Last updated: March 2026
Stop Paying for Concrete You Don’t Need, Labourers Who Didn’t Show Up, and Truck Fees That Make Small Jobs Pointless
Written by
Peyton Maddox
5 min read · Published March 2026
The maths most contractors get wrong
If you’re doing big pours 3, 4, 5 cubic metres on an open site with clear truck access, order the readymix. Nobody’s arguing otherwise. That’s what trucks are for.
But that’s not what kills your margins, is it?
What kills your margins are the small jobs. The ones that are too big for postcrete and a bucket, too small to justify a truck. The fence runs. The shed bases. The step repairs. The drainage work. The patio extensions. The post holes for a 30-metre fence line.
Those jobs. The bread-and-butter domestic work that keeps your diary full.
And on those jobs, here’s what actually happens:
Option A: You order a readymix truck. Minimum order is 2-4m³ depending on the supplier. You only need half a cube. So you’re paying for concrete you literally pour down the drain or worse, you’re rushing to find somewhere to dump it before it goes off. Then there’s the short-load surcharge: £50-150 on top. Delivery fee: another £50-100. Need a pump because the truck can’t reach the back garden? That’s £275-750 for the day.
Option B: You do it the old-fashioned way. Belle mixer, loose ballast, bags of cement, a shovel, and a prayer that your back holds out. Or you hire a labourer if you can find one. At £120-150 a day, assuming he shows up. Then you’re both knackered by lunch, the mix consistency is all over the shop, and you’ve still got half a day of cleanup ahead of you.
Option C: Postcrete. Grand for a couple of fence posts. Useless for anything structural or anything over a dozen holes.
Notice how none of those options are particularly good?
Here’s what a “cheap” small pour actually costs when you’re honest about it:
The concrete itself is never the expensive bit. It’s everything wrapped around it. The minimum charges. The wasted material. The labourer’s wages. The pump hire. Your own time spent mixing instead of billing. That’s where the money goes.
Run this scenario. It’s one most contractors do 2-3 times a month:
REAL COST: 0.5M³ POUR - READYMIX TRUCK, NO TRUCK ACCESS
Readymix (2m³ minimum order)
£260
Short-load surcharge
£80
Delivery
£75
Pump hire (no truck access)
£350
Concrete paid for but not used (1.5m³)
£195 wasted
TRUE COST FOR YOUR HALF CUBE
£765
REAL COST: SAME 0.5M³ POUR - BELLE MIXER, LOOSE AGGREGATE
Ballast + cement
£65
Labourer for the day
£130
Your time mixing & managing (3+ hrs)
£150
Physical toll / slower pace rest of week
???
TRUE COST FOR YOUR HALF CUBE
£345+
REAL COST: SAME 0.5M³ POUR - MUDMIXER + BLUE CIRCLE PREMIX
50 bags Blue Circle @ ~£5 trade
£250
Labourer
£0 — you do it solo
Pump hire
£0 — machine goes to the pour
Minimum order / short-load fees
£0
Wasted concrete
£0 — mix only what you need
TRUE COST FOR YOUR HALF CUBE
£250
The bags cost more per kilo.
Nobody’s pretending otherwise. But when you strip out the labourer, the truck fees, the pump hire, and the waste, the total job cost comes down.
And you pocket the difference.
What this machine actually does (and what it doesn’t)
Some people think this thing is just adding water to postcrete. It’s not. Or maybe it can’t handle UK products. Also wrong.
The MudMixer Evolution is a continuous auger mixer. You load dry premix into the hopper, dial in your water ratio, and the auger mixes and pours in one continuous operation. No batching. No shovelling. No tipping a drum into a barrow.
One person loads bags. The machine does the mixing. The concrete comes out the chute, ready to place. You control the flow - stop and start whenever you need to.
And yes, it works with UK products.
Blue Circle Multi-Purpose Concrete uses 10mm coarse aggregate. The MudMixer handles up to 12mm. It goes straight through. Same for Blue Circle High Strength (40N), Blue Circle mortar mix, and most ready-to-use concrete products stocked at Wickes, B&Q, Travis Perkins, Selco, and independent merchants.
What it won’t do: loose 20mm ballast. If you’re buying bulk aggregate and bagging your own mix from a heap in the yard, this isn’t the tool for that. It’s designed for premix bags - the same products already sitting on the shelf at your local builders’ merchant.
The output question
¾ of a cubic metre per hour. That’s 55 bags of 25kg mix, continuously, one person.
Is that slower than a three-man crew with two belle mixers running flat out? Probably yes. But that comparison misses the point. With the MudMixer, you don’t need the three-man crew. You’re doing it alone. The machine doesn’t call in sick. It doesn’t need a tea break every forty minutes. It doesn’t ask for a day rate.
The cleanup question
Five minutes. Built-in hose attachment. Spray it down while the concrete’s still wet. Run the auger in reverse for a few seconds. Done. Reinforced steel chute - concrete doesn’t stick the way it does on a painted belle drum.
The voltage question
Standard 230V domestic power. Draws only 1.5 amps - less than a kettle. For 110V site use, a straightforward transformer adapter handles it.
Who this is actually built for
It’s built for the contractor who does 2-5 small pours a week on domestic jobs.
Fencing contractors setting 20-40 posts a week. Landscapers doing patio bases and retaining walls.
Builders handling step repairs, drainage work, and shed foundations. General contractors running one or two-man crews who can’t afford or can’t find a reliable labourer.
If you’re pouring 10 cubes a day on a commercial site, this isn’t your machine. Get a truck.
But if you’re doing the kind of work where calling a readymix truck feels like overkill, hand mixing is destroying your body, and finding a decent labourer is harder than finding a parking spot in central London - this is the machine that changes that equation.
MudMixer Evolution Pouring A Concrete Slab
What contractors are saying after using it
MudMixer has just launched to the UK market, but it has been stress-tested by contractors in the US and Canada where the machine has been used on thousands of jobs. Here’s what they’re reporting:
“Paid for itself on day 1. Great upgrade over our last barrel type concrete mixer.”
— Brian H., Contractor
“When I bought it, it seemed a little costly but I mixed 74 bags in less than 4 hours by myself and I’m 64 years old. Made the job much easier. Worth every penny.”
— Mike G., 64
“I’m a fence contractor. From the first job I used it on, I realised the videos didn’t do it justice. It has cut the time it takes me to set posts almost in half.”
— Richard N., Fencing Contractor
“Contractors wanted $9,000 to pour a parking pad. I purchased the MudMixer and did it myself. Three guys, 300 bags, 6 hours. Paid for itself in one job.”
— Mark F., Homeowner
“Retired now but at 78 I am still pouring concrete. Just purchased the MudMixer and poured a carport extension by myself. What’s left of my back thanks you dearly.”
— Ronald W., 78, Retired Contractor
“18 piers, 560 bags. Two days. No one was tired and everyone said easiest job we have ever done.”
— Steven B., Contractor
Awards & Recognition: Winner of the Concrete Contractor Top Products Award. Winner of Equipment Today Contractors’ Top 50 New Products. As featured in Fox News, Home Depot, and Lowe’s.
What you might be thinking
“£3,000 for a cement mixer? My belle cost £300.”
Your belle needs a labourer to run it efficiently. At £130/day, that’s 23 working days before the MudMixer has paid for itself in labour savings alone. If you’re doing 2-3 small pours a week, that’s roughly 2-3 months. After that, every job is pure margin you weren’t keeping before. And the MudMixer comes with a 2-year commercial warranty - double the industry standard.
“Premix bags cost a fortune compared to loose ballast and cement.”
Bag-for-bag, yes. But the cost comparison needs to include the labourer, the truck fees, the pump hire, and the wasted material that comes with every other mixing method on small jobs. When you factor in the real total cost, not just the materials line - bags through a MudMixer often comes out cheaper per job. Plus, trade accounts at builders’ merchants bring that per-bag price down. Buying a pallet drops it further.
“UK premix has 20mm aggregate. It won’t go through the machine.”
Blue Circle Multi-Purpose Concrete - the most widely available premix in the UK uses 10mm coarse aggregate. The MudMixer handles up to 12mm. It goes straight through without issue. Available at Wickes, B&Q, Travis Perkins, Selco, and most independent merchants nationwide.
“It looks slow. My labourer can knock up a cube an hour.”
Your labourer costs you £130+ a day and may or may not turn up tomorrow. The MudMixer does ¾ of a cubic metre per hour by itself, continuously, with one person feeding bags into the hopper. On small residential jobs, which is 80% of most contractors’ diaries that output is more than sufficient.
“It’s an American product. Show me UK contractors using it.”
Fair point. MudMixer is building its UK user base and producing UK-specific content. The machine is fully adapted for UK power (230V, 1.5 amps) and works with UK products readily available at high street merchants. Early UK adopters are using it right now, and we’re documenting those projects.
“What about cleaning? Concrete will set inside it.”
Built-in hose attachment. Run water through the machine and spray down the chute while the concrete is still wet. Five minutes. The auger runs in reverse to clear any residual material. Reinforced steel chute doesn’t hold concrete the way painted drum mixers do.
“Can’t use 240V on a commercial site.”
Correct - most commercial sites require 110V tools. The MudMixer runs on standard 230V, making it ideal for domestic and residential work. For regulated commercial sites, a 110V step-down transformer provides a simple solution. The machine draws just 1.5 amps less than most power tools.
The jobs this machine lets you say “yes” to
Here’s something the comment section warriors never consider.
How many small jobs have you turned down or priced yourself out of because the logistics of mixing made them unprofitable?
The six fence posts in a back garden you can only reach through a 70cm side gate. The step repair where you need maybe a quarter of a cube but the nearest readymix truck can’t get within 30 metres. The drainage bedding in a basement. The pad pour on a second floor.
The MudMixer is 70cm wide. It rolls through a standard doorway. Marathon flat-free tyres handle rough ground, steps, and tight spaces. It goes where trucks and mixers physically cannot.
That’s not a convenience feature. That’s revenue you’re currently leaving on the table.
PAYBACK CALCULATION — FENCING CONTRACTOR, 3 SMALL JOBS/WEEK
Labourer savings per day
£130
Jobs per week where labourer was used
3
Weekly labour savings
£390
Monthly savings
£1,560
MACHINE PAID FOR IN
UNDER 8 WEEKS
And that’s before counting the short-load fees you’re no longer paying, the readymix minimums you’re no longer overpaying for, and the small jobs you can now say yes to that were previously unprofitable.
MudMixer Evolution — £2,994 incl. VAT
FREE shipping to the UK · Ships in 1-2 business days · 2-year commercial warranty
Finance available from 0% APR with Shop Pay
What’s included
MudMixer Evolution - ¾ cubic metre/hour continuous output. 14-gauge hardened steel construction. Waterproof motor. 330° pivot chute with precision flow control. Marathon flat-free tyres. Forward/reverse control. Built-in hose attachment for 5-minute cleanup. Connects to standard garden hose and any 230V outlet.
Optional accessories:
Hopper Extension (£335 incl. VAT) — Increases hopper capacity from 55kg to 136kg.
Chute Extension (£210 incl. VAT) — Adds 45cm of additional reach.
All-Weather Cover (£143 incl. VAT) — Military-grade protection. Custom fit with reinforced corners.
MudMixer Evolution is designed for use with premix bagged concrete, mortar, and specialty mixes with aggregate up to 12mm. Not suitable for self-levelling products, aircrete, or loose aggregate exceeding 12mm. All prices include VAT. Finance subject to status.