Productivity?

Concrete Construction, Sept, 2006

February 1975

Q. Lately we have had contractors placing too large an area of concrete floor slabs, so that finishers are not able to properly finish it before it rains or darkness falls. Is there any rule of thumb about the number of finishers required to finish a given area of concrete?

A. We have not been able to find any. The amount of time that must be spent waiting for a slab of concrete to be finishable varies widely with the concrete mix, the slab thickness, the ambient temperature, and other variables. Furthermore, the amount of work that must be done will depend on the total number of steel trowelings required. In some parts of the country it seems to be acknowledged that 500 square feet of floor per man is a big day's work, although in New York City 1000 square feet with a fairly good trowel finish is not unusual.

[In 2006, a finishing crew with a laser screed and riding trowels can easily finish more than 3000 square feet/man/day.]