Eric and Eldon,
I can't help wondering: Why do you think your common experience with GCs seems to one of conflict and/or frustration?

For 20' walls why not use tilt up? You can use a knockdown block on your placing slab on bottom and pour over it. You could also use lite deck or build deck. You have the expense of a crane to tilt the panels but you don't have to have bracing up to 20'. You would still have the insulation and attachment points on one side and a concrete face on the other. You could finish the concrete in a lot of different ways depending on what you want. To form walls to 20' feet and then have to strip one side no matter how you do it would seem counter productive. You also may be able to get away without using a pump for the tilt panels so that would be another price savings.

Bruce :

The most commonly asked question by GC's of me is "when are you pouring ?"

To-day it is more about the flow of money for the GC  than anything else.
A sub is expected to be another line of credit for the GC. Work today is paid in 45 to 90.
"Pay when paid" contractors are hard to avoid, so yes I am jaded :-)

Instant gratification, wrap around sunglasses and cell phones in the ear constantly, are a signal to me.
All about the money types , nickle and dime , without any formal trades training or experience.
Therefore , a lack of understanding of trade requirements and logistics to expedite the work efficiently.

Even being selective about who you work for will be a trade-off of some kind :-)

Does this constitute a thread hi-jacking ?
 
The taller the wall, the more efficient tilt-up becomes...not to knock ICF's :-)

TexasICF :

Great pics. Those are challenging pieces of work !

I dunno..the oxide on the blockwork tells me it didn't go that fast..........
or does stuff just degrade that much quicker the closer to the Equator you get :-)

Share away..this site lacks jobsite pictures in a big way , always something to learn.Cheers.

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__________
SIPs

Tex, That is a nice piece of work, particularly considering those little blocks you used.

Eric, I don't know about you, but I do this for the money. I have other hobbies.

Eric's, GC story is daily life for me.
I know that both the G.C. and myself make mistakes. But when the G.C. doesn’t pay on time, witch tends to be more common these days. That causes me funding problems and requires us to increase our line of credit just to make pay role. It lowers profits.  In short it feels like were are funding these projects.

Funding the project is exactly what you're doing. Or at least subsidizing that GC's cash flow and saving him from having to draw down on his own LOC. I hear this all the time. In a tough economy it's hard to find where to apply the leverage to speed up payments. One approach is to make sure you get the install done as quickly as possible. Some GCs tell me that they feel installers put fewer guys on the crew and work slower just to keep their key guys working and that they don't seem to care how long the job takes.

Eric, The first pour was to 15' (8 days). Then steel installation guys came in and the ICF crew went on to other jobs for two months or more. Not the steel install process was that slow they just kept delivering the wrong stuff and ordering corrections. 2nd pour was 15' to 40' -- had pour holes and vibration holes (this was about 3 years ago but as I recall it took about 10 days). Bruce, 12 square feet per block is big enough for speed without slowing things down for typical horizontal rebar placement. If you believe your products are faster feel free to post a timelapse of your own. Regards.

test

Texas :
I knew i was pulling your leg a bit :-)
Sounds like the jobs we get on where the shop drawings fly through, get fabricated, and then the Super with the wrap around sunglasses finds the phuck up, blames the sub, screws up your scheduling on your other jobs, makes you wait months to get back on his work, and prevents you from taking that gravy job that just rolled in, 'cause he's gonna need you same time.

Bruce, I envy GC's who only write 12 cheques a year to their subs ( who are providing them with interest free credit :-
How often do you get a General who offers to share some gravy, when he gets a really highly proftable job ?
Pretty rare occurance, huh?

More likley to ask you to shave your price, 'cause the jobs tight.

Here's what I concluded years ago from my observations about contractors' profits. They figure out what the job should cost, and then add their desired profit margin. At the end of the job they do the accounting. If the profit margin is greater than planned, they made money on the job. If the profit comes in less than was planned, they lost money. That's how contractors can lose money year after year on every job and still drive new pickups!!

LOL dmac!

You know how to make sure the GC's pay on time? Don't work for the bums and support the GC that believe in team work ;-) As long as the trades want to support the bums, the good GC won't get the jobs because they do allow for financing. I tend to get the best trades at good prices because we pay in 15 days but we do loss the odd job to a low baller. We can always blame each other but if we want better we had better learn to work together. When the GC says the job is ready he better make sure it is really ready and when the trades say they will be there they need to be there. Life is to short to waste time and energy belly aching. If you can smile on the job you shouldn't be there!