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Owner Builder Blog

Owner Builders - Have you ever wondered?

12/1/2017

11 Comments

 
Owner Builder Oddities
 
I was driving down the freeway today and I noticed a small truck carrying a bag that would have measured about 1100mm x 1100mm x 1100 mm.
 
It had sling type handles on it to allow it to be lifted by a forklift, bobcat or small backhoe.
 
Although I could not see the contents, I think it was most likely a course sand for use in bricklaying mortar.
 
I can hear all of my owner builder course students saying "so what?"
 
Well it got me thinking, the use of bags like this for loose materials such as soils, sand, gravel and concrete mix are a relatively new innovation.
 
But what is innovative about it?
 
To me it means a small truck which is not a tipper, can go to the landscape suppliers, pick up a small quantity of product and not have to manually handle it when it gets back to site.
 
Not only that, in the past, this small load would most likely have been simply dumped on site, causing the contractor (read owner builder), issues in respect to storage, containment, loss of product and potentially sediment control (run off entering stormwater etc.
 
Now, I have grown up in this industry and now have 40 plus years experience in considering the benefits and use of material handling improvements in the building industry.
 
As an owner builder, without the benefit of many years experience, how many advantages can you identify in handling loose materials in this way?
 
Moreover, how often do you see things on a building site that you do not fully understand or appreciate.
 
So through this post, I want to open it up to you, our owner builder course students, to respond and ask questions about products, processes or techniques you have come across but do not fully understand.
 
I will try to respond to your questions and explain use, advantage or legislative requirements by way of explanation to your enquiries.
 
Basically In want our owner builder students to have the opportunity to understand why we do some of the things we do in completing a typical domestic construction project.
 
I hope this generates some real activity and enquiry and look forward to demystifying some of the 'trade secrets'.
 
To kick this off, I will place a post on the Learning Management System website directing our owner builder course students to the post.
 
For now, best regards and,
 
Happy Owner Building,
 
Rick 

11 Comments
Richard
28/2/2017 22:29:10

Those bags are a godsend!!

In small confined sites they can be real handy, plus they minimise waste especially when handling finer materials like sand

Reply
Lorraine link
18/4/2017 13:44:13

Be it only small though. I hear that building suppliers sometimes will give you a refund on the bags. $10 or so But 4 or 5 bags give you a little return.

Reply
Ed
3/5/2017 16:44:39

The manual handling benefits are great but for an OCD like me the tidiness of storage and reduction of waste is a godsend

Reply
Nerida
9/5/2017 11:56:03

This is a great idea. Being the first time Owner Builder just knowing this option is available will be a huge benefit for us as we are on a battle axe block and cannot get a tipper up to our block. Thanks for this info,

Reply
Gabriela Brun
31/5/2017 13:44:57

We used one of those bags a few months ago for a small job and they were great, no wastage and virtually no mess or runoff. Great if you get a refund of the bags and they get reused!

Reply
Glenn Munro
17/7/2017 19:40:49

This is another great tool that reduces waste and stops sand and cement from getting into the environment, and getting all over my car when driving behind it. Finding newer and better controls for a variety of problems and risks is one of the positives, that bringing new people in to the owner building scene from different backgrounds and educations. Sometimes a great idea is just looking at the controls through a different perspective.

Reply
Marc Capon
17/10/2017 11:58:45

Doing my own project so working part time and I used this for the first time at the weekend. As Richard said, it's a total godsend.
Saved several hours of man power barrowing the topsoil to the back of the property. So much so I got the turf laid a week early. The knock on cost saving of shifting the schedule a week ahead has been huge, 2 days of labour.

Reply
Andrew Kramers
5/12/2017 22:01:25

I first noticed this practice taking place in the mining industry to improve material handling into hoppers. The bags are made of a geo-textile fabric and typically weigh 1 ton or 3/4m^3 aggregate . I will certainly consider using them in my upcoming project.

Reply
Jason Course
1/1/2018 21:57:08

the introduction of such bags have evolved in direct correlation with the introduction of new machinery onsite for eg a Manitou. thus relieving the manual handling constraints which have plagued the industry since it all started

Reply
Steven Cruden
29/4/2018 13:18:04

These bags have made material handling onsite safer, more convenient, eco friendly and time saving. The suppliers also have the added benefit of being able to easily supply multiple materials per delivery without the hassle of load dividers or multiple drops.
We will be doing retaining walls at the rear of our block and the use of these bags will make the whole job easier and safer as I will get the materials delivered and put in place by the excavator while it is still on site.

Reply
Dean Houlton
6/5/2018 19:56:31

As a landscaper those bag were great for to lift sands and soils onto the top of high rise buildings with safety.

Reply



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    Rick Heaton is a Building and Construction Industry professional with formal tertiary qualifications in management and training.

    With over 30 years assisting Owner Builders, he brings an easy style to providing information and advice to our students.

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