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Just finished a 10,000 square foot pour by myself for the first time
I've been finishing for about eight years now, mostly on crews. This week, the main guy on a warehouse floor job in Dayton got sick, and the boss looked at me and said, 'It's your show.' I was nervous the whole time, checking my edges and timing my bull float passes... but I got it done in a single day. The real win was when the inspector came by yesterday and ran his straightedge over it. He just nodded and said, 'Flat work.' No callbacks, no patches needed. It felt like a real step up, handling that much area solo and having it pass. Has anyone else had that moment where a big solo job just... clicked?
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tessalane7mo ago
Honestly, that's huge, congrats. Tbh that first big solo pour where everything goes right is the best feeling. I had a similar thing last fall with a big driveway, just me and the concrete truck driver, and getting that final nod from the client with no complaints just hits different. Makes all the stress worth it.
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miaprice6mo ago
Nice. That's a serious amount of ground to cover alone. I get what @the_shane is saying about one job not being the whole story, but man, getting that clean pass on something that big your first time running it has to feel solid.
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the_shane7mo ago
Gotta push back a bit. A single good pour doesn't make you a lead guy. Seen too many guys get one win, get cocky, and then mess up the next three jobs because they can't handle the real pressure of running a crew and a schedule. @tessalane mentions a driveway, but a warehouse floor is a whole different beast with way more risk for shrinkage cracks you won't see for weeks. Passing an initial inspection is the bare minimum, not the finish line.
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matthew8977mo ago
That warehouse floor comment from the_shane is spot on. I saw a 20,000 square foot pour last year where the initial inspection was perfect. Three months later, the whole center had spiderweb cracks from bad joint placement. @tessalane knows a driveway is forgiving. A commercial slab isn't. You need a guy who has messed up before and learned, not just a guy who got lucky once.
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