We have a gravel pit that deals with the general public. We consistently get phone calls from home owners, that want a load of “gravel” this in turn spurs the question from me, what type? Typically, I’ll try to figure out what they are doing and what product will work. But, I can get it wrong and homeowner whines. I’ve occasionally had them come to the pit, but that is never great to have homeowner Harry driving around looking at piles with loaders and dumptrucks about. What I’ve been leaning towards is updating our website with pictures and descriptions, I can have them look-up and decide on their own. I’ve seen some people compare product sizes with dollar bills, other people quarters, others holding material in hand. These all work, just thought I’d see if anyone out here saw something that was a great explanation of products and professional looking. thanks!
Still have a ways to go yet this year. But summers coming!
The pit I go to has tupperware containers at the scale house with each kind of rock in it. That way they can understand what 3/4-3/8 clean rock looks like, 5/8 minus, etc. No way would they want homeowner Harry out there with loader Larry. Larry is good with the trucks but not too bright.
I had to deliver material a couple of times that wives had ordered for driveways because their husbands were working. Load the truck, drive to the home and spread it and get a phone call that afternoon saying the material wasn't what was ordered. After that fiasco, I would fill a bucket and take it with me to the delivery. I would show the customer the bucket and dump in on their drive to make sure it was what they wanted, before dumping the truck.
We always kept samples at the scalehoue in buckets, or in a clear heavy duty plastic bag. Customers could come look at what they were buying. When I had my dump trucks, I kept bags of different material in my pickup. That way I could show it to potential customers. Round river gravel is not worth squat on a road anyway. It kicks out from under tires rather quickly. Crushed products lock together tighter and resist movement under tires.
Same here everybody calls for a load of class 5 if you dont spend the time to figure out what they really need nobodys happy If your putting nice pics and descriptions on your website start adding pics of completed jobs too and try to explain the material choice
Make a little display out by the scale house, and you can take a picture of it and post it on the website? No one driving around the quarry that way.
That looks really nice!
I like the website idea. The terminology and lingo varies so much from pit to pit. Are you in the Valley?
No doubt. Jonas posted about Class 5 rock and I have no idea what that is. Here we use the screen size the rock can fall through. #2's are tangerine size and 10's are basically stone dust. Most common sizes are 24's which are 2's thru 4's, 57's which are a clear washed rock used for most construction projects and 8910's which is a 1/4" size stone to dust. 8910 is good for road crossings when it's compacted as it doesn't allow much water to migrate like 57 stone will. 67's are used in redi-mix concrete batch plants. Then we have ALDOT 825B which is a dense grade base used under paving in addition 3/4" and 1.5" minus crusher run. Clear as mud right? Back to Alaska's question - my $.02 is a good website with pictures of you material next to something the majority of your customers will know in relation to size. I think placing a quarter next to the stone really gives a good visual on the size of the rock or maybe an Iphone as every damn body on the highway is always texting on one.
I’m a washed B-Chip kinda guy for residential driveways and walk ways. It’s a little loose, but I like it because it drains well and doesn’t stick to your shoes and track everywhere.
I prefer 4-6" of 24's topped with 8910 to choke the large rock down. It'll be like concrete with a good sub-base underneath it.
I like a sieve analysis with the gradation spelled out along with the hardness.... Honestly I think every state DOT does it differently. I have done construction inspection a little bit and busted guys using out of spec material. I feel bad for you dealing with homeowners who have no idea what they are talking about and then want to complain they didn't get what they thought they were getting. I would say a nice visual aide was be good. I'm a tape measure or scale kind of guy though.
In Washington they talk about 1 1/4 minus, 3/4 minus, etc. Then for clean screened stuff it is 3/4 - 3/8, the top and bottom screen sizes. 2x4 is exactly that, 2" to 4" fractured rock. 4" minus has the fines. quarry spalls are fractured clean rock, mostly 4" and used for construction entrances to help clean off tires when you don't have enough traffic for a full tire wash.
Thanks for the ideas everyone, I think i'll get some pictures for website and make a small display by office. Now, just have to get the blowtorch out, shovel and chip some samples free. Everything seems to take a few more steps in the winter..
No kidding about that! I was working up on Mount Rainier in the park doing a road rebuild, and they had very carefully cataloged this historic Rock guardrail and put it on pallets in a turnout on the road down from Paradise. The next season, they think they're ready to start rebuilding this wall, the footings poured and it's got 4 to 6 ft of snow on top of it still LOL. I had to go back there with a 200 excavator and very very carefully probe for it and gently dig out the rock without touching it so the sun would do its thing I've got some pictures somewhere. Mother nature definitely has her own schedule.
That would have been a cool project.