How to Prepare a Live Site for Concrete Cutting

Concrete cutting on an empty shell is mostly a question of method. The same cut on a live Dubai floor is a question of who else is there. Water, noise, a falling core and slurry on a finished ceiling are what delay the job, not the diamond. A short preparation list prevents that.

Set-out that will still be there in the morning

Mark the holes or the opening on the concrete, not only on a drawing in the site office. Diameters or the width and height should be written beside the mark. If the engineer has to approve it, get that done before the mobilisation, not while the rig is idling. Marks on a post-tension slab should be the accepted marks, as described in the post-tension guide.

Water, power and slurry

Diamond cutting is wet. The crew needs a reliable water point and somewhere to put the slurry. Slurry is concrete dust in water. On a live floor it stains stone, tracks into lifts, and should not be tipped down a drain that was not meant for it. If the ceiling below is finished, protection and a catchment tray matter more than the cutting rate.

Power for the saw is the same conversation. Write in the order who provides water and power, or the first hour becomes a search.

People above and people below

Nobody stands under a core or under a wall-saw offcut. The floor below needs a barrier and, where a piece could drop, a deck or a crash deck agreed with the main contractor. Above, an exclusion zone keeps other trades out of the water and out of the line of the blade. Lifts and finished lobbies need a path for hoses that does not ruin them.

Hospitals, malls and occupied towers often move this work to night. If that is the case, say so when you ask for the quote, because the rate and the supervision both change. Slab and floor sawing in a public area has the same constraint.

The piece that comes out

A core is heavy. A door-sized block is heavier. Decide whether it is broken on the spot, carried to a hoist, or craned. “We will see” is how a cut piece sits in a corridor until the next day. Debris disposal is often excluded from the cutting price. If you need it included, ask.

A checklist for the supervisor

• Marks on the concrete, with sizes
• Engineer acceptance where the slab is structural or post-tensioned
• Water, power, and a slurry plan
• Protection and exclusion below
• A route for the offcut
• Night permit or community hours, if they apply

Send a photo of the area as it is today, not as it was last month. Book through the contact page and mention that the building is live.

Common questions

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