9+ Years Concreting Across Adelaide — What We Know That Others Don't

Opal SA Construction was built on a straightforward premise: Adelaide homeowners deserve a concreting team that understands local conditions, quotes honestly, and finishes what it starts. After 9 years and hundreds of completed projects across the metro area, that remains our standard on every job.

Adelaide Soil Expertise

The single biggest differentiator between a concreting team that understands Adelaide and one that doesn't is how they handle reactive clay soils. Adelaide's northern corridor — Salisbury, Gawler, Elizabeth, Para Hills, Angle Vale — and its southern corridor — Morphett Vale, Hallett Cove, Reynella — sit on AS 2870 Class H1 to H2 soils. These clays expand when wet and contract during Adelaide's dry summers by up to 35 mm across a typical driveway slab.

An undersized slab on uncompacted roadbase, without the right mesh grade and control joint spacing, will crack on these soils within 3–5 years. We check the AS 2870 classification for every job before finalising the specification — and if the site conditions demand a premium spec, we say so upfront rather than quoting light and over-delivering on problems.

Our Standards on Every Job

Types of Projects We Specialise In

• Exposed aggregate driveways (cream pebble, granite, white quartz)
• Plain grey and coloured oxide driveways
• Shed, garage, and carport slabs
• Concrete patios and alfresco entertaining areas
• Concrete pool surrounds (R11+ slip rated, 32 MPa)
• Concrete footpaths and council crossovers
• Commercial car parks and retail slab extensions
• Industrial warehouse floors and hardstands
• Stencilled and decorative concrete
• Concrete sealing and reseal services

Standards and Regulations We Work Under

Every project involves compliance with multiple Australian Standards and South Australian regulations. The ones most relevant to residential work are:

• AS 2870-2011 — Residential Slabs and Footings — governs concrete design for reactive clay soils. All our residential concrete work on classified sites is designed to this standard.
• AS 3600-2018 — Concrete Structures — governs structural concrete design for commercial and industrial applications.
• AS 4586-2013 — Slip Resistance Classification — governs R-ratings for pedestrian surfaces. We specify and verify R-ratings on all pool surrounds and wet-area concrete.
• Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA) — The SA legislation under which our licence BLD 317725 is issued. Governs all regulated building work in South Australia.
• National Construction Code (NCC 2022) — Sets minimum performance requirements for all building work in Australia. Our commercial work complies with NCC Volume 1.