Slatted tank cost

MI5

Hi,

Just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. Planning on building a slatted house. Three bay with lying area at the back for suckler cows.
I have got a quote of €6k per bay for 12foot 6inch tank.Thats €18k for the tank. This includes everything from digging out, to construction of the tank including concrete and backfilling but excluding the slats. Concrete slab for the lying / creep area is excluded from that cost.

How does that sound?

Appreciate any pointers here.

Thanks

Slidey

Moved to Farming and Forestry.

Welcome to Boards by the way!

Landys

Hi

When you say 6k per bay do you mean for the tank and shed over it plus all barriers etc . If not you are being robbed.

If you have no rock 1000 will dig your tank and back fill easy. A 3 bay 12 6 tank will take 40m of concrete (foot walls all round and 9 inch floor), 2500 excl Vat, steel will cost 1000 plus maybe 300 to tie it and maybe 2500 labour on your tank for shuttering & pouring etc. These lads dont charge for supplying the shutter anymore as they have no work for them , slats will cost you 3000 excl vat.

You should have your tank down backfilled and slats on it for 10,300 or 7,300 without the slats .Any one that quoted you 18 k is trying to rob you blind. These figures are all based on work i got carried out this year for exact same type of shed.

Hope this helps.

Bitten & Hisses

This is a "Back of a fag box" type calculation.

Excavation, excluding drawing away: Allow 2 good days with a machine (assuming it's not a tricky site), should be less than a grand. If your contractor has included tractors and trailers, you'd need to add that in. Backfilling should be done in a day. Allow €2 grand for this element to be safe.
I estimate approx 35 cubic metres of concrete for your tank. I haven't bought 35N concrete for a bit, but it was €85 including VAT per metre in 2007. That's a cost of €3K approx. Allow €2K for steel, which should more than cover it. That's €7K so far. Is the labour worth €11K? (I'm rushing here, so please don't lynch me if I've made a mistake on my sums )
If I was doing the job, I'd supply all the materials myself and get the contractor to price the labour element only.

Edit: Feck you and your nimble fingers Landys!

MI5

Thanks guys. Glad I asked a few questions.
To be clear the €6k per bay is tank alone including excavation, backfill, shttering, steel, concrete and labour.
I guess, I need to price the concrete myself before going any further. I'm 22 miles from nearest concrete plant, which may not be the greatest help.

Anyway, lesson is direct labour is the way to go.

Was thinking of putting a 4 bay shed over the 3 bay tank so as to have an integrated calving pen which I would bed with straw. This would mean NOT having an agitation point outside the shed at that end. In fact I am alco considering having the shed right out to the end of the slats on the other end also!!
Was sort of planning one agitation point in the middle of the middle pen.
Easy to access as it is single shed.
Would that be a problem for methane gas at agitate time, or should it be ok, considering it is an open shed all along one side.

MI5

vanderbadger

leave agitation points outside shed anyway, anything else is a disaster

irish_bob

MI5 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. Planning on building a slatted house. Three bay with lying area at the back for suckler cows.
I have got a quote of €6k per bay for 12foot 6inch tank.Thats €18k for the tank. This includes everything from digging out, to construction of the tank including concrete and backfilling but excluding the slats. Concrete slab for the lying / creep area is excluded from that cost.

How does that sound?

Appreciate any pointers here.

Thanks

sounds extremley expensive for the year thats in it , id be looking harder if i was you

adne

MI5 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. Planning on building a slatted house. Three bay with lying area at the back for suckler cows.
I have got a quote of €6k per bay for 12foot 6inch tank.Thats €18k for the tank. This includes everything from digging out, to construction of the tank including concrete and backfilling but excluding the slats. Concrete slab for the lying / creep area is excluded from that cost.

How does that sound?

Appreciate any pointers here.

Thanks

thats day light robbery.... I got 3 Bay 12 ' 6 " Tank in excluding digging out and backfilling for 9K in Aug 08 and that was when these guys were in demand and prices were high

Bitten & Hisses

MI5 wrote: »

Thanks guys. Glad I asked a few questions.
To be clear the €6k per bay is tank alone including excavation, backfill, shttering, steel, concrete and labour.
I guess, I need to price the concrete myself before going any further. I'm 22 miles from nearest concrete plant, which may not be the greatest help.

Anyway, lesson is direct labour is the way to go.

Was thinking of putting a 4 bay shed over the 3 bay tank so as to have an integrated calving pen which I would bed with straw. This would mean NOT having an agitation point outside the shed at that end. In fact I am alco considering having the shed right out to the end of the slats on the other end also!!
Was sort of planning one agitation point in the middle of the middle pen.
Easy to access as it is single shed.
Would that be a problem for methane gas at agitate time, or should it be ok, considering it is an open shed all along one side.

MI5

Being 22 miles from a concrete plant shouldn't be a problem for you. My concrete was delivered at least that distance when I was doing my job.
Secondly, don't lay out your shed the way you describe as you'll most likely get gassed when you go agitating. Why not go the conventional route and build a 4-bay tank under a 4-bay shed, or else keep the tank to one side of your shed (have the 4th bay straw bedded or something) and have one agitation point outdoors.
Either way, go on the Department of Agriculture website and look at the minimum specifications for buildings. This will send you in the right direction.

F.D

I Got a quote for a 4 bay slatted shed 14.6 ft slats, with a barrier along the back to feed meal and behind that a cattle crush along the back wall,
it will have a 20 ft feed passage, there will be a shed to cover this also it will be open on one side where it joins another shed, for the whole job, dug out wired, etc ready to move into 43 k all we would have to buy is slat mats afterwords if we want them, does this sound good or bad?

morning delight

F.D wrote: »

I Got a quote for a 4 bay slatted shed 14.6 ft slats, with a barrier along the back to feed meal and behind that a cattle crush along the back wall,
it will have a 20 ft feed passage, there will be a shed to cover this also it will be open on one side where it joins another shed, for the whole job, dug out wired, etc ready to move into 43 k all we would have to buy is slat mats afterwords if we want them, does this sound good or bad?

Sounds good to me if it done to Department spec. I'll be interested to see what others think

MI5

F.D wrote: »

I Got a quote for a 4 bay slatted shed 14.6 ft slats, with a barrier along the back to feed meal and behind that a cattle crush along the back wall,
it will have a 20 ft feed passage, there will be a shed to cover this also it will be open on one side where it joins another shed, for the whole job, dug out wired, etc ready to move into 43 k all we would have to buy is slat mats afterwords if we want them, does this sound good or bad?

Do you mean a 4 bay single?
Based on the figures given by a few guys above it seems expensive.

As I said in the first post above I was quoted €18k for a 3 bay single 12.5ft tank without the slats!!
Just got quote this morning for the concrete at €70 per meter. VAT is payable on top of that.
Allowing 40 meters for the tank (concrete rep told me 38 mtrs would cover it) the concrete would cost €2800.
So based on that and input from a few other posters, I would hope to finish a 4 bay tank, plus shed with canopy and all barriers and gates and water / electricity for somewhere between €24k and €26k.
Maybe I'm under stating it now, but it's looking a lot healthier than the crazy quote I got for the 3 bay tank at €18k.

MI5

kulchie

I got a builder to put in a tank to suit a 12ft 6 slat(excavate, pour, backfill) in front of 2 bays of a hay shed, 12in walls, 12 in steel spacings, 8ft deep plus feed passage plus finishing for 13k.

I found that different builders quoted totally different. some were going to put in very little or no steel, others quoted just for the tank-no excavation, some were hooked in with slat suppliers. In the end I decided to go with a builder that had all his own gear, excavator, shuttering etc to make it easy to manage & to source the slats myself.

F.D

hi m15 yes a 4 bay single Thinking about it and looking at landys figures, tank should only be around the 14 k mark, so i'll just have to see what a 60 x 40 shed costs and the Crush, race, barriers etc and all conc for walls and see if it makes up the other 30k

MI5

F.D wrote: »

hi m15 yes a 4 bay single Thinking about it and looking at landys figures, tank should only be around the 14 k mark, so i'll just have to see what a 60 x 40 shed costs and the Crush, race, barriers etc and all conc for walls and see if it makes up the other 30k

Got shed quote this morning. Based on dipped steel and grant spec sheeting, 4 bay single side shed covering 12 foot 6 inch slatted tank with 14 foot creep area at the back and 8 foot cannopy at the front. Height at eaves at the back (over the creep area) = 12 feet to allow tractor access for mucking out purposes. Sheeted down to back wall and 2 end walls.
total cost erected €11.5k. If I chose an A frame style to cover two tanks and 16 foot passage cost would be €12.7. All numbers exclude VAT.

Now I have one question more for you guys who have built and used such sheds.
Who would recommend single sided shed over the closed in A frame types.
I'm leaning twoards the single open style, for better ventilation etc,.
Then again, can those be too draughty for calves lying in the creep at the back?

Bitten & Hisses

That sounds pretty good for galvanised steelwork. When I was building mine, I went for a fully closed-in structure with spaced sheeting on the roof and vented cladding all around the "perimeter" of the building to ensure adequate ventilation. Keep your feeding passage and creep doors tall and wide as they can never be too big.

blarneyone

excuse the ignorance, but what is the creep area?

DanFindy

blarneyone wrote: »

excuse the ignorance, but what is the creep area?

An area for calves to go into themselves, creep meaning the barrier is too low to allow cows into that area

MI5

Just one final question on this slatted tank business. What is the difference between the grant specification and standard spec in reinforcing steel for walls and floors.
Is it just that there is more steel used per foot for grant spec to give greater strength or is there more to it?

Secondly, is it generally accepted that the grant spec is overkill, and the pre grant standard spec should be fine.

Thanks

morning delight

MI5 wrote: »

Just one final question on this slatted tank business. What is the difference between the grant specification and standard spec in reinforcing steel for walls and floors.
Is it just that there is more steel used per foot for grant spec to give greater strength or is there more to it?

Secondly, is it generally accepted that the grant spec is overkill, and the pre grant standard spec should be fine.

Thanks

For dept spec the steel in hot dipped and galvanised. Lesser spec the steel is just painted. The galvanised stuff lasts longer, especially if you've an exposed site or beside the coast.

MI5

morning delight wrote: »

For dept spec the steel in hot dipped and galvanised. Lesser spec the steel is just painted. The galvanised stuff lasts longer, especially if you've an exposed site or beside the coast.

I'm speaking about the reinforcing steel in the concrete walls, both tank and top walls, not the actual shed frame.

MI5

pakalasa

MI5 wrote: »

Just one final question on this slatted tank business. What is the difference between the grant specification and standard spec in reinforcing steel for walls and floors.
Is it just that there is more steel used per foot for grant spec to give greater strength or is there more to it?

Secondly, is it generally accepted that the grant spec is overkill, and the pre grant standard spec should be fine.

Thanks

That was my understanding.
If it was me I'd still stick with the Dept Spec, the last thing you want is a cracked tank. Builder s may tell you you'd get away with less steel, but are they qualified to make that call. They may be making tanks for years without problems, but who's to say that yours doesn't give problems.
Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension, it is the steel that gives it tension (pull apart) strength.

Bitten & Hisses

morning delight wrote: »

For dept spec the steel in hot dipped and galvanised. Lesser spec the steel is just painted. The galvanised stuff lasts longer, especially if you've an exposed site or beside the coast.

Incorrect. Structural steel can be either shotblasted, primed and painted or alternatively galvanised to comply with Department Specifications.

blue5000

ballpark cost for tank 12'6 slat, 8' deep incl slats 200e per foot run. add 40e per foot run for dept spec re-inforcing in tank. head rail and shed is extra. thats incl digging out, back filling,rock is extra, did 100 foot tank with mid wall last autumn would recommend croom concrete for slats. Shop around