Charging for travel, washout and standby: stop giving away free hours

There are three ways a pump operator donates money to builders: travel, washout and standby. The pumping itself gets priced. The hours wrapped around the pumping get handed over like it's Christmas. Charging for travel, washout and standby isn't gouging — it's charging for the job, all of it.

Add up the free hours over a year and it's not smoko money. It's a wage. Yours, given away.

Travel isn't free

The truck leaves the yard at 4:30. An hour out, an hour back. Fuel burning, tyres wearing, your body clocked on since before sparrows. None of it billed, because somewhere along the way pumping talked itself into being the only trade that commutes for free. The concrete plant charges cartage. The crane bloke charges travel. Mobilisation fees exist for a reason — use one.

You don't need to sting the local jobs. But if you're driving serious distance to a pour, the distance is part of the job, and the job pays for it.

Washout is part of the job

The last cube down the line isn't the end of the work. There's a solid half hour or more of cleaning out, and environmental rules mean you can't just flick slurry at the nearest drain and wave goodbye. No washout facilities on site? That's longer again, or a mess that follows you home to the yard.

If washout isn't a line on the invoice, it's coming out of your pocket. Every job. Forever. Price it, name it, and watch how quickly sites suddenly find you a washout spot.

Standby: the clock starts when you arrive

Waiting time starts when you arrive, not when the concrete shows up. The agis are late, the chippies are still stripping formwork, the engineer hasn't signed off — none of it is your fault, and all of it is your time. Give a grace window if you want, first fifteen or thirty on the house. After that, the clock runs, and everyone knew it would before the job started.

Put all three on the paperwork. On the quote, on the docket, signed on the day. Not argued about at invoice time — agreed before the boom goes up.

Some builders won't like it. Good. The ones who plan their pours properly will barely ever pay a cent of standby. The ones who don't were being subsidised by you — and that subsidy just ended.