A large concrete pour in a congested area of Makiki went smoothly and even finished a bit early Saturday, but the rumble from the heavy machinery kept some residents awake overnight.

Thanks to the spectacle of giant booms of concrete-pumping trucks arching into the sky like spider legs, curiosity overcame frustration for several residents living next door to the 24-story Holomua condominium project at Kalakaua Avenue and Young Street.

"To me it’s really beautiful," said Louneille Aljamani, 66, a resident of Kulana Hale, a senior housing apartment complex next to the project. From her sixth-floor window, she has watched the project from the beginning — from the blessing to the digging of the hole to the concrete pour. She’s seen the danger of the job, such as laborers falling while walking across a rebar grid embedded in the concrete.

"They don’t even know, but I’m an angel up there," she said. "I pray for them so they don’t get hurt."

She said the beauty of the project happens in the morning.

"Five or six (construction workers) will line up over here," she said. "They hold hands — I know they’re praying — and I watch them, exactly 7:30, and then they start exercising, stretching. It’s so cute."

She admitted that she couldn’t stay asleep Saturday morning because of the noise, but spent some of that time watching the work.

Ron Kobayashi, 71, said the construction woke him three times during the night, but he was entertained by the view from atop his parking garage at Kulana Hale.

"First time I got to see something like this, close up," he said. "They really got going after midnight. The trucks started lining up. The booms were ready to go."

The concrete pour began just before midnight Friday and was finished about 12 hours later, after about 300 truckloads of concrete were delivered and 3,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured. During the job, concrete truck drivers pulled up to one of three pump trucks, dumped their haul in about five minutes, and pulled out to make way for another truck waiting nearby. Police closed two lanes on Kalakaua Avenue, but the disruption to traffic seemed minimal.

It was the largest job yet for Ohana Concrete Pumping, a 6-year-old, eight-person company hired by general contractor Nordic PCL Construction.

Larry Panui, senior operator at Ohana Concrete Pumping, said the job was "a big step that will determine our future."

"If we can tackle this challenge, then we can tackle anything," he said.

Ohana Concrete kept their pump trucks running nonstop with one man assigned the sole job of keeping the gas tanks of the pump trucks filled. Panui operated the 61-meter boom — the largest concrete pump truck in the state — by a remote control strapped to his waist, directing where the wet concrete would pour out of a 5-inch tube at the end of the boom.

Marlon Garces, operations manager at Nordic PCL, said placing the 15,000-square-foot foundation took 100 people, including workers at Hawaiian Cement’s plant in Halawa, drivers for the 38 concrete trucks, and masons and laborers for smoothing out the concrete after it was poured.

The concrete will cure in three to four days, then construction will continue, he said.