FAQs

Find a career as a Concrete Delivery Professional (CDP) intriguing, but worried about heavy-lifting? Truck technology has advanced to really help CDPs in this regard.

Power Chutes, Hydraulic Chute Assists, Foldback Chutes, Improved Chute Locks, Remote Chute Lifters are just a few of many examples of how ready-mix trucks are rapidly-evolving to support a CDP to #BuildYourLife in a #ConcreteCareer. Talk to your hiring producer member to learn more!

Generally, a driver has to be able to lift up to 45lbs (approximately 2 large case of water) occasionally.

In Ontario an AZ or DZ license is required to operate a ready-mixed concrete truck.

According to DriveTest from the Ontario Government (https://drivetest.ca/licences/drivers-licences-commercial.html):

• Class A: Any truck/tractor-trailer or combination of motor vehicle and towed vehicles where the towed vehicles exceed a total gross weight of 4,600 kilograms. Class A license holders may also drive vehicles in Classes D, G, and A with condition (R). A Class A license does not permit you to drive a bus carrying passengers, a motorcycle, or a moped.
• Class D: Any truck or motor vehicle combination exceeding 11,000 kg, provided the towed vehicle is not over 4,600 kg. Class D license holders may also drive a vehicle in Class G. A Class D license does not permit you to drive a bus carrying passengers, a motorcycle, or a moped.
• Z Endorsement: A Z air brake endorsement is required on a driver’s license to operate any air-brake-equipped motor vehicle. The Z endorsement can be combined with any of the class A, B, C, D, E, F, or G licenses.

#SafetyMatters

The Ontario Construction and Concrete Industries are very committed to safety. In fact the Concrete Ontario Association and its members truly believe that #SafetyMatters and the job isn’t done until all employees make it home safely every night. This means committed to your safety as a Concrete Delivery Professional and committed to the safety of other construction professionals and public around you.

Examples of governing safety standards in the industry include:

• Ministry of Labour regulations
• WSIB regulations
• IHSA regulations
• Ministry of Transportation regulations

The Concrete industry also provides leadership on safety through the construction industry through its voice at Concrete Ontario. Examples of Concrete-industry driven safety best practices can be found here: https://www.rmcao.org/publications/safety/.

You can expect that you will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment daily, including but potentially not limited to:

• High-visibility safety vest
• Approved steel toed boots
• Protective eye wear
• Approved hard hat

As a Concrete Delivery Professional for a Concrete Ontario member, your hiring producer will provide you with the safety training required to make sure you have the knowledge to keep you, your colleagues, our customers, and our communities safe.

Ask hiring producers directly for more details on their offering of safety training and equipment.

Day-to-Day you might expect some and/or all of the following physical requirements. Please note that there is some variation based on hiring producer’s expectations, policies, and equipment:

• Getting in and out of the cab of your vehicle unassisted both at your home plant as well as on site / delivery locations
• Climbing up the ladder to the hopper on your truck to inspect and maintain concrete loads, and washing out after
• Each concrete truck has up to 3 additional concrete chutes that can extend the concrete placement range of the vehicle. These chutes weigh approximately 20 kg each
• Conduct daily circle checks of the mechanical and electrical systems on your truck to ensure safe use.
• Accessing various types of construction sites. While site conditions can vary from paved surfaces to native soil conditions on rural sites, the construction sites must be stable enough to safely support a heavy construction vehicle and be properly graded to avoid tripping hazards as you work around the concrete truck.

A day-in-the-life of a Concrete Delivery Professional driver might look like:

• Start the day with an inspection of your truck
• Get assigned a load to deliver, drive the truck to the loading point per your plant supervisor’s instructions and get loaded, rinse off the outside of your truck before leaving the yard
• Work with your plant operations and quality team to ensure quality of product
• Deliver the load to the customer site and follow the customer’s off-loading instructions, while respecting your employer producer’s policies for your safety and quality (seeing a variety of interesting different types of construction and projects in the process)
• Return to the plant for your next load, providing to your plant team any feedback based on your last delivery
• On a regular / typical day you may see anywhere from 3 to 6 loads
• Clean out your truck at the end of the day per your company’s policies
• Get home safely every night

Concrete Delivery Professionals make a great living in Ontario.

Not only are base rates very competitive, the TOTAL COMPENSATION packages are often extremely attractive.

Many hiring producers are committed to support their teams both in planning for now and planning for the future. There are great benefit packages available that include medical, dental, pension, retirement savings top ups, and others.

Full-time Concrete Deliver Professionals earn a very good living. Base pay and hours typically increase with seniority, and there is steady overtime available. This is before considerations for the true financial value of the great benefits offered by many hiring producers including medical, pension, retirement savings, vacation pay, training, and other benefits, considered in the “Total Comp Wage”* examples below.

Base Hourly rates and Total Compensation packages vary by geography and by hiring producer, but here’s some general ideas to help you understand what might be available to you when you choose to #BuildYourLife with a rewarding career as a Concrete Deliver Professional:

Overtime rules vary by producer. Some examples may be:

• OT over 44 hours
• Bonus for hours on Sundays

Ready-mix concrete has a shelf-life of approximately 2 hours, meaning it must be delivered locally. Concrete Delivery Professionals can expect to be home every night allowing for a crucial work/life balance. Hours in the “busy season” can be long – but bring with them opportunities for great earnings. Winter seasons – pending levels of construction activity – can be lighter, with many Concrete Delivery Professionals choosing this as a good time to take vacation time.

Speak to your hiring producer about this topic if of importance. Some producers have policies around closing for certain holidays / long weekends / etc to support work-life balance for their employees.

On top of the attractive compensation described in another FAQ answer, being a Concrete Delivery Professional comes with some pretty great intangible benefits that are all about how you feel going home at the end of a rewarding day’s work:

• Direct involvement with the major construction projects in your community ~ it’s a pretty great sense of pride to be involved with building important, landmark projects around you
• Learning, Growing, Never getting bored ~ allows for the expansion of your technical knowledge regarding construction and provides you with additional skills outside of driving a commercial motor vehicle
• The ability to positively interact and support the efforts of the local contractors in your community
• You work and collaborate with a great plant team every day
• Driving is typically limited to a 60-minute driving radius around the concrete plant out of which you are working.
• You have a healthy balance of time behind the wheel, at the plant, and at construction sites.
• Home every night
• No need to own your own equipment – takes a ton of risk & worry off your shoulders
• No unrealistic or unsafe delivery quotas ~ this industry has best practices and policies that put safety first cause #SafetyMatters

The Concrete Industry is truly an industry that cares. Among other things, our members care about Safety, about Community, and about the Planet.

#SafetyMatters –

The Ontario Construction and Concrete Industries are very committed to safety. In fact the Concrete Ontario Association and its members truly believe that #SafetyMatters and the job isn’t done until all employees make it home safely every night. This means committed to your safety as a Concrete Delivery Professional and committed to the safety of other construction professionals and public around you. There are great details on this in the FAQ “What are the safety standards in the industry?”

The Concrete industry also provides leadership on safety through the construction industry through its voice at Concrete Ontario. Examples of Concrete-industry driven safety best practices can be found here: https://www.rmcao.org/publications/safety/ and also www.passtruckssafely.ca

#Camp Ooch & community-giving –
Childhood cancer changes lives. So does camp. Camp Ooch & Camp Trillium (merged in 2020) is a privately funded charity that brings laughter and joy to kids and families affected by childhood cancer. Year-round community, in-hospital and overnight camp programs deliver fun, friendship and a sense of community at any stage of a childhood cancer journey.
The ready-mixed concrete industry has been supporting Camp Oochigeas for over 37 years, with an incredible $820,000 donated over that time.

Even through the intense times of CoVID, our members have risen to the challenge and put community first. Whether it was continued support of Camp Oochigeas, donations of N95 masks to their local hospitals, supporting locations for CoVID vaccination clinics, extra donations to the food banks to those in need, or continued support of the MANY local charities to whom individual members offer support each and every year, don’t hesitate to ask your hiring producer member how they support their local community. They all will have great inspiring stories to tell.

#ConcreteFuture –

The Global Cement & Concrete industries have made transparent commitments to NetZero concrete by 2050. While other heavy or building material industries may be avoiding and/or denying this topic, we’re proud to be part of not only a global industry that has a committed path to a better planet, but also a Canadian Cement & Concrete industry who additionally has made a notable 2030 ambition for reduction of CO2 as well. We’re proud of our industry. Transparent. Committed. Resilient. Sustainable.

The ready-mixed concrete industry is a dynamic vibrant industry in all corners of Ontario.

In fact, the career of driving a ready-mixed concrete truck gives you a skill set that you could get employment almost anywhere in the province.

Locations of Concrete Ontario member plants can be easily seen here: https://www.rmcao.org/active-members/

All of these companies employ drivers. To see who’s hiring, you can look on:

a. Concrete Ontario’s career board: https://www.rmcao.org/careers/

b. Individual member company’s websites.

c. Give the plant a call. Concrete is a growing and dynamic place to work and many companies are looking for the next great CDP addition to their teams.

The step-by-step process to obtain your AZ or DZ license is detailed here:

https://drivetest.ca/licences/drivers-licences-commercial.html

And scroll down to the section: Process for Obtaining a Commercial Vehicle Driver’s License.

Of special note – remember the “Z” to be able to drive a ready-mixed concrete truck.

When you book – you may book your Z endorsement on the same day as your commercial road test by selecting a combination test (i.e., AZ, DZ, etc.).

According to Drive Test from the Ontario Government (https://drivetest.ca/licences/drivers-licences-commercial.html):

CLASS REQUIREMENTS

Class A

• At least 18 years old.
• Valid Class G license or higher.
• Passing mark on the applicable knowledge test.
• Mandatory entry-level training must be completed and recorded on your driver’s record prior to the road test
• Ability to meet vision standards.
• Satisfactory medical examination report.
• Passing mark on the applicable road test at DriveTest or from an MTO-recognized authority.

Class D

• At least 18 years old.
• Valid Class G license or higher.
• Passing mark on the applicable knowledge test.
• Ability to meet vision standards.
• Satisfactory medical examination report.
• Passing mark on the applicable road test at DriveTest or from an MTO-recognized authority.

For information on the commercial knowledge and road tests, please visit https://drivetest.ca/tests/road-tests-commercial-vehicles.html and study the Official MTO Handbook (http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/publications/handbooks.shtml#Driver)

For information on the medical examination report and other listed requirements, please visit https://drivetest.ca/licences/drivers-licences-commercial.html

There are both unionized and non-unionized ready-mixed concrete producers in Ontario. If you would like to work for a unionized producer, you will need to join the applicable union.

Experience required varies by hiring producer.

Some hiring producers require no experience (as long as you have your AZ or DZ license) and offer paid training days (earn as you learn), while others require or prefer 1 to 3 years AZ or DZ driving experience. Since commercial insurance minimum requirements vary by the policy, minimum age requirements and minimum work experience requirements can also exist for some hiring producers.

Some hiring producers require AZ or DZ driving experience with manual transmission.

We suggest reviewing the experience requirements on the job posting and discussing both the experience requirements and training offerings directly with the hiring producer.

Construction remains one of the most essential occupations in the Ontario economy and is a key economic driver of the financial success of our province and country. Because of this construction work takes place 24 hours a day and seven days per week and major construction projects are divided into multiple shifts and crews to complete this work as quickly as possible.
With that being said, the majority of the construction work is conducted as follows:

• Typical work week is from Monday to Friday with occasional projects taking place on Saturdays
• Non-standard construction projects (i.e. major infrastructure / road projects or plant shut-down work) can have multiple construction shifts outside these normal hours, including evening / nights for some producers
• While MTO driver requirements limit the maximum length of any shift to 14 hours, Concrete Producers can work with drivers to accommodate work needs as required.

Typical hours of work vary by hiring producer.

Here are some examples for typical hours of work as published in some of our hiring members’ job postings:

Example 1: Variation of scheduled start and end times (start times 6:00AM to 9:00AM) and end (6:00PM to 9:00PM)

Example 2: Typical business hours are 5am-7pm operations. Hours worked may fluctuate based on customer demand, time of year (summer vs winter) and rank on seniority list.

Check out the Concrete Delivery Professional job postings on the Concrete Ontario career board (rmcao.org/careers) for more specifics based on the hiring producer.

Age of trucks varies by ready-mix concrete producer. Due to some changes from the MTO related to SPIF laws, many of the older ready-mixed concrete trucks have been taken off the road and replaced with newer models. Typical average age of fleets ranges from brand new models up to 20 years old, noting you should also discuss age of trucks and manual vs automatic transmission with the hiring producer if of concern or important for you.

Processes and policies around personal emergencies and absenteeism from work vary by producer. Our industry generally supports safety and family first.

To start, to Concrete Ontario and its members, #SafetyMatters. This is an excellent question and definitely worth reading here, as well as discussing with your potential hiring concrete producer.

If you are a Concrete Delivery Professional, it would be unusual that you would be the last person at your home plant at night. More typically it is the plant superintendent/supervisor/batcher who would be the last person at the site.

In rural / suburban plant settings, it is typically only for “special” jobs that concrete is poured into the night. In these situations – these special jobs usually involve a lot of people, both from the contractor, as well as the concrete supplier. As such – for these “unusual hour” pours, it would not be the norm that you would ever be alone on site or at the plant.

In urban city centers, there is much more concrete poured on a 24-hour clock, but again anything “after hours” is usually to special large jobs that would engage many people from the concrete supplier and contractor.

The concrete industry is committed to safety. This is an excellent question and beyond the general practices / situations described here, it makes sense to ask this question of the potential hiring producer to understand their specific situation details, policies, and support in this regard.

In addition, many hiring producers have special policies to ensure safety around their plants. Here are some examples to give you an idea, noting this is a great topic to discuss with your hiring producer:

Example 1 ~ No employees working alone in plants.
Example 2 – Mandatory buddy system for plant lockups in the evening (usually not involving a Concrete Delivery Professional).

The rewarding thing about being a Concrete Delivery Professional is that you are more than a driver. You are part of a team. You will be communicating constructively with your team at your concrete plant and you will be communicating productively with the customer on the job site. As such, speaking English is a general requirement of hiring concrete producers in Ontario.

Assuming you already have your AZ/DZ, many producers budget 3 – 4 weeks for by-employer training of drivers on an earn & learn capacity. These programs will vary by hiring producer, so this is a great question to ask for additional details when applying directly with them.

If you’d like formal training before taking your AZ/DZ license exam, we’d recommend considering a Truck Training School Association of Ontario (TTSAO) certified-school.

Choosing a school that is a member of the TTSAO ensures that you will receive a consistent standard level of training. The TTSAO is a recognized professional association within the transportation industry.

The costs per program vary pending location and school which you can check out here: https://ttsao.com/. Getting this type of professional training really gets you well ready for not only your AZ/DZ license exam, but for a rewarding and safe career as a Delivery Professional.