Concrete Coring in Sydney

What Concrete Coring Is Used For

Concrete coring, also called concrete core drilling, cuts a circular hole through a floor, wall or ceiling and removes the centre as a solid core. Most jobs fall into one of four groups.

Service penetrations

Openings through slabs, walls and ceilings for water pipes, sewer lines, plumbing and electrical cabling.

Concrete strength testing

Sample cores cut from poured concrete so a quality assurance company can test its strength. We work with the testing company so the cores are taken to their specification.

Pile tops

Coring the tops of concrete piles so they can be securely connected to the pile caps.

Pavement and site investigations

Cutting through concrete and bitumen pavements to recover subsurface samples, and coring through slabs ahead of geotechnical, environmental and water bore drilling.

For more detail, read our article on what concrete coring is and when you need it.

Core Sizes and Depths

We core holes up to 500 mm in diameter through concrete up to 2 metres thick, from a small cable penetration to a large opening for a sewer line.

We match the equipment to the hole size, the thickness of the concrete and the access on site, and talk the job through with you before we start.

Where the work continues below the slab, we also run auger drilling at 150 and 300 mm diameter to 10 metres deep, and at 450 mm diameter to 5 metres deep.

Where We Core in Sydney

We core concrete floors and slabs, walls and ceilings on residential, commercial and civil sites.

On roads, our purpose-built drilling rigs cut through concrete and bitumen to collect accurate subsurface samples for road pavement investigations and test pits. Recent infrastructure projects include the B-Line on Military Road and Spit Road, South West Connect and the Newcastle Light Rail.

On live sites, our non destructive digging crews core through slabs and pavements, then use vacuum excavation to clear the hole past the depth of underground services before a drill rig sets up over it. We do this in car parks, road reserves, rail corridors and against existing buildings, and all of our personnel are fully inducted and qualified to work within rail corridors.

For basements and other confined spaces, see our tight access drilling rigs.

Safe, Clean Coring on Site

We work under our own safety management plan and Occupational Health and Safety System, review our OHS policies every year and set clear roles and accountabilities within the team, with the aim of zero harm on every site. Our equipment is bought new and properly maintained, and our crews are trained continuously.

Before work starts we plan the job and talk it through with you, so the right equipment and materials are on site from day one.

Our environmental management system identifies and controls the risks on each job, and customers have said in their Google reviews that our crews clean up after themselves.

Read more about our safety and environment approach.

Why Choose BG Drilling for Core Drilling in Sydney

BG Drilling was started in 2012 by owner Ben Galvin and is still family owned and operated. We take a personal approach and discuss every job with the client before we start.

Our construction and civil clients range from small businesses to some of Australia's leading construction companies, including Taylor, Lendlease, Richard Crookes, Built, Growthbuilt, Kane Constructions and Brookfield Multiplex.

Coring is rarely the only task on a construction site. We also install ground anchors (24 to 75 mm bar) and horizontal anchors, underpin existing slabs, carry out angle drilling and dig test pits, so one contractor can cover the coring and the drilling work around it.

Concrete Coring FAQs

What size holes can you core?

Up to 500 mm in diameter, through concrete up to 2 metres thick.

How much does concrete coring cost?

It depends on the material, the depth and diameter of each hole, the equipment needed, how easy the location is to reach and how long the work takes. A core on an upper floor, for example, is harder to reach than one at ground level. Our guide to the factors that affect the cost of concrete coring explains each one.

Is concrete coring the same as core drilling?

Usually, yes. Both terms describe drilling a round hole through concrete and removing the core. "Coring" can also mean the concrete core of a high-rise building, which is part of the structure rather than a drilling job. For soil and rock core samples, see our geotechnical drilling services.

Do you take on small jobs?

Yes. We work on residential, commercial and civil projects of all sizes, and we give a single core the same care as a large project.

Book Concrete Coring in Sydney

Call us on 0408 915 449 or send us a message with the hole sizes, concrete thickness and site address, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.