Why
At MUDRIGHT we believe in always finding a better way…. in our case, a better way to order and deliver concrete that will reduce stress, waste, and concrete’s carbon footprint while increasing worker productivity and saving money.
How
We do this by employing experienced, tech savvy concrete construction professionals that understand the concrete order, delivery and placement supply chain and who know how to utilize mobile applications, ready mix concrete truck tracking systems, and volumetric scanning technology that is implemented in the ACCULOD calculator.
Our Story
Our founder, Jim Dick, has been involved with concrete construction since 1984. Straight out of Purdue University, Jim’s first taste of concrete was as a concrete field engineer for Charles Pankow Builders in Oakland, California where he worked on a 20 story office tower (now Pandora Radio’s headquarters), literally from the ground up. Currently, Jim is the Chief Concrete Estimator for Pankow.
“One of my first tasks in the field was to order “mud” for the first concrete pour on the project—it was a 80 yarder for the tower crane foundation. The day started out well—the concrete pump showed up on time, our laborers and finishers were anxiously waiting, and the first concrete truck showed up, on time! I had a great plan lined out that included measuring the expected concrete volume in the footing the day before the pour and calling in the initial “hold” order to the dispatcher. During the concrete pour, my plan was to grab the concrete tickets from the drivers, confirm the tickets were in chronological order, continuously measure and check the remaining volume to be poured, and have a quick and safe path to the phone in the jobsite trailer (no cell phones in those days) to call in the clean-up load to the dispatcher.
“During the pour, after checking the driver’s concrete dispatch tickets, I noticed the tickets were not in chronological order, which I was warned that this could happen (the drivers like to stop for coffee and can get passed up by their fellow truckers). Panic set in as I lost track of the trucks and had no idea of how much was already poured. At that same moment our labor foreman was razing me, as they love to do with greenhorns, constantly saying ‘you sure you got enough’ or ‘where’s the mud’ as he wanted to make sure his crew was not standing around waiting for the trucks to show up. Given all of this, I dropped my plan of checking the remaining concrete volume in the footing and decided to just call it in. ‘Give me another truck (9 cys)’ I told the dispatcher.”
“I was finally able to relax. My first pour was done. Then I heard a crackling on the radio. ‘Jim, the footing is topped off, but what do you want to do with these two full trucks out here’….
Have you ever had one of those days with your concrete pour? Oh, come on, yes you have. It may not have been to the extent that Jim was off with his clean-up load order, but you have felt that pressure from your laborer or cement finisher foreman—they just want to keep their crews productive and from extending into overtime while waiting for that last truck. But you know you have to balance that with ordering too much concrete on your clean up load. In addition, because of the variability of the actual in-place concrete volume, concrete batching yields, and a whole host of other factors, you will spend half of your day “chasing the mud trail” to make sure you order an accurate clean-up load at the right time.
And how about you concrete suppliers? Don’t you just love it when your drivers radio in and say they have to go wash out a full load (or even a half load)?
This is the reason for MUDRIGHT’s why—find a better way to order and deliver concrete that will reduce stress, waste, and concrete’s carbon footprint while increasing worker productivity and saving money.
Why The Hammock
As Jim was testing MUDRIGHT’s process in his backyard, his daughter, Kaitlin, wanted to test out her new hammock. So she strung it up under their backyard pergola and promptly plopped herself in with her laptop.“I thought, ‘what a perfect picture’. The hammock symbolized what I am trying to accomplish—make the concrete order and delivery process as easy as relaxing in a hammock”, recalled Jim.
Not that your field staff would ever lay in a hammock and order concrete, but the MUDRIGHT idea is to create a process so your field staff can relax and fill their time with more productive activities.
