I found it to be incredibly helpful for my situation. Thank you SO much!
Amazing video. Based on price and if time is not an issue, it is a no brainer to DIY. I understand you pay for the quality of work with a contractor (hopefully) but these prices are insane. If someone has the ability to perform various DIY projects, you will save so much money and you will learn a valuable skill.
I'm an HVAC contractor and my team deserves to make a good living wage for the work they do. I will NOT compare to DIY prices. DIY is great if you have the skill to do it.
Huh?
I have this disease where I struggle to pay someone to do something. But I have to say I think I am happier when a project is done when I paid someone to do it. I’ve only paid someone to do a complete garage door and opener replacement, paint 80% of the interior of my house (done lots of painting but just moved into a new house and wanted a quick win), and replace 1 propess plumbing fitting for a tee on a gas line because I didn’t have the proper tool. I’ve flipped a house doing a complete demo/rebuild of walls, decks, pavers, retaining walls, landscaping, peeled trusses off a garage and built an entire new roof structure, and the list goes on. I don’t seem to get the happy feeling when I do a project because once I finish it I seem to immediately start thinking about the next one that needs to be done and I think it zaps the joy out of it. When I paid someone I come home from work to see it finished and I’m absolutely happy I didn’t have to grind it out. lol
When the wallet is capable, which 99% of the time it's not and I have to do the job myself.
The problem with diy concrete is you have one shot to get it right and its time sensitive, if you screw up youve got a huge mess on your hands and added demo and disposal costs to redo it.
And he got most of it wrong in the video. Wrong base, poor cribbing, poor finishing, didn't cure or seal. He didn't save money, he wasted money doing it wrong.
Wow! If you did such a poor job that you had to rip it all out, you should have never started. LOL
There are also the hybrid solutions. Quite often you can do a lot of the time consuming work, but pay for assistance in steps where time is less of a factor but skill is important. E.g. I was fixing up a living room and I did all the demo and prep myself. The wood imitation carpet I decided to go with is cut to fit on location. Since I had everything entirely prepped I only actually needed the two carpet guys for less than 30 minutes even though it is a complicated layout and the carpet piece was huge. This step would have taken me ages and I couldn't have gotten a similar result doing it myself for several reasons. I've used this concept lots of times to just get carpenters or handymen in for just one step in the process or just to do the finishing touch. You shouldn't be afraid to do 90 % of the work and then get help for just the final 10 %. For the handyman they save a ton of time, effort, materials, coordination and planning. Something they rightly charge you for otherwise. I find a lot of carpenters and handymen care more about their hourly earning and their income/effort ratio and less about being involved from start to finish.
Also you get to learn from someone who is experienced in their craft, I always try to do the job with them so I can pick up some tips & tricks
@@anselringler yep. I guess it depends a bit on the situation, but in general it is a good thing to learn as much as you can.
High quality editing and thanks for the info on pouring concrete. Thanks !
Very welcome my friend
This is a fantastic service you are doing! Really making me the aspirational DiYer think through the process. Appreciated!
I did Oct 2018 - Oct 19 full inside house painting - walls, window trims, doors and door trim, baseboards. (Look as good or better than painter) Along with painting cabinets in 3 bathrooms and laundry, and put in the thick vinyl click planks for floors in those rooms (not easy because the rooms were smaller, had multiple doorways, angles, holes, etc. + 1/4 round cut along all walls in those rooms and the main floor downstairs. I did have HDepot do carpet. And july '21 had floor resanded and stained on main floor. I was about to do it myself, but found a guy who did it 40% less than estimates given in 2019. Now I'm going to work on spray painting my kitchen cabinets summer 2022. Re-tiling kitchen above counters also. I'm 58 yo woman and I've saved us thousands of $$$. I pay attention to detail. The wood floor and carpeting, I'm glad that I had someone do that. Outside I'd like to purchase the gadget that allows you to use cement and make continuous boarder around gardens in the yard. That will be a 2023 project. Then ALL DONE. In between all those projects helped take care of my mom w dementia, two children's weddings, and started sewing again. Love hands on work
Awesome. Rarely do you see someone spell out the cost. More rare is the accounting of time. Thanks so much!
Very welcome Liz. Glad it was helpful !
I wish I could like a video more than once haha Great, simple, and informative. Straight to the points. Love it man! Thanks for this video
As a ny resident; you did a fantastic job for your cost. It makes so much more sense to do it yourself if you know how cause that pad would have easily been 7k + here. It’s the only thing stopping me from doing my concrete patio, just don’t have the time and I’m not paying the cost for someone to do what I can do
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this great and informative video! It was very helpful.
Very welcome
I find some value in teaching and showing my kids how hard work pays off.
One of the best explainers ive come across
One of the best logos I have seen. Would have been better if it was Real Madrid lol
Not even sure why I'm watching this, I'm not planning to pay for or DIY a concrete slab but the vid has me hooked