01
Rejected loads
Lost material, replacement production, disposal, driver time, and a customer problem—all from one yard that never gets paid for.
Ready-mix operations, stripped down
I find the yards you're losing money on.
Practical operations help for small and startup ready-mix plants—built around cost per yard, truck turns, maintenance, staffing, and the work happening between the ticket and the wash rack.
Use it in your browser or download the Excel workbook · no email required
Operating loss mapPlant → truck → job
Find the leakFix the processHold the gain
Where the money leaks
Small misses become expensive habits.
The problem usually isn't one dramatic failure. It's the same avoidable loss repeating load after load.
02
Trucks idling
Fuel is only the visible cost. Low turns spread wages, leases, insurance, and maintenance over fewer delivered yards.
03
Dirty drums & washout
Buildup steals capacity, adds weight, increases fuel use, and turns routine cleaning into an out-of-service repair.
04
Batch weights running heavy
A small over-batch repeated all month is material given away without a ticket or a margin.
05
Scheduling gaps
Poor spacing creates lines at the plant, lines at the pump, and empty windows when the operation should be turning.
06
Chute buildup
Skipped cleanup becomes extra weight, unsafe handling, downtime, and a bigger job tomorrow.
07
Skipped DVIRs
A rushed inspection lets small defects become roadside failures, lost production, and preventable safety exposure.
COST PER YARD — QUICK CALCULATOR
Enter one period. Results update as you type.
Revenue / yard—
Total cost / yard—
Contribution / yard—
Contribution margin—
Free cost-per-yard tracker
Totals hide it. Per-yard numbers expose it.
Start with one month. Enter yards, revenue, materials, labor, fleet, plant, overhead, and rejection costs. The workbook calculates the lines that show whether the operation is actually getting tighter.
- Blank input sheet with protected-by-design formulas
- Revenue, cost, contribution, and margin per yard
- Plain-English instructions for comparing periods
On a phone, use the calculator above or download your results as a CSV. The Excel workbook is best opened in Excel or Google Sheets.
The 48-hour operations audit
Stop guessing where the margin went.
Send the operating numbers and the way the work actually moves. Within 48 hours, get a written findings report that names the biggest leaks, the evidence behind them, and the first fixes worth making.
$1,500–$2,500
Flat fee, based on scope. Confirmed before work starts.
01Cost-per-yard breakdownRevenue, material, labor, fleet, plant, overhead
02Dispatch & truck utilizationTurns, idle time, spacing, wait points
03Maintenance gapsInspection, PM, washout, downtime patterns
04Staffing & trainingCoverage, accountability, low-cost development
05Written action reportPrioritized fixes, owners, next checkpoints
Ask about an audit
Confidential conversation first. You decide what data leaves your operation.
Why RMXOPS
20+ years. Every layer of the operation.
Built in the yard, not the boardroom.
The operator behind RMXOPS started behind the wheel of a mixer truck, then worked through dispatch, batch, lab, and plant management before running multi-location operations across Oklahoma, Arizona, Tennessee, and the Midwest.
He holds ACI and NRMCA certifications. But the lessons that matter were learned on the yard—where a delayed truck, a heavy batch, a missed inspection, and a bad habit all show up in cost per yard.
That range keeps the promise simple: find the yards you're losing money on.
Proof, not promises.
Selected operating scope and outcomes from more than two decades in ready-mix.
$3M+ in annual costs eliminated
Across a five-plant ready-mix operation. Cut cost per yard by nearly $4 while growing gross profit on lower volume.
490,000 to 530,000+ yards
Ran operations across 4 locations and 5 plants, growing annual output while earning national safety recognition at every site.
Recognition across all four sites
Built a safety culture that earned the NRMCA Excellence in Safety Award in a single year, plus multiple national plant achievement awards.
120,000–140,000 to 180,000 yards
Helped scale a regional producer from 120,000–140,000 to 180,000 yards a year—including the installation of two new concrete plants and the relocation of a third.
6 plants and 3 pugmills
Directed mobile operations across multiple project sites, including mobilization, setup, operation, and teardown.
6 locations under one scope
Managed fleet maintenance, plant maintenance, and materials across six locations—the core responsibility—keeping reliability, supply, vendors, and operating costs aligned.
Field notes & contact
See the work. Then talk shop.
Follow practical ready-mix operations content, or send the basics of the operation you want reviewed.