How it works

A pump, priced before you ring anybody.

You set the machine, the day and the hours. The price is built in front of you from the rates operators publish. Then every operator covering your postcode is asked at the same minute, and you pick the one who comes back.

Step by step

Four steps, and only one of them is us.

Set the job

Line or boom, how much concrete, hours on site, how far the pump has to stand from the pour, and the postcode. Nothing about you yet — no name, no address, no phone.

See the price

Every line itemised as you add it: pump time, setup, metres pumped, extra hose, weekend or early start. GST is in every figure on the page, and the lines add up to the total.

Ask the operators

The job goes to every operator covering that postcode at once. They see the machine, the date and the hours. They do not see who you are until you choose one.

Pick who turns up

The ones who are free come back by name. You choose. Nothing is charged before that, and the price does not move once you have.

They pour it

The operator drives to site, sets up, pumps the whole pour and washes out before leaving. You never touch the machine.

One invoice

The number on the confirmation is the number on the invoice. If something changed on the day, it is on the docket with the reason, before it is on a bill.

The two machines

Line or boom — the difference is how the concrete gets there.

Line pump

A trailer with a hopper and a hose. The mixer truck tips into the hopper and the pump pushes the mix along the hose to the pour. The hose runs on the ground, round corners and over fences.

Right for: most residential work — driveways, paths, foundations and floors behind a house, anywhere a truck cannot back up to.

Typical reachUp to 60 m of hose

Places about18 m³ an hour

Minimum hire2 hours

NeedsSomewhere to stand and a washout point

Boom pump

A truck with a folding arm that places concrete over a house, a fence or a wall. The mixer still tips into a hopper at the back, so expect two trucks on site.

Right for: slabs behind an obstacle, tilt panels, upper floors, big pours that have to go in fast.

Typical reach24–36 m of arm

Places about35 m³ an hour

Minimum hire3 hours

NeedsFirm ground for outriggers, no overhead lines

Past 45 metres is a line pump job, not a bigger boom. A boom is limited by the arm it was built with; hose is something you add more of. If the pour is a long way from anywhere a machine can stand, you want a line pump and extra hose.

What you pay for

Four numbers, and none of them appear later.

Pump time — from arrival to pack-down, not from the first cubePer hour, minimum 2 hrs (line) or 3 hrs (boom)

Setup and pack-down — a flat fee, not a trip charge from a yardOne fee, same wherever you are in Auckland

Concrete pumped — per cubic metre that goes through the machinePer m³

Extras you chose — extra hose, weekend, early start, washoutPriced on the page as you tick them

There is also a minimum job charge: a small, short pour costs the operator most of a morning whatever goes through the machine. If your job lands under it, the page says so and shows the top-up as its own line rather than quietly inflating a rate.

The clock runs from when they arrive to when they pack down. If your concrete is late, the clock is still going — that is the one cost on this page you control and we do not.

Before the day

What has to be ready on site.

Somewhere for the machine to stand — firm and level, clear of the pour. A boom needs room for outriggers and nothing overhead.
A way in for the mixer truck. The pump does not remove the need for a truck to reach the hopper.
A washout point you have agreed to, or washout on site added to the job. Concrete washings are not allowed down a stormwater drain.
Formwork, steel and hands ready before the truck arrives. Once the concrete is moving, everything else is on the clock.
Someone on site who can make a decision — about where the hose goes, and about anything that has changed since you booked.

Not sure the machine fits? Ring 0800 8745 before you book rather than after. Access is the one thing a page cannot check for you, and it is the usual reason a pour goes wrong.

Set the job, then the price. No dollar figure until you have told the page what you actually need.

Price a pump →