Buying sand/rock - tonnes versus cubic metres

[cardholder]

I can't get my head round the apparent pricing structure on tonnes and m3.

For example, for sand, I have been quoted 450 Bt/m3 from our local village merchant - free delivery.

I would have thought that a nearby quarry would have better so the missus got a figure of 350 Bt/tonne + transport (est 100 Baht per tonne).

I believe that there are approx 1.7 tonnes per M3.

Lets say 10 tonnes = 6 m3.

That makes the village merchant 2,700 Baht for 6 cu and the quarry (with transport) 4,500 Baht for 10 tonnes.

That doesn't seem right at all - in theory the quarry should be cheaper surely ?

Have I missed something ? Does anyone have any experiences ?

[cooked]

You get all sorts of weird stuff like this in Thailand. We pay around 450/M3 inclusive delivery. Maybe you are paying Farang price, were you visible when your wife asked for a quote? What about quality?

[wayned]

Sand will weigh between 1600 and 2000 kg/per M3 depending on the density and moisture content. I pay 400 baht/ton delivered, but the quarry is less than 1 kilometer away. They sell all of their products by the ton because they have a truck scale.

The local merchants sell it by the M3 because they have no scale. They use the bucket of the front loader to measure the M3 so there is no way to tell exactly how much you are getting. The bucket is supposed to hold 1M3.

I don't understand why the village merchant is so much cheaper. The merchants that sell it around where I live all buy it by the ton from the quarry and then resell it buy the M3, unless their front loader bucket is very small!

[JoePai]

Not sure about sand but 1 M3 of water weighs 1000kg = 1 Tonne

[cardholder]

Sand will weigh between 1600 and 2000 kg/per M3 depending on the density and moisture content. I pay 400 baht/ton delivered, but the quarry is less than 1 kilometer away. They sell all of their products by the ton because they have a truck scale.

The local merchants sell it by the M3 because they have no scale. They use the bucket of the front loader to measure the M3 so there is no way to tell exactly how much you are getting. The bucket is supposed to hold 1M3.

I don't understand why the village merchant is so much cheaper. The merchants that sell it around where I live all buy it by the ton from the quarry and then resell it buy the M3, unless their front loader bucket is very small!

It should not be possible that the village supplier can be cheaper than the quarry - I can only assume, as you say, the bucket dispenses something less than 1 m3.

cooked - no I was not around, the missus phoned the quarry which is about 15km away. I am getting the same price as you for one cu but I just can't accept that I can't get it cheaper direct from the quarry.

[JaiLai]

I have also gone straight to the quarry to try and get a deal but they are not interested, more expensive than the merchant which baffles me as well.

I have a quarry only about 5kms down the road, merchant about 12kms and he's cheaper.

Perhaps the quarry is only interested in larger quantities? who knows....

[wayned]

The quarries do like to deal with only larger quantities and with companies that pick it up in their own trucks. The minimum order where I get it is 10 tons, but since they are neighbors I can get any quantity that I want delivered by them at the same price as a large order. Next time I go to town I'll check the price at the building supply place just out of curiosity.