Often I hear “What’s the cost on that?” or “What’s the price on that?” because both words work when you are asking for a dollar figure. But they’re not always interchangeable, and that can become critical for your project.

Upon making a bad purchasing decision, and getting burnt, you won’t ever hear someone ask “What was the price on that proposal?” Instead, they ask, “What did that cost me?”

So, while the terms appear similar, there is a huge difference, and the difference matters in construction. Knowing the difference takes you out of the present moment (price) and into the future (cost). It takes you from short term (price) to long term (cost).

Let’s say you have three quotes, and the cheapest is priced at $190 per lineal metre. But what if a rate is initially “priced” cheaply and ends up “costing” you? What does the rate cover? Is it open to change?

A Builder told me yesterday about a bad price experience he had last year. He employed a piling contractor on what he thought was a cheap lineal metre rate, but once they got on site, the ground conditions were different to the Geotech report. A different drill rig was needed to drill deeper piles, and it ended up costing him an additional $5,000 per day.

A lower price from one contractor could end up costing you more than a higher price from another contractor. 

The Business End:

As you look at proposals from different contractors, ask these questions to differentiate cost and price;

1. What scope of works does your proposal relate to?
2. What services or products do I need to allow for before, during or after piling that are not included in your proposal?
3. What supervision or support from me have you assumed during piling?

Pre-piling costs I suggest you consider:

• Demolition
• Access works for drill rig to get onto site
• Excavation
• Temporary retaining walls
• Services relocation

During piling on site consider:

• Excavation to move spoil
• Site management
• Service/Fuel vehicle access
• Concrete and steel delivery access
• QA/QC checks

Post-piling consider:

• Pile trimming
• Removal of piling spoil
• Removal of concrete waste
• Clean out of piles for pile caps

Risky Business

How you get to the final price should be based on what you are willing to pay and a reasonable assessment of budget. On the other side, the definition of cost includes “risks incurred”, i.e. covering all the risks you have taken on as the Client.

PRICE is just what the piling contractor has proposed, COST is what it cost you to get the foundations completed.

Call us on 02 9858 3740 for your next piling project and we can help make sure you get the right cost for your budget and project.

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The design was for a new structure built from the inside, retaining and utilising the heritage facade. The first challenge was to drill foundation piles working around the existing structure. The second challenge was to have enough firepower on site to meet the very ambitious program.

The building was demolished back to the ‘bare bones’ structure. This proved a difficult challenge for drilling as we had to carefully work our way in and around existing structure that was keeping the building in place.

Fortunately we were able to respond to the challenge of the site conditions and the program. By utilising our 2 low headroom machines on site at the same time, we almost halved the program time. We were also able to work in all available areas. Working with heritage buildings and foundations, no everything goes according to plan, so sometimes we drilled – hit something that had to be removed – and we were able to move onto another area and keep drilling.

2 low headroom machines working on critical path foundations

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The ground conditions were sand, with heavy clay. The water table was approx 1 m below the surface.

Working closely with the developer and the excavation contractor we were able to save 5 days off the program, and fasttrack the capping beam and excavation.

Note the value of a specialised CFA drill rig as seen in the photos. The machine can set up the auger “off to the side”. The operator can align the tracks with the retaining wall, and drill off the side of the machine. This saves valuable time as the operator is not required to track in and out for each pile.

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As part of the upgrading of the carpark works, in preparation for expansion of the Shopping Centre, Access Piering was engaged to construct low headroom piles that would create a tunnel in the existing carpark to create a better traffic flow in the carpark.

Access Piering expertise was called on for each stage of the project with the initial discussions with Lend Lease taking place 12 months before we were on site.

We squeezed our rig into this very tight spot to create piles that would take the high structural loads required.

Not only was the location where we installed the piles a difficult location, but we had to work our way to the location of the piles.

Here we can see the Access Piering low headroom piling rig set up to work in and around existing fire water sprinkler system. By working with our unique drill rigs and experienced crew, the carpark could continue to operate while we installed the piles.

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We have started this Blog to share with you:

• ideas and comments about solving your Foundations problems
• information and photos about building foundations safely and quickly
• our journey in building a great Contracting business
• our aims to finish projects with a high quality product that everyone involved can be proud of
• commentary about our industry and other topics

We hope to work with you in the future.

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Have you noticed that the world is becoming more specialised? IT used to be that you could just go to the Doctor for whatever ails you had, but now you can get pushed and prodded by all sorts of health specialists. The same with fitness. There was a time when you would just pull on the runners and go for a run around the block. Now there are 24 hr gyms, bootcamps, and personal trainers. Even in personal training there are specialists for Mums and Bubs, Power lifting, endurance, body scuplting and so on.

It is the same with the Building industry. Originally all engineering was designed by an Engineer. This was then separated into Civil and Structural, Mechanical and Electrical. Civil and Structural are usually still combined, however in recent times Foundations has started to become a speciality within Civil/Structural. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Unqiue combination of Civil Engineering (ground effects, Geotechnical Engineering) and Structural (Concrete and Steel properties and design)
2. Rapid technology development in foundations construction creating new advanced techniques
3. Contractors moving into Design and Construct, creating specialist Foundations Engineers
4. High risk involved in foundations design

What does this mean in terms of getting the lowest cost for Foundations?

It means that you should find a specialist foundation designer. A good designer will have experience in the latest and cheapest techniques and will be able to work with you to determine what is the best solution for your site.

2. Get the right Contractor

– check references

– check equipment

– do they present as an honest person

– will you be able to trust this person

3. Ask for lump sum fixed price

-Sounds obvious

– Contractors will give you every reason under the sun for not giving you a number

– Better to get a number with conditions that are understood, rather than an open ended arrangement

– Sometimes there will not be any way other than daily rate

Bonus No. 4: Consider a Daily Rate

Bonus No. 5: Avoid rock drilling

Bonus No. 6: Ask us for a Construction Feasibilty Report

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1. Understand all options

Don’t be rushed into the most expensive option because you are under time or cost pressure. All projects today are highly cost sensitive, so you should understand all your options for foundations before making the right choice. Don’t rush into the cheapest option as this might have the highest risk. You also need to understand how risk is being shared between the Contractor and you. Other options might be a higher cost, but will provide you with better certainty and less overall risk. Or with better investigation the costs can be fixed. If time and cost needs to be contained, then talk with us about what your options are.

2. Get Contractor advice early in the design

Not every Architect and Engineer works with foundation design and construction every day. We do. We look at hundreds of projects every year. We know the common design methods that will make for an efficient design. When you have your Geotech report and the Architect drawings, we would be happy to give you advice on what the options are and what the best foundation design and construction method would be.

3. Consider “Design and Construct” for the foundations

Access Piering has delivered big cost savings through Design and Construct (D&C) on a number of recent jobs. Typically we can reduce foundation cost by 20%, depending on the design and ground conditions. How does D&C work? Simple:

• Access Piering completes Geotech investigation and report
• Structural Engineer for the building delivers the structural loads required to be supported by the foundations
• Access Piering Engineering team take the structural design and the Geotech report and delivers a Foundation Construction Report
• We meet with you to review the options and costs covered in the Report
• Access Piering price the foundations, incorporating the best design possible

4. Test drill to determine strength and depth of rock

We see a lot of sites where the Geotech engineer is working off 1 or 2 boreholes because of limited access or equipment. On one site recently, the Geotech investigation went to 900 mm below the surface, but the basement carpark was designed to go 3 m below ground!  Well, we’re god, but no one can tell what is the ground without proper investigation.

One day of investigative drilling in between demolition and foundations construction could save you a substantial amount of money.

Access Piering can arrange for a test drill on your site to determine strength and depth of the rock in the ground. Coupled with a D&C approach, this is a very powerful method to get the best possible price for foundations.

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All digging and drilling in the ground will cause some movement in the adjacent ground. It has to.

What you can do is take precautions to ensure that the ground moves as little as possible, and the building that you want to protect is protected from any movement.

Access Piering recommends the following five tips to help you on your next sensitive excavation:

1. Get Good Geotechnical Engineering Advice

Sounds obvious I know, but don’t try and scrimp and save on your Geotech. Ask your Geotechnical Engineer what their advice is. Push them to give you an answer regarding the potential for ground movement and what they recommend for options for the foundations. Unfortunately the Geotechnical Engineers are limited by the information they can determine from drilling. On some sites we see the Geotechnical Engineer only had one borehole to determine what was in the ground. If you are limited on your site in access, consider using our specialist geotech drilling rigs – call us for more information.

2. Understand the zone of influence

The Zone of Influence is the area of the ground under and beside the foundations that is under pressure from the weight or load of the foundations. Generally if you are digging anywhere below a 45 degree line below the horizontal point where the foundations meet the ground, you are in the Zone of Influence. This means that any excavation in this Zone could affect the foundations.

We strongly recommend you only use CFA drilling or shoring wall prior to any excavation if you need to excavate in the Zone of Influence.

3. Understand all options before you start

If you have a sensitive project you should understand all your options for foundations. We suggest that you don’t rush into one option that appears to be the cheapest and the best, as this could be the one option with the highest risk to you, and the lowest risk to the Contractor. Other options might have a higher cost, but will provide you with better certainty. If time and cost needs to be contained, then talk with us about what your options are.

4. Ask us about Low Vibration Drilling

For highly sensitive ground drilling Access Piering has developed a unique technique that imparts a high torque but low vibration into the ground. This was developed from years of drilling in Sydney in rock and soft soils right alongside multi-million dollar mansions.

We recently had our Low Vibration Drilling technique checked by Geotechnical Engineer for vibration and noise and for both we were well below the criteria set.

5. Consider ground movement dampening techniques

Like eggshell insulation in a recording studio, there are techniques that Access Piering can adopt on your project to absorb the ground movement. Each project tends to be different, so each project requires it own design.

As always we are happy to talk to you about your next project.

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Unfortunately the homeowner contracted the building of the garage to an in-experienced contractor who proceeded to install poor quality piles. They did not have the right equipment, nor the experience for such a difficult project. When we inspected the piles, we could move the piles with a 3.5 t excavator. Just in case you were wondering, once a pile is installed it should NOT move.

When Access Piering came on site we had to remove the poor quality piles and install new piles, with proper rock sockets.

Because we have the experience and the equipment to manage this difficult project, we were able to install the piles safely and quickly. Here we can see the drill rig on the upper level drilling the garage walls.

Drilling in Woollahra. Note drill rig in the back right of the photo above

End result was a a great retaining wall, a very happy homeowner and a new safe place to park the car.

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