Concrete crushing can be a good way to add extra revenue to your business. Whether you’re looking to cut material costs or sell aggregate to buyers, it’s an in-demand market just waiting for you to jump on it. If you want to start selling recycled concrete, here’s how to jump-start the process.

What Tools Do You Need?

First, you need the right tools for the job. Concrete is heavy and needs breaking down, which calls for specific equipment. Start your crushing business off with:

  • A crusher: Pick from large, industrial-sized crushers or smaller mobile models. You need a crusher that fits your work volume and business style. If you’re more mobile, you need a smaller machine.
  • Screens: Screens help you sort crushed material. If you’re just crushing concrete for yourself, you might not need screens, but some customers like to buy materials of a specific size or grade.
  • Conveyor: Conveyors make moving material in and out easier. They also make sorting more convenient.
  • Hand tools: Small slabs and patios are easy to break into crusher-sized pieces and move with a sledgehammer and wheelbarrow.
  • Power tools: Use a jackhammer for faster breakage and bigger pieces. Concrete saws are also helpful for scoring lines and controlling the break on thicker pieces.
  • Heavy equipment: If you have a mini excavator or skid steer, you can easily break up large concrete sections. Just attach a breaker or hammer and load away.

Preparing Concrete for Crushing

Once you’ve got your crusher setup ready to go, it’s time to prep the material. Concrete needs prepping before you can feed it through the crusher. Clean, sorted concrete goes through smoother and does less damage to your machine. You need the right processing equipment to process and sell your product faster and for more money.

Assess the Material

What material are you working with? Curbs, sidewalks, slabs or footings are all crusher-worthy, but sometimes there’s other material mixed in. If your pile has dirt, bricks, asphalt, rebar or mixed debris, you need to separate it out. Reinforced concrete with mesh or rebar can still be crushed, but you’ll need to handle metal cleanup after processing. Investing in a conveyor makes sorting through material easier. Magnets are also great for pulling out metal.

Prepping the Material-Break it up!

Concrete needs to be the right size before you can crush it. Sending a full-size slab through won’t work, all but the largest crushers require prepping of the input material. Everyone wants a crusher that allows you to put a big slab in one end and get that valuable small material output. Crushing concrete is similar to milling steel, you have to do it in stages depending on the starting size and desired finished product size. Larger crushers can handle bigger input size, but can start at $300-$400K even for entry level traditional smaller crushers. They generally produce more tons per hour but can not produce material much smaller than 3-5″ or so without reprocessing or running the material through a final crusher. There are crushing systems that can do this, but they utilize several crushers in the process and can easily approach a million dollars plus in cost depending on the tons per hour and output size desired.

This is why until just recently with the emergence of smaller, more affordable, and even portable crushers such as Senya Crushers, the small to mid-sized contractor has not traditionally processed their own demo material or needed aggregate.

Another major advantage of these type crushers in addition to being able to process on-site, is their ability to produce those smaller sizes of material from 3″-1/2″ even that are so valuable and in such demand in the construction business. With the advent of these type crushers, the “little guy” can now process themselves and save/make considerable money doing so by reducing or even completely eliminating all demo disposal/transportations costs as well as aggregate transportation/purchase costs.

Prepping material is a key part of the process determining the speed and therefore profitability of your crushing operation. Regardless of your method, the savings in processing material on-site can be huge.

Decide on your prepping material method

Most processors use jackhammers or heavy equipment with breakers to bust up material. The standard method is with a hydraulic hammer on a backhoe or excavator. Skid-steers are a great option giving a lot of dexterity being right on top of the material and also the advantage of low operating costs.

Pulverizer jaws are a great option allowing for prepping the quickest, a prime consideration, but may have more up front cost than a breaker/hammer as well as the cost to operate the larger machinery required to give the crushing power the pulverizer jaw requires.

Some even offer a magnetic option that lets you sweep the pile to remove as much rebar and wire as possible before crushing. The more metal removed the faster your crusher will process, as well as reducing wear and tear on your jaw plates though most well built crushers can handle it easily.

Saw-cutting edges are also an option. Regardless of how you do it, you just need reasonably sized pieces for feeding. You want clean, consistent pieces running through your crusher. Learning how to break up cement takes practice, but you’ll soon figure out what size your machine prefers as well as the most efficient way to do it with the equipment you have to work with.

The Crushing Process: Step-by-Step

Now that you’ve prepped your concrete, it’s time to make some money. Crushing concrete isn’t complicated, but there’s a process you need to follow if you want the best product. Here’s how to break up concrete:

1. Sort and Stage

A tidy site is an efficient site — separate clean concrete from trash, dirt, big metal and asphalt. If you’re working with reinforced concrete, remove as much exposed rebar as you can before crushing. It makes the process easier. Use a magnet and a separate pile of metal to keep everything sorted. Once your concrete is sorted and cleaned, you can feed it to the crusher.

2. Feed the Machine

Load your material into the crusher’s hopper. Avoid overfeeding the machine — this can increase wear and slow the process down. Stick to the material size the manufacturer recommends and use steady, controlled feeding to send material through. Portable crushers are designed for efficiency, but feeding too fast or with material to big can cause jams.

3. Keep Crushing

Let the crusher do its job. Crushed material should come out of the bottom and onto a conveyor. Keep feeding until you run out of room or material. Depending on your end goal, you’ll either pile your material up or feed it into a screen plant.

4. Screen for Size

You’ll need to screen after crushing if you want to sell aggregate by size. A screening plant will let you easily sort your output into multiple grades. Contractors, landscapers and other buyers may want a specific, consistent-sized product. If you have enough demand for different grades, invest in a screen and start sorting. The value of screened material is considerably higher. Senya Crushers offers the companion SP-1 MICRO screen plant to their MICRO Crusher lineup allowing you to produce the size needed for the job on-site for that highly profitable crush on site business model. Don’t overlook the fact that the small jobs can be the most profitable utilizing machinery like Senya’s MICRO Plant, a literal “quarry on wheels”.

5. Sell

Reach out to customers and start selling your product. You can create size-based stockpiles or load up your aggregate and take it to the site directly. If you’re just crushing for your business, you’ve successfully cut out the intermediary and saved yourself material costs.

Look at the local market and price your aggregate based on the competition. You don’t want to price your material too high, or no one will buy it. Research the competition and your potential customers to see what people are willing to pay based on size and volume. You should also consider investing in a website and some marketing material to help spread the word about your services.

Tips for Efficient Crushing

Once you’ve started crushing, you could stop there. Or, you could make your crushing process as efficient as possible. The more efficient your crushing, the easier it is to make money without adding extra work. Use these tips to get the most value out of your operation:

  1. Pick the right size: Get a machine that fits your budget and needs. Overspending on a large machine can leave you in debt and with little demand. Invest in a portable crusher matched to your output and get financing if needed to start profiting earlier.
  2. Know the demand: Is there demand for crushed concrete in your area? What kind of demand is it? You want to start a crushing business in an area with lots of work. Make sure you have potential customers before you start, or you can crush for your own projects.
  3. Invest in reliable equipment: Get trusted equipment from a reliable dealer. High-quality machines backed by expert support will last longer and perform better.
  4. Use clean concrete: Make sure you only feed clean concrete into your crusher. Trash, heavy rebar and mixed materials can compromise your aggregate quality and wear down your equipment. Clean material processes faster and sells better.
  5. Remember maintenance: Regular maintenance is critical for saving money and protecting equipment. Neglecting maintenance leads to expensive emergency repairs and downtime. Grease and inspect equipment, and keep replacement parts on hand to stay productive.
  6. Control the feed: Avoid overloading the hopper and dumping irregular chunks inside. Steady feeding keeps your crusher effective and ensures good results.

Build Your Crushing Business With Senya Crushers

If you’re serious about turning concrete into cash, you need a partner who can help you find success. Senya Crushers is a pioneer in the MICRO crushing business. Our electric, USA-made crushers are built on USA Department of Transportation-approved chassis and built for minimum maintenance. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale up your crushing abilities, we can help. Senya Crushers offers unmatched customer service, in-person training and a full line of gear to get you going. Get in touch with us to see how we can help you CRUSH IT for BIG $$$$$$$! Check out exactly how much $$$ here with our cashflow calculator to see how much money there truly is to be made crushing with Senya Crushers!!!