In a bustling and expanding real estate market, having concrete on time and as expected is crucial to shell contractors like Raney Construction. Owner Buddy Raney tired of the waiting and took control by investing in a fleet of C60’s, streamlining his vertically integrated business.

Tell us about the type of work Raney Construction performs.

We are shell contractors. We pour concrete, lay block, and frame houses for National Homebuilders here in the state of Florida. We started this business with two guys, myself, and a pickup truck. We’ve become vertically integrated and we provide lumber, wall panels, trusses, and labor to install those for the homebuilders.

How many yards of concrete do you pour every day?

We pour about 1,200 yards a day. [Raney Construction begins construction on 13 homes per day.]

What made you decide to switch to using volumetric mixers?

The concrete suppliers were struggling being able to get concrete in the timeframe that we wanted or needed the concrete to be in and so for us to be able to keep up with the schedules that we try to adhere to, we needed to be able to supply our own concrete.

There is a local guy here in town that has some of these and so I saw him and as we started to do some research as to which one was going to be the best truck for us.

Talk about the learning curve — if any — for the drivers / operators.

It is less thinking for the guys, for the operators. As we struggle with skilled labor here in our country, if we can take as much as the thinking out of it to where, we have people who can work and want to work but they just don’t have the skill set to be able to do some of the things that it takes to be able to run some of the m trucks so that is what drove me to the C60.

They don’t have to be a concrete guy. There are some things that we have learned that they have to work to make to keep the concrete consistent but it’s easier to do it with a touch screen than it is up on the dials, turning the dials to make that concrete.

What has your experience been working with the Cemen Tech customer service department?

The Cemen Tech team has done a good job of always answering my phone calls. Jim has been in Arizona and talking to me at 4:30 in the morning there because it was 6:30 in the morning here and we were working through some problems.

Talk about the yard setup you’ve created.

That blending system is for fly ash and cement blended together.  Fly ash is a by-product of coal. Sometimes it is difficult to get to, but we have been blessed to have a connection to get it and it makes the flowability of the concrete to be better.

We can load two trucks at a time. Right now, we are loading the trucks at about 10 minutes. My goal is to be closer to seven minutes.

We laid the asphalt and poured the concrete. These are bin blocks that are modular, so we did not pour those blocks we bought those blocks. We use four different mix designs. With the fiber chopper coming in the roll it’s really convenient.

We also have three ad mixture tanks on the side of the trucks. We are using two of the ad mix tankers. We use super plasticizer and air entrainment.

What are your thoughts on where the business started to where it is today?

I live an unbelievable life. I started this with two guys and a pickup truck. I haven’t had any outside funding so to speak. It is just whatever we can come up with ourselves. To build it from what it was, two guys and a pickup, to what it is today. I am driven — I love it when people tell me I can’t do something.