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Site Classifications Sydney.
Engineered Properly.
Principal-Engineer-led, every geotechnical report is tailored to your site, your design, and your requirements. No templates. No surprises.
What does a Site Classification actually mean for you
What does a Site Classification actually
mean for you
Often referred to as a soil test or geotech report, a Site Classification under AS 2870 is considerably more than paperwork your structural engineer asks for. Done properly, and done early, it works for you in four ways.
- Helps your architect design the right home for your ground. Commissioned at concept stage, it lets the design work with the ground conditions rather than redesigning around them later. Saves architect time and redesign fees.
- Gives your structural engineer the data to size footings precisely. The difference between a well-read Class M and a defaulted Class H1 runs to tens of thousands of dollars in concrete and steel. Worth getting right.
- Supports your DA or CDC approval. A report written to match your certifier's specific requirements moves through approvals cleanly. Generic reports get queried or bounced, and delay the project.
- Protects the home you are about to build. An under-read site shows up quietly, years later, as cracks above doorways and doors that stop closing properly in February. The classification is what stops that conversation before it starts.
Preparation & Execution
One professional, not three. The Principal Engineer's background is hands-on residential construction across multiple trades, years of drilling Sydney sites personally, and the engineering qualifications on top. When the rig goes down, the person reading the ground has drilled ground like it before. When the plans come out, the person reading them has built against ground conditions before. That combination, in one professional, is rare in the Sydney market.
How SFGEO does this differently
Most Sydney geotechnical firms operate on volume. Cheap headline fees, templated reports, conservative defaults to cover professional risk, and the engineer who signs the report has often never set foot on the property. You pay for that model either way. In concrete you did not need, or in a report your certifier rejects.
SFGEO is built on the opposite model.
Process
- Book a site meeting. Send the address, a short project description, and any plans you have.
- On-site consultation. Principal Engineer walks the site with you. Construction-side perspective and engineering judgement in the same conversation.
- Fixed-fee quote. Written, scoped, confirmed before work begins.
- Fieldwork. Principal Engineer attends, logs the profile on site.
- Lab testing, if indicated. Through a NATA-accredited partner laboratory. Only when the site warrants it.
- Report, reviewed and signed. Prepared against your certifier's and structural engineer's specific requirements.
- Delivery. Signed PDF, 2–3 business days from fieldwork.
Scope & Pricing
Geotechnical reporting in Sydney has a transparency problem. Headline fees look sharp on first read, then return heavier once scope is actually scoped. Or the fee is genuinely cheap, and the report is thin, templated, and bounced by the certifier. Either way, you pay for it, often in concrete and steel that never had to be there.
SFGEO pricing is fixed-fee, confirmed in writing before work begins. The figures below are starting points. What drives a real quote is the site itself, access, ground conditions, existing structures, slope, the depth of investigation your project actually needs. That is why every engagement starts with the Principal Engineer on your ground.
Turnaround
Turnaround times from initial contact to final report can be as soon as 2–3 business days. Complex sites, Class P investigations, and projects requiring laboratory testing take longer and are scoped at the site meeting.Urgent turnaround is available where a DA, CC or settlement timeline requires it. Call the Principal directly to arrange priority scheduling.
Access
Many Sydney sites cannot be reached by a conventional truck-mounted rig. Inner West terraces, Eastern Suburbs battleaxe blocks, rear-yard granny flat positions, stepped blocks with deep investigation points. SFGEO operates a 4WD-mounted rig for sites where standard rigs stop at the kerb, with motorised hand augers covering zero-clearance and internal courtyard work. Access-ready from first contact, so your program does not slip waiting on a rig that cannot reach the investigation points. Full access capability.
The six classes of AS 2870
Class P sits outside the reactivity scale. Applied when conditions fall outside the standard AS 2870 framework, fill, steep slope, soft or collapsing soils, reactivity beyond Class E, or proximity to significant trees and water courses. Requires individual engineering assessment.
What that means for your suburb
Inner West
Across Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Petersham, Summer Hill and surrounds, sites typically sit on Ashfield Shale — residual clays over shale, often moderate to highly reactive. Class M and H1 outcomes are common.
North Shore
Most North Shore sites sit on Hawkesbury Sandstone. Outcomes depend on how much weathered soil sits above the rock. Shallow rock classifies favourably; deeper profiles behave like clay and need investigation.
Western Sydney
Bringelly Shale is the most reactive common profile in metropolitan Sydney. Across the Cumberland Plain, H1 and H2 outcomes are frequent.
South West Corridor
Legacy fill, alluvial soils, and reactive clays push a higher proportion of sites into Class P. Common across Liverpool and Campbelltown.
"Two doors down from a Class S site, your land may be a Class H1 site. This is why the fieldwork — engineered properly — matters."
Start with a site meeting.
Every SFGEO engagement begins with the Principal Engineer on your ground, reading your plans and your soil. Detailed answers to common questions are on the full FAQ.