Concrete guy here.
Concrete is expensive for a variety of reasons. The material is expensive. The labor is intensive, I recommend doing it at least once in life. I've made grown men cry from overwork on it......more than once. It requires a lot of skill to do right. Big slabs take a lot of manpower and lastly no one wants to do it because it's very hard, takes a lot of experience and not a lot have the skills.
And actually if you realize that it's a lifetime investment, it's not really that spendy
Juts under $11K when finished. If only my "Life-time" would last a bit longer than I can realistically expect.
NOW getting to all the things that should have happened for me forty years ago! 
Great solution to a tough problem. I spent a lot of time and headache a year ago getting a metal shop built at my house, I feel your pain. The county/government are no help whatsoever. I actually considered looking up one county woman's address and going to run over her mailbox. Good luck with the tent! I'll be watching.
Congratulations! Looking forward to the finished product. Please post pics!
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
Concrete guy here.
Concrete is expensive for a variety of reasons. The material is expensive. The labor is intensive, I recommend doing it at least once in life. I've made grown men cry from overwork on it......more than once. It requires a lot of skill to do right. Big slabs take a lot of manpower and lastly no one wants to do it because it's very hard, takes a lot of experience and not a lot have the skills.
And actually if you realize that it's a lifetime investment, it's not really that spendy
Concrete work is one of the few things that I farm out. It's not that I can't do it. It's that it very physical work, there are definitely skills involved and if you screw it up you mistakes are set in, well, concrete for all to see. Forever.
I now have a sand-box. OK, it's "Base" and hard to play with. 
In reply to APEowner :
You aren't wrong at all.
I don't know what's gonna happen to the field in 20 years, ive only worked with one person younger than me doing concrete in the last 10 it so years and I'm 38.
No one wants to do it anymore
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
There's plenty of Mexicans.
Seriously. 85% of the crews I now work with are Hispanic. And many of them are much younger than you.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
There's plenty of Mexicans.
Seriously. 85% of the crews I now work with are Hispanic. And many of them are much younger than you.
True, but not in my area.
I come from California though and what you say is very accurate
AaronT
Reader
1/21/21 9:11 p.m.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to APEowner :
You aren't wrong at all.
I don't know what's gonna happen to the field in 20 years, ive only worked with one person younger than me doing concrete in the last 10 it so years and I'm 38.
No one wants to do it anymore
In 20 years it'll be done by a machine, replaced by a different material, or they'll have to pay people enough to get them to do it. Invisible hands, and whatnot.
AaronT said:
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to APEowner :
You aren't wrong at all.
I don't know what's gonna happen to the field in 20 years, ive only worked with one person younger than me doing concrete in the last 10 it so years and I'm 38.
No one wants to do it anymore
In 20 years it'll be done by a machine, replaced by a different material, or they'll have to pay people enough to get them to do it. Invisible hands, and whatnot.
I can't see it being replaced by a new material really, concrete has been around for a long time for a reason. Machine? Maybe sone stuff but finishing is more art than science in a lot of ways.
Wages are very high because no one does it. I've yet to find the ceiling and I admit......I've thrown a few bids out that were basically a nice way of saying that I didn't want the job.......and they accepted.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
Maybe but the one downside to my area is massive prejudice, it is mostly the older generation so that could change in a few years as they die off but I'm not sure.
There's been some crews that have came up here and been iced out. A lot of framing crews too, but almost all were replaced by Ukrainian crews. Sadly there's a few people that freak out by the "invasion" every year when the Forest Service has a crew of tree planters come up, and it's one 15 passenger van full.
It's a weird area really.
Side note...
Prejudice is not an affliction of older populations. It's is something we ALL have in us. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US.
You just happen to be noticing their particular form of prejudice.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Side note...
Prejudice is not an affliction of older populations. It's is something we ALL have in us. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US.
You just happen to be noticing their particular form of prejudice.
I didn't say it was only the older generations.
But the older generations are much more vocal about it and really just about everything else.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
That's not weird. It's fairly normal.
Doesn't stop inevitable change.
Bottom line... 20 years from now there WILL be construction activity in your area, it WILL include concrete, there WILL be laborers to do it, and it's very likely a large percentage of those laborers will be Hispanic.
I've seen it happen over and over. Prejudices didn't stop it.
It's also likely the large commercial projects in your area are already heavily manned by Hispanics.
I think it's more likely that wages will finally get high enough that local talent will start going back to the trades but it'll take awhile.
It's kinda sad for the last say.....20 or more years the trades have been heavily frowned upon where a lot of people could have had a better life for themselves in them. The flip side is the wages of thosethat stayed in the trades is high.
It might be a cultural American thing though and that's why you don't see it from other cultures too
I hesitate to chime in on the labor thing but I did start the thread.
If there is not an attitude adjustment pretty soon we are in for a world of hurt.
I've been trying to hire some PT help for pretty simple automotive assembly task. Younger guys say "Cool, I can use some extra cash", then fail to show up. Try to call them and get "Message box is full", why bother having a cell if no one can reach you on it?
Older guys are jut too busy or broken down, wives, kids, GRAND-kids, house chores............
So I keep adding tools to make it easier to do the work by myself, which is fine until the day I get trapped or some other emergency. Sometimes seems too bad I cannot bring myself to just veg-out in front of the idiot box like so many folk do.
As to Manuel Labor, wish I had been offered the chance of doing "The Trades" before my back was ruined.
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
Your area is absolutely not unique. It's just on a different timeframe than some other areas of the country.
My experience in several other areas disagrees with your assessment. The wages may increase, but the local talent will probably not come back. They've got other jobs, and remember all too well how scary it was to be reliant on an industry that is not dependable.
There are thousands of qualified Hispanic men standing in the wings. I could literally put 100 men on any job of yours tomorrow.
What's more likely to happen is that migrant workers will see an opportunity, move into the territory, and be the DRIVERS of the next boom that drives up wages, etc. By the time the locals think about getting back into the trades, they will already be saturated with capable workers who are tough to compete with.
As a business owner? I'd establish a Hispanic workforce. Or at least begin a relationship with Hispanic labor providers so you know how it works when you need them. The labor company I work with in GA has 800 employees. All quality, all skilled, all fair priced, all Hispanic.
I haven't seen a non-Spanish speaking concrete worker on a job site in 4 years.
Prior to 2008 I had never seen a Hispanic concrete worker in GA. In 25 years working there. Things can change pretty quickly.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
Literally by last census 96 percent white by last census, not a lot there to reach out to.
I'm gonna stop this line of dialogue though because it's starting to get into distasteful quasi racial territory whether it's intended or not, no one needs that
That's fair. I'm sorry it makes you uncomfortable.
Back on topic, I will be getting the steel components of my shops next Thursday or Friday.
The fabric portion will be here two weeks later. Too bad the floor is on hold until the weather dries out.
In reply to RichardSIA :
I'm interested to see the progress!
One thing I wish my garage had is some sort of an anchor point in the concrete so I could hook up a come along (or pull pal or whatever you call it) to be able pull non running vehicles in the door. The slab out side is sloped away from the garage so its difficult getting them in.
If I ever pour a shop floor again, I intend to have a couple locations where I imbed a piece of 2" square tubing so I can use something like this as a temporary anchor point.
It would be strong as crap, but removable, so there would be no trip hazard.
