Concrete Pump Truck Hourly Cost Calculator
Concrete Pump Truck Hourly Cost by Type
Per-hr boom price by pump type for concrete pump truck hourly. The calculator above defaults to Boom pump (truck-mounted); switch the selector to price any grade against your own dimensions.
| Pump type | Price per hr boom |
|---|---|
| Line pump (small pours) | $125–$175 |
| Boom pump (truck-mounted) | $210–$255 |
Labor estimate loading…
Boom pumps run $210 to $255 an hour. Line pumps run $125 to $175. Both carry a 3 to 4 hour minimum, so a 1-hour pour still bills like three.
Add a $200 to $350 setup fee, plus portal-to-portal travel billed from the yard, and a typical residential boom job runs $1,100 to $1,400.
Where These Numbers Come From
Hourly rates, setup fees, and surcharges are 2025 to 2026 market estimates compiled from regional pump contractor pricing, not a published government tariff. Treat them as a range to check a quote against, not a fixed price.
BLS OES for Operating Engineers (SOC 47-2073) puts the regional median at $28 to $38 an hour. That series updates annually.
Prevailing wages on public projects are set under the Davis-Bacon Act, published by the DOL Wage and Hour Division. Davis-Bacon determinations are a useful public benchmark for what operator labor commands in a given county. Our rate ranges are reviewed each season.
What This Calculator Does Not Cover
It models the pump line items: hourly rate, minimum hours, pipe run, mobilization distance, weekday versus weekend. It does not price the concrete itself, delivery, standby caused by a late ready-mix truck, or finishing labor.
It also does not know your local market. Northeast and Pacific metros can run 25 percent above these numbers; Mountain and Midwest can run 25 percent below. And it cannot see your site, so boom sizing is still a conversation with the dispatcher.
For the material side, run your yardage through the concrete calculator before you call for a pump quote.
Line Pump vs Boom Pump: Rates and Real Totals
| Pump Type | Hourly Rate | Minimum (hrs) | Typical Job Total | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Line pump (ground hose) | $125 to $175 | 3 to 4 | $575 to $1,050 | Slabs, garages, tight sites, under 25 yards |
| 32m boom | $210 | 3 to 4 | $830 to $1,190 | Driveways, walkouts, single story reach |
| 36m to 40m boom | $235 | 4 | $1,140 to $1,300 | Foundations, basements, over-the-house reach |
| 41m boom | $255 | 4 | $1,220 to $1,400 | Deep basements, two story decks, long setbacks |
| 47m and up | From $4,500/day (estimate) | Full day | $4,500+ | High rise, elevated decks, commercial |
Totals include the $200 to $350 setup and washout fee but not travel time or surcharges. Rates are 2025 to 2026 market estimates, not published tariffs.
The pattern holds everywhere: line pump if the concrete only has to travel flat and under about 150 feet, boom if it has to go up, over, or past an obstacle. Pay for reach, not for horsepower.
Do You Actually Need a Pump?
A ready-mix truck chute reaches about 18 feet from the back of the drum. If the truck can back within 18 feet of every part of the pour, you do not need a pump. That is most single-bay garage slabs and a lot of short driveways.
Pump it when the truck cannot reach: backyard patios, basement floors, anything past a fence or a soft lawn, and any pour where wheelbarrowing would take longer than the concrete's working time.
A 25 yard pour by wheelbarrow is roughly 110 to 125 trips with a standard 6 cubic foot contractor barrow, and every one takes two people.
The middle option is a conveyor truck, which handles ground-level pours 30 to 40 feet out for less than a boom. Ask about it before you accept a boom quote for a flat backyard slab.
One hard rule: if the pour risks a cold joint because your crew cannot place fast enough, pump it. A cold joint in a structural slab is a defect you cannot sand out.
What a Real Pump Invoice Stacks Up
Every competitor quotes one hourly rate. The invoice has six or seven lines. Amounts below are 2025 to 2026 market estimates from regional contractor pricing, not published tariffs. This is where the surprises live.
Portal to portal. The clock starts when the truck leaves the yard and stops when it gets back, not when it hits your driveway. A yard 45 minutes out adds about 1.5 hours at full rate, roughly $300 on a boom.
Minimum hours. Three to four hours is industry standard. Pour 12 yards in 70 minutes and you still pay the minimum. There is no partial-hour credit.
Yardage surcharge. Some outfits stack $3 to $5 per yard on top of the hourly rate. On a 100 yard foundation that is $300 to $500 nobody mentioned on the phone.
Hose run. Roughly 150 feet of line comes standard. Each extra 50 feet runs about $75. A 300 foot basement run is $225 you did not budget.
Surcharges. Fuel around 12 percent, short-notice booking $125, weekend dispatch $200 to $400, overtime at 1.25 to 1.5 times, card processing 3 percent.
Setup and washout. $200 to $350 per job. If you have not designated a washout area, expect a $250 to $350 penalty on top, and some operators will simply decline the job.
Ask for every one of these in writing before booking. A quote that names only an hourly rate is not a quote.
Boom Size Guide
Boom size is placement reach, not power. A 32m boom at $210 an hour covers most residential work: driveways, walkouts, single story slabs. A 36m or 40m at $235 buys you the ability to reach over a house or down into a basement from the street.
The 41m at $255 is for deep basements and long setbacks. Above that you are into day rates from $4,500, which is commercial and elevated deck territory.
Over-speccing costs $45 an hour for nothing. A 47m for a two car driveway is the single most common upsell in this trade. Give the dispatcher your setup distance, obstacle height, and pour depth, then let them size it.
Two site details change the answer fast: overhead power lines force a minimum standoff distance, which means a longer boom than the raw distance suggests, and a 6 foot fence means the boom has to arc over it rather than through.
Ground Bearing and Weight
A loaded boom pump weighs 40,000 to 80,000 pounds and puts most of that on four outrigger pads. A typical residential driveway is rated for 20,000 to 40,000 pounds spread across an axle. The math does not work in your favor.
Set up on the street or on compacted subgrade whenever possible. If the truck must sit on your existing slab, get it in writing that the operator assessed it, and get a certificate of insurance before the truck rolls. Damage to your driveway is your bill otherwise.
Soft ground after rain is the other failure mode. An outrigger that sinks mid-pour stops the job with concrete in the line.
Where the Pump Fits in Total Pour Cost
The pump is 10 to 20 percent of what a pour costs. Budgeting the pump alone and calling it a plan is how projects run over.
Ready-mix runs $145 to $185 per yard. Delivery adds $300 to $500 per truck plus $5 to $15 per minute of standby past the first 10 minutes. Site prep and grading is $500 to $2,500. Forms and rebar are $400 to $1,000.
Finishing labor runs $1.50 to $3.50 per square foot, sealer $0.50 to $1.50, permit $100 to $500, washout containment $75 to $350. Run your yardage through the concrete calculator first so the pump quote sits against a real material number.
Regional and Seasonal Price Swings
Expect roughly plus or minus 25 percent on every rate here depending on market. Northeast and Pacific metros price highest; Mountain and Midwest markets price lowest.
Operator wages track that same map. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics puts operating engineers (SOC 47-2073) at a $28 to $38 median hourly wage across regions.
Season matters as much as geography. April through October is peak, and May through July is the worst for availability. Saturday mornings book out first, which is exactly when weekend dispatch and overtime multipliers apply.
September and October are the best value window. Winter runs 10 to 15 percent cheaper on the pump, though cold-weather admixtures and blankets claw some of that back.
Worked Example: 4 Hour Boom Pump, Nearby Yard
Defaults in the calculator are a boom pump, 4 hours, standard pipe run, nearby yard, weekday. Output: $1,369 to $1,575. Here is where that comes from.
Four hours of boom time at $210 to $255 is $840 to $1,020. Setup and washout adds $350 on a boom. Standard pipe run (150 to 250 ft) carries a 15 percent cost factor applied to the combined hourly and setup total, adding about $179 to $205.
Nearby yard adds minimal portal-to-portal time rather than the 1.5 hours a distant yard would cost. Weekday means no $200 to $400 dispatch fee and no 1.25 to 1.5 overtime multiplier. Add it up: ($840 to $1,020 plus $350) times 1.15 equals $1,369 to $1,575.
Change one input and the number moves hard. Flip weekday to weekend and you are looking at several hundred more. Move the yard from nearby to 30 miles out and you add roughly an hour each way at full rate.
Next step: take this range to two pump outfits and ask each for a written quote that itemizes hourly rate, minimum hours, portal-to-portal policy, hose included, and washout requirement. If the two quotes differ by more than 20 percent, one of them is hiding a line item.
What To Have Ready Before the Truck Arrives
The pump operator runs the pump. That is the whole job. He does not hold hose, screed, or finish. If you have no crew, the truck sits idle on your clock.
Staff at least two people on the hose plus your finishers. Have forms set, rebar tied, and subgrade compacted the day before, not the morning of.
Designate the washout area before anyone shows up. Washout water is around pH 12 and is an alkaline pollutant. It cannot go to a storm drain or onto your lawn. A containment bag or lined pit runs $75 to $350 and is cheaper than the $250 to $350 no-washout penalty.
Order pump mix by name when you book the concrete, not the truck. Pumps need 4 to 5 inch slump and aggregate no bigger than three quarter inch; standard structural mix runs 1.5 inch rock at 3 to 4 inch slump and will not move through the line.
Pump mix costs an extra $5 to $10 per yard. If the mix does not pump, the operator can refuse the job and still bill your full minimum.
If a seal blows or the line clogs mid-pour, the clock keeps running at full rate while they clear it. The concrete already placed keeps curing.
Past about 30 minutes you get a cold joint, a structural defect in a slab that cannot be ground out, and neither company pays for it. Correct slump, correct aggregate, and early morning pours in hot weather are the prevention.
Plan an overflow spot for the half yard to full yard left in the pump line at the end. You paid for that concrete. A spare form or a path slab beats dumping it in the yard.
Red Flags in a Pump Quote
No mention of portal-to-portal billing. That silence is a bill later, not a courtesy.
Verbal quote only, cash only, or a deposit over 30 percent up front. All three mean you have no document when the invoice grows.
No certificate of insurance on request. You are inviting a 40,000 to 80,000 pound truck onto your property. Refusing to prove coverage is the answer.
A rate far below market, like a 32m boom at $100 an hour against a $210 market. That gap gets recovered somewhere on the invoice.
An operator who bundles the concrete sale into one number. You cannot verify the pump rate, the yardage, or the standby that way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a pump truck cheaper on a weekday?
Yes, and the gap is bigger than people expect. A Saturday pour triggers a weekend dispatch fee of $200 to $400 plus overtime at 1.25 to 1.5 times the hourly rate. On a 4 hour boom job that is over $500 versus the same pour on Monday.
Peak season is April through October, worst May through July. Short-notice booking in that window adds a $125 fee and often forces an upgrade to whatever unit is free rather than the one you need.
How far does a concrete truck chute reach without a pump?
About 18 feet from the back of the drum, and that is on flat, firm ground the truck can actually reach.
If the mixer can back within 18 feet of the whole pour, skip the pump and save $500 to $2,000. If it cannot, price a conveyor truck before you price a boom; a conveyor handles ground-level pours 30 to 40 feet out for less than a boom's $210 to $255 an hour.
Why does the pump truck bill for time before it arrives?
It is called portal to portal, and it is standard in this trade. The truck is committed to your job the moment it rolls out of the yard, so the meter runs from the yard gate and stops when it is back.
A yard 45 minutes out adds about 1.5 hours at full rate, roughly $300 on a boom. Ask where the yard is before you book. A closer outfit at a higher hourly rate often wins on total.
If the concrete truck is late, do I pay pump truck standby?
Yes, and the concrete company will not reimburse you for it. Standby runs $125 to $200 an hour and the two vendors have no contract with each other; you are the one holding both.
Prevent it: confirm the ready-mix dispatch window the morning of the pour, stagger truck arrivals so there is always one on site, and ask the pump company in writing what their standby rate and grace period are.
What happens to the concrete left in the pump line?
Half a yard to a full yard sits in the line and hopper when the pour finishes. You bought that concrete at $145 to $185 a yard, so plan somewhere to put it.
A spare form, a path section, or a small equipment pad works. After that the operator washes out. Washout water runs around pH 12 and cannot go to a storm drain or your lawn, so containment ($75 to $350) needs to be ready before the truck arrives.
Will a pump truck crack my driveway?
It can. A loaded boom pump weighs 40,000 to 80,000 pounds and puts most of that through four outrigger pads. A residential driveway is typically rated for 20,000 to 40,000 pounds spread across an axle.
Set up on the street or on compacted subgrade when you can. If the truck has to sit on your slab, get a certificate of insurance before it rolls and have the operator note the setup location on the ticket.
How long until I can walk on or drive on the new slab?
Foot traffic at 24 to 48 hours. Light vehicles at 7 days, when the slab is at roughly 70 percent strength. Full design strength, typically 4,000 PSI, at 28 days.
Keep heavy trucks off until 28 days. And no de-icing salt the first winter; young concrete scales badly and you will see the surface flake off in spring.