Is Bagged Concrete Better Than Ready Mixed Concrete?

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials, thanks to its extreme durability, weather resistance and low maintenance requirements, coupled with its affordability and ease of use. 

For use on a site, project managers can purchase concrete in one of two ways: bagged concrete or ready mixed concrete. 

If you’re planning on using concrete as part of your upcoming project, keep reading. 

Below, our concrete experts have outlined the differences between bagged concrete and ready mixed concrete, and explained why ready mixed concrete offers a far more convenient, efficient and effective solution. 

What are the differences between using bagged concrete and ready mixed concrete? 

Ready mixed concrete is (as its name suggests) concrete that has been pre-mixed before its delivery to your site. This means that, as soon as it has been delivered, the concrete is ready to be used. 

In comparison, bagged concrete requires you to add water, and mix the concrete yourself on your site. 

Bagged concrete is pre-mixed in the sense that it contains a packaged blend of cement, sand and aggregates. But, to successfully create the concrete, you need to add the correct volume of water, and then carefully, thoroughly mix it yourself. Usually, this is either done with a mixer, or in a wheelbarrow.

What are the benefits of using ready mixed concrete? 

In comparison, ready mixed concrete offers a much more streamlined, efficient and dependable solution. 

Ready mixed concrete is mixed in a controlled, specialist environment. Here, the proportions of the concrete mixture are weighed and combined to an extreme degree of accuracy. 

This means that, in almost all projects, using ready mixed concrete is the best way to secure a consistent, high quality finish, with concrete of the best possible performance standards. 

The benefits of opting for ready mixed concrete include: 

• Complete mixing precision and product uniformity 
• Consistent quality across the entire site 
• Higher concrete strength and durability 
• Lower on-site labour requirements 
• A far more efficient project timescale 
• Compliance with all applicable standards
• Utilising the skills of your team more effectively 
• Opportunities for customisation 
• Minimising wasted materials 
• Improved economies of scale 
• Increasing the safety standards on your site (particularly for staff that don’t have any experience mixing concrete) 

What are the disadvantages of using bagged concrete? 

The main issue with bagged concrete is that, in order for your concrete to achieve the right quality and performance standards, it needs to be mixed extremely carefully. 

To ensure complete consistency within the concrete mixture, the mixing process needs to be done as precisely as possible. This is because any variations in the concrete’s water content, mixing time, or even the mixing technique can affect its performance.

This means that, although it can be an effective option for very small projects, bagged concrete poses some considerable challenges. 

The main disadvantages of using bagged concrete are: 

• Low quality control 
• Inconsistencies in the concrete used across a site, resulting in poor uniformity 
• More labour-intensive 
• Inefficient, and can significantly extend the project timeline 
• Less cost-effective for medium-to-large projects
• Higher waste, as it is more difficult to estimate (and order) the exact amount of concrete that you need 
• Produces limited volumes, meaning it is not suitable for projects that require high volumes of concrete in one go (such as building foundations, for example)
• Makes up-scaling the project difficult 
• High risk of human error 
• High risk of compromising the concrete’s strength or durability

In conclusion, if you require concrete for an extremely small project (such as adding a concrete fence post), then you may find that bagged concrete is a cost-effective solution for this one-off task. 

However, in any other context (or any project where high quality concrete is imperative), ready mixed concrete offers a far more effective choice.

To find out more about ready mixed concrete and its benefits, or to order ready mixed concrete for your upcoming project, iMix Concrete’s expert team are on hand to help.