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When the Badger Swimpools crews are working on a larger facility, O'Connor says it is more efficient to have a supplier cut and bend the steel, particularly since there are several fabricators located nearby. For small projects, they prefer using their own rebar machines. Because their jobs have slopes, curves and unique angles, cutting and bending their own rebar also saves time because the needed parts are readily available. "If you're doing a foundation, the majority of the time it's done in steps or increments, which allows them to do detailed drawings and have it fabricated efficiently," he explains. "For irregular shapes and slopes, each couple of bars is different. If you do a pool and it's 30 ft. by 60 ft. and 3 ft., 6 in. deep to 6 ft. deep, the slope is changing constantly, so you'd have to sort out the bars if you had them pre-cut. It's almost easier to do it to size there at the pool."

Even wall systems can have unusual angles. "For certain footings, it's too hard to have the rebar pre-engineered," notes Cuttle of The Jasper Company. "You have to figure it out on the job."

Low initial and maintenance costs
The entry level price for rebar cutters and benders is modest, and they run on electric power, either from wall sockets or generators. They also come with self-contained hydraulic pumps.

Maintenance requires simple but regular cleaning and lubrication of the few moving parts. Cutting blades can be flipped over on each of their eight sides when one side becomes dull, so blades last a long time. The machines themselves are also reliable and relatively easy to repair if needed. As labor costs increase, owning a rebar cutter or bender makes even more sense for concrete contractors who use rebar on many projects.

Rebar Tying Tool Helps Reduce Worker Injury
If your workers are involved in tying rebar, then you need to know about battery-powered rebar tiers. These tools can drastically reduce tying time and alleviate health problems associated with the manual tying of rebar.