Concrete Pump Hire in Birmingham
Line and boom pumps with the operator included — and the concrete to go through them, batched on site by the same firm. One phone call, one schedule, across Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Line Pump Hire
A line pump sits at ground level and pushes concrete down a flexible hose — down the side passage, over the footpath, through the house if it comes to that. Where Birmingham's terraces keep the truck out on the street, the hose does the walking.
Line pumps are the workhorse for rear-garden slabs, extension footings and any pour the truck can't park next to. Everything runs at ground level, so there's nothing swinging overhead — and the hose can run hundreds of metres horizontally if the job demands it.
Line pump hire starts from £300 per job, which typically covers up to around four hours on site — enough for most domestic pours — with a trained operator included. On larger volume-priced jobs, pumping works out at roughly £15–£30 per m³ pumped. All prices +VAT, guide prices — confirmed when you book.
- Tight access, rear gardens, set-back plots — the hose goes where trucks can't
- From £300 per job, typically up to ~4 hours on site
- Trained operator included — you don't run the pump, we do
New to pumped pours? Our concrete pumping guide walks through how the day runs.
Boom Pump Hire
A boom pump is a lorry with an articulated arm. The boom goes up, over the wall, over the garage — tens of metres over obstacles that a ground hose would have to snake around — and places concrete exactly where it's wanted.
Booms earn their keep on big slabs, where one truck position covers the whole pour without anyone dragging hose across fresh concrete, and on jobs where the only way in is over the top of something.
Boom pump hire starts from £500 per day with the operator included. The biggest commercial booms in the wider market run £1,000+ a day — if your pour genuinely needs one of those, we'll say so and price it properly rather than squeeze the job through the wrong kit.
Do You Actually Need a Pump?
Plenty of pours don't need one, and we'd rather tell you that on the phone than charge you for kit you didn't need. The decision comes down to two things: access and volume.
Access first. A drum mixer's chute reaches about 2.75m from the back of the truck. Our volumetric trucks carry extension chutes reaching around 5m — which gets a surprising number of set-back pours done with no pump at all. If the chute reaches your formwork, you pour straight from the truck and save the hire.
If it doesn't reach, the fallback is the wheelbarrow — and here's the honest maths. Reckon on about 20 barrow loads per cubic metre, each one 100kg or more, and at least one barrow and one able adult per cubic metre to keep pace with the truck. Our drivers will discharge into barrows, but they don't push them. Beyond a couple of cubic metres, barrowing is misery — and a pump starts paying for itself fast.
Then volume. A pump moves roughly a cubic metre a minute, so a pour that would take a barrow gang all morning goes through a line pump before the tea's gone cold. Bigger pour, stronger case for the pump.
Send us a photo of the access through the quote form — it takes attachments — and tell us the volume; our concrete calculator will give you that in seconds. We'll tell you straight whether the chute, a barrow gang or a pump is the right call.
Pump and Concrete from One Phone Call
Hire from a pump-only firm and you're managing two suppliers. If the concrete's late, you're paying for a pump standing idle; if the pump's late, your concrete is getting older in a drum. We supply both — one phone call, one schedule, one firm responsible for the whole pour.
There's a quieter advantage too. Our volumetric trucks batch on site, at the pump's pace — drum concrete is racing a clock from the moment it's batched at the plant; ours isn't batched until it's at your site. And if the mix needs its workability adjusted for the pump, we do it properly at the point of batching, never by tipping water in on site, which weakens the mix.
You pay for the metered volume that actually goes through the hose — not a tonnage somebody guessed at last Tuesday. That's how all our concrete delivery works, pumped or poured.
Access: Where the Pump Stands
Pumps and concrete trucks are heavy plant, and five minutes on the phone about access saves an hour of head-scratching on the day. For scale: a loaded concrete truck runs roughly 8.5–9.5m long, about 2.55m wide (nearer 3.1m with mirrors), up to around 4.1m tall and up to 32 tonnes.
- Around 3m of clear width and 4–4.5m of overhead clearance to get in
- Firm standing that takes a heavy lorry — soft ground needs boards or plates
- Tell us about soft verges, manhole covers and finished drives — we plan around them
- Where the pump or truck has to stand on the public highway, we advise on and arrange any council permissions needed
When the pour's done, the washout is contained and leaves with us — nothing goes down a drain or into a canal, and you don't need to build us a washout pit. More on getting a site ready in our delivery preparation guide.
Pump Hire Prices
| Hire | Guide price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Line pump | From £300 per job | Trained operator; typically up to ~4 hours on site |
| Boom pump | From £500 per day | Trained operator; reach over walls and buildings |
| Volume-priced pumping | ~£15–£30 per m³ pumped | For larger metered pours — quoted per job |
| The concrete itself | From £99 per m³ by grade | Batched on site; you pay metered volume only |
All prices +VAT, guide prices — confirmed when you book. Concrete is priced separately by grade: see the ready mix concrete prices guide, and use the concrete calculator to get your volume right before you call.
Concrete Pump Hire FAQs
Is the operator included in the pump hire price?
Yes. Line and boom pumps both come with a trained operator, and our from-prices include them — line pumps from £300 per job, boom pumps from £500 per day, +VAT, guide prices confirmed when you book.
How fast does a concrete pump move concrete?
Roughly a cubic metre a minute. A pour that would take a barrow gang all morning goes through a pump in minutes, with the concrete placed exactly where it's wanted.
Can we just wheelbarrow the concrete instead?
For small volumes, yes. Reckon on about 20 barrow loads per cubic metre at 100kg or more each, and at least one barrow and one able adult per cubic metre to keep pace. Our drivers discharge into barrows but don't push them. Beyond a couple of cubic metres, barrowing is misery and a pump usually wins.
Does the pump need to stand on the road?
Sometimes — it depends where the firm standing is. Where the pump or truck has to stand on the public highway, we advise on and arrange any council permissions needed. Tell us about the access when you book and we plan around it.
How far can a concrete pump reach?
Line pumps push concrete through a ground-level hose that can run hundreds of metres horizontally. Boom pumps place concrete tens of metres up and over obstacles like walls, garages and buildings.
Do you supply the concrete as well as the pump?
Yes — that's the point of using us. One phone call books the pump and the concrete on one schedule, our volumetric truck batches on site at the pump's pace, and you pay for the metered volume that actually goes through the hose.
Pump, Concrete and a Straight Answer
Tell us the pour, the volume and the access — we'll tell you whether you need a pump at all, and price the whole job in one call. 7 days a week, 7am–5pm.