Chicago is home to a number of grand buildings and infrastructure projects, so it’s no surprise it’s also home to a number of stellar concrete professionals, as well.
It is challenging enough to select the Top 10, so the listings here are alphabetical, rather than in any sort of ranking order.
Bleigh Ready Mix
Located in Quincy, the family owned and operated Bleigh Ready Mix provides concrete ready-mix and accessories including window and door frames, expansion joints, and culvert pipes. The company prides itself on its monumental impact on the local area’s growth, having supplied concrete for schools, churches, bridges, and large companies like Lowes and Sam’s Club. They offer mix designs for a range of projects and offer a large variety of extra products for these mixes.
Boral Resources
With over four decades of experience in marketing fly ash, Boral Resources is undoubtedly a leader in the new construction material technology space. Their fly ash and coal combustion products along with their reliability and expertise continuously improve concrete producers’ operations. They also provide coal-fueled generating plants for on-site ash handling and management, making them a leader not only in marketing their product, but helping plants develop and utilize it. Their team of advanced engineers, scientists, and chemists are experienced in providing effective solutions for everyday problems with efficient timing.
Capitol Ready-Mix
Capitol Ready-Mix proudly provides concrete for some of the largest products in the Illinois area, including the Dallman power plant, the Prairie Heart Institute and the Illinois State Library.
Continental Cement
Continental’s cement has notably helped form major construction projects including the Empire State Building, the Panama Canal, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ stadium. They offer a wide range of services that include concrete mix, general cement and concrete information, troubleshooting and testing. Their commitment to sustainability is illustrated in many ways, as they are proudly committed to using raw materials instead of mined materials where possible, provide used recycling programs to the communities they serve, and currently offer an oil and used paint collection program.
GCP Applied Technologies
GCP offers a wide variety of products and solutions, including waterproofing, flooring, concrete, and fire protection. They have an impressive portfolio of products, and their advanced technology that “ensures specified quality and enhanced business productivity” has resulted in a clientele that includes some of the world’s top architects, builders, and contractors.
Elston Materials
Elston has developed a niche for small jobs, with the capacity to complete multiple stops with one truck. The family owned business works mainly on residential projects such as driveways and sidewalks.
Ozinga
Ozinga’s vested interest in forming strong relationships with their customers results in an exceptional approach to collaborative building. On top of the concrete, bulk materials, and energy solutions they provide, the team also offers transportation services and is well connected in the truck, rail, and ship networks. They offer their various concrete design, production, and delivery services to a number of different types of contractors. Their state-of-the-art mixer trucks guarantee high quality service and safety, and their top of the line digital technology lends to their innovative strategies.
Their Digital Fleet technology allows for important information that will help drivers to be more effective both at the yard and onsite, and their Verifi quality control system monitors the concrete slump and technology while on route, resulting in a consistent product upon arrival.
River Ready Mix
River Ready Mix uses advanced technology and their state-of-the-art plant to customize their customers’ mix design needs. They are known as a top supplier of ready-mix concrete that is suited to their customers’ requests, with timely delivery standards and the ability to accommodate projects of all sizes.
VCNA Prairie Materials
Their materials have had a hand in building many prominent structures throughout Midwestern Chicago, including Milwaukee Art Museum addition and the Indianapolis International Airport. Their team is continuously striving for improvements in both concrete design and quality to stay ahead of the competitive market. They offer high quality, high performing ready-mix concrete and aggregates for guaranteed easy placement, high strength gain, and superb finishing characteristics.
Vulcan Materials Company
Vulcan Materials Company touts itself as the national’s largest producer of construction aggregates, including but not limited to crushed stone, sand, and gravel. They also produce asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. Materials are produced from granite, limestone, trap rock, and other natural sources. Their processes involve drilling, blasting the rocks into smaller pieces, before crushing and screening the pieces according to customer requests. Their resources are used in a number of ways, including as a base material for highways, airport runways, and parking lots. They’re also used to aid water filtration and erosion control, and as a raw material to help construct houses, schools, hospitals, sewer systems, and more.