SHEDDING THE SHADES OF GREY

Pre Mix has evolved over the past sixty years when first established just after World War Two, by John Henry (alias George) Finemore, the grandfather of the current directors Gary and Glenn Finemore. The company started as a sand cartage concern in Sandringham until it commenced operations as Airport Garden and Building Supplies in 1971 in Cheltenham East with George's two sons, Ray and Kevin before the evolution of ready mix concrete in the late 1970s opened a new market opportunity for this developing business.

At this time Pre Mix recognised the concept of exposed aggregate concrete was about adding a more satisfying visual dimension to a sturdy and cost effective product that is generally only produced in various shades of grey. It was therefore able to carve out its own niche in the market accordingly.

It was in the 1980s that a customer's Parkdale driveway became something of a turning point for the company's ready mix operations. That first request for exposed aggregate concrete has now grown to represent the vast majority of Mentone Pre-Mix's business and has established the company as Melbourne's pre-eminent expert in the trade.

Since those early days, exposed aggregate concrete has developed to become a feature readily specified by architects and builders alike."Exposed aggregate now forms 95 per cent of the concrete that we make," said Gary Finemore and our growing fleet of Pre Mix Maxi and Mini Isuzu trucks is a good reflection of Pre Mix market success in this market sector.

"Because of the competitive nature of the Concrete Industry and the cut throat pricing of merely supplying standard grey concrete, we decided to carve out our own niche in the industry by focusing on Exposed Aggregates" Gary said.

Rather than use a traditional blue coloured basalt aggregate as the major ingredient in the concrete matrix, colourful river pebbles, silica flecked granites or traditional marble chips are used to give our products an aesthetic appeal that our vast array of customers have become excited by..

"Most aggregates work well with out mix designs," Glenn Finemore explained. "The end result you want, is to see a lot more stone in the mix and our production methods are designed to achieve this. It's not simply a case of the bigger the stone we use the more you see."

Currently in favour is a Tambo River Pebble Mix which uses a brown granite from Victoria's Mornington Peninsula combined with a black basalt specification in off-white cement.

Materials are sourced from across the state, Glenn said. "Coloured granites come from various quarries, some as far as Glenrowan, quartz and pebbles of varying sizes from Creswick and marble from the Barossa Valley. Our sources enable us to deliver a unique product to our customers".

Today Pre Mix is proud of its "State of the Art Batching Plant" where Quality Control is critical to ensuring colours from one truck load are kept within extremely tight parameters. Together with our modern fleet of Pre Mix Maxi and Mini concrete trucks, our highly motivated team of employees and our team of highly professional Concrete Applicators ensures our products and service will exceed all expectations of our customers.

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