Water reducer

You may be enjoying the benefits of water reducers whether you know it or not.

Benefits override added costs

When you're talking about conventional water reducers in a truckload of ready-mix, the average contractor won’t see the added cost. It’s built into the price per cubic yard. So the batch sizes also may be small and not add much cost to it.

Besides, Mid- and high-range water reducers have a higher price tag, but increased strength and workability are very sellable.

Using a consistent water reducer is saving the producer money in cement and saving the contractor money. This does not always save the consumer money but it certainly helps concrete producers and contractors make a fair wage for difficult work. If you look at the price of a cubic yard of concrete, ask yourself where else you can go to get 3,500 pounds of anything for about $90 to $100?

With the full range of water reducers, especially a mid-range water reducer or high-range water reducer, a contractor will most probably have a greater slump, and thus possibly could eliminate one worker to do other tasks due to the ability to move the concrete easier. With these same chemicals your strength should be accelerated, so use of the project (occupancy) can happen earlier, getting the cash flow going.

So, with water reducers it’s really a “cost + benefits = value” equation.

The true cost of concrete is not the price per cubic yard, but rather the cost of the concrete in place. The proper use of water-reducing set-controlling admixtures can greatly benefit that true ‘in-place cost.’

Admixtures can add to the concrete cost, but a contractor must look at the total in-place cost because at the end of the day that’s what’s important; not just the concrete, but everything that goes into the job.