A cement mixer truck is a ready-mix delivery vehicle, and it is not something rental yards hire out by the day. What you can rent is the mixer: an electric or gas towable drum, or a portable barrow mixer for a few bags at a time. So the real question is where the line falls between mixing on site and ordering a truck, and the answer is usually around one cubic yard.
The rule of thumb: about a cubic yard
Below roughly one cubic yard, mixing on site with a rented drum is cheaper and simpler. Above two yards, hand mixing stops being realistic: a yard is around 40 to 45 sixty-pound bags, and each one has to be carried, opened and gauged. Between the two it comes down to how far the pour is from the truck and whether a cold joint in the slab matters.
What a towable mixer rents for
A 6 to 9 cubic foot towable drum mixer typically runs $60 to $120 a day and $200 to $400 a week. A small electric barrow mixer is cheaper again, around $35 to $60 a day. Towing one needs a hitch and lights that work, and yards will check both. Add a wheelbarrow, a screed and a bull float from the same counter.
What a ready-mix delivery costs instead
Ready-mix is sold by the cubic yard, commonly in the region of $150 to $200 delivered, with a short-load fee for anything under a full truck that can add $50 to $150 a yard. Trucks also charge waiting time past a free unloading window, usually measured in minutes rather than hours, so the forms and the crew have to be ready before the truck arrives.
Getting the concrete from truck to form
A mixer truck's chute reaches maybe 15 to 18 feet from the drum. Past that, the concrete moves by wheelbarrow, by pump or not at all, and a pump is a separate hire with its own minimum charge. Access is what turns a straightforward pour into an expensive one, so measure the run from where the truck can legally park to the form before you order.
Questions people ask about cement mixer truck
Can I rent a cement mixer truck?
Not from an equipment rental yard in the ordinary sense. Ready-mix trucks come with a driver as part of a concrete delivery, priced by the yard. What yards rent is the towable or portable mixer you fill and run yourself.
How many bags fill a towable mixer?
A 9 cubic foot drum handles roughly two to three sixty-pound bags per batch with room to turn, which is around a fifth of a cubic yard an hour at a steady pace with two people.
Is mixing on site cheaper than ready-mix?
For small volumes, clearly. Bagged mix costs more per yard than ready-mix but carries no delivery, no short-load fee and no waiting charge, so under a yard it wins easily. Past two yards the arithmetic reverses.
What else should I rent with the mixer?
A screed board, a bull float, an edger, a jointer and a plate compactor for the base if the sub-base has not been prepared. The finishing tools are cheap and the finish is what people see.