Thomas Archer

Client	Thomas Archer
Location	Melbourne, traditionally the south-east suburbs including Chelsea, Glen Waverley, Brighton and Hampton, recently expanded into Strathmore and Essendon
Solution	The Helical Pile
Scale	60 homes delivered in the last financial year; screw piles used on roughly half of all builds
Timeframe	Ongoing relationship

The Stake

Almost every one of Thomas Archer’s knockdown rebuilds has an existing house standing on either side of the block, and in that world, the neighbours matter as much as the client. A build that drags on, or one that fills the street with trucks and disruption, doesn’t just annoy the people next door, it puts Thomas Archer’s name in front of its next prospective customer in the worst possible way.

The Challenge

The alternative to a screw pile is a bored pier system, which means repeated truck movements, concrete pumps and days of visible works on a residential street. Thomas Archer is also risk-averse by necessity, building homes in the million-dollar-plus range, and won’t hand foundations to a cheaper contractor if it means gambling on compliance.

The Approach

FTA mobilises once, piles in and crew out, cutting what a bored pier install might take, 3 to 4 days, down to around 1, with minimal disturbance to the street either side. Every job is backed by full site documentation, and the relationship has stayed close enough on pricing and communication that FTA hears about new problems before anyone else gets the chance to solve them. Purchase orders typically allow 2 to 3 weeks’ lead time, giving enough room to plan around whatever a site throws up.

The Outcome

That consistency has taken the relationship to around 60 homes delivered in the last financial year alone, with screw piles now the default across roughly half of Thomas Archer’s build volume. For a business built on staying in and out of a street with as little fuss as possible, that’s the real measure: a foundation partner Thomas Archer no longer has to think twice about.