A temporary mold that holds poured concrete in shape while it hardens — removed after the concrete sets.
A temporary structure or mold into which fresh concrete is poured and held until it hardens to the desired shape. Forms can be built from wood (plywood, dimensional lumber), steel, aluminum, or engineered forming systems. Form design must account for the lateral pressure exerted by wet concrete and be properly braced and tied to prevent blowouts.
Formwork is one of the most cost-driving components of concrete bidding because the forms, ties, bracing, and the labor to set and strip them often exceed the cost of the concrete itself. Estimators must price forming by contact area and account for reuse cycles, complexity, and pour pressure, and a missed or underestimated forming scope, especially for curved or architectural surfaces, can wipe out the margin on a concrete package.
The estimator priced the foundation walls by square foot of form contact area, noting the curved retaining wall needed custom steel forms with limited reuse, which doubled the unit forming cost versus the straight walls.
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