Short-load concrete in Central Arkansas: how to get 1–5 yards without buying a full truck

What counts as a short load

In the concrete business a "short load" is any order well under a full truck — usually anything below five or six yards. Plants price full trucks; a partial truck costs them the same drive, the same driver and the same washout, so they recover it with a short-load fee or a minimum. That's fair for a batch plant. It just isn't much help when you're setting twelve fence posts or pouring a footing repair.

How mixed-on-site concrete changes it

A mobile mixer (the industry term is a volumetric mixer) carries sand, stone, cement and water in separate compartments and mixes them at the jobsite. The concrete is fresh when it hits the forms, and the operator meters the amount discharged. You order for the job, not the truck.

That changes three things:

• Quantity. There's no full-truck minimum. A minimum invoice and quoted travel or service charges may still apply, and we state them in the quote before you book.
• Waste. You don't order an extra half yard "just in case" — the mixer discharges what the forms take, and the record shows the amount supplied.
• Timing. Materials stay separate until the truck is on site, so the mix doesn't sit in a drum in traffic. Scheduled weekend and early-morning pours are possible when the route and crew allow.

Jobs that fit a short load

• Footings, piers and small foundations
• Fence posts and gate columns
• Equipment, shop and utility pads
• Small slabs, sidewalk sections and repairs
• Culverts, headwalls and rural projects
• Punch-list and final-scope work at the end of a build

How much do you actually need?

Cubic yards = length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft) ÷ 27. A few common jobs:

• 10 × 10 pad, 4 in. thick: about 1.25 yards
• 12 × 12 pad, 4 in. thick: about 1.8 yards
• 20 × 20 slab, 4 in. thick: about 5 yards
• Twelve 4×4 posts in 10-in. holes, 30 in. deep: about half a yard

With a metered discharge you don't need to pad those numbers. Send the dimensions and dispatch will confirm the quantity with you.

What changes the delivered price

Ask any supplier for the complete delivered price, not the per-yard rate. For a short load the things that move the number are travel distance, site access (gates, grades, turnaround space), pumping if the truck can't reach the placement, waiting time if the site isn't ready, and after-hours scheduling. We check all of it before quoting, and if the route doesn't work we say so before the truck is committed.

How to order a short load

1. Send the exact address or a map pin, plus the county.
2. Give the ready date and a backup date.
3. Estimate the yards or send the dimensions.
4. Tell us the mix: PSI, slump, air, fiber, or the engineer's spec.
5. Send access photos — the road in, the gate, overhead lines, where the truck parks and where the concrete goes.
6. Have forms, reinforcement, crew, placement equipment and a washout area ready before the truck arrives.

Request a quote at performancereadymix.com/quote.html or call dispatch at (501) 722-2246. Serving selected routes in Saline, Pulaski, Grant, Perry, Lonoke, Faulkner, White, Garland and Hot Spring counties.