Good questions, straight answers.

A steel shaft with one or more helix plates near the tip, screwed into the ground by a hydraulic drive head on a digger. The helix plates bear on the soil like the threads of a screw in timber, so the pile carries load as soon as it is in.

Ground screws are the lighter version: a tapered shaft threaded along its length, used for decks, fences, sheds and similar.

Yes. Nothing has to cure. Once a pile is in and capped it can take load, so the builder can start on the bearers the same afternoon.

A deck or shed usually takes a few hours. A typical house or relocated home takes a day or two, depending on the number of piles, the ground and access. The estimator gives a rough figure for your project.

Often, once you count everything: no digging, no spoil to cart away, no concrete truck or pump, and no days lost waiting for concrete to cure or holes to stop filling with water. On easy, firm sites concrete can still come out cheaper. We'll tell you honestly which is better for yours.

There is a well-established relationship between the torque it takes to screw a pile in and the load it can carry. We record the depth and final torque of every pile and give that record to the engineer, who compares it with the design target. If a pile doesn't reach target torque, we keep going deeper with an extension.

For larger jobs we can also arrange on-site load testing.

Yes, as an engineered (specific design) foundation. For consented work, a chartered engineer designs the piles for your site and issues a PS1 (design). We install to that design and provide a PS3 (construction) with the torque records, and the engineer can provide a PS4 (construction review) if council requires it.

We can organise the engineering for you, or work with your own engineer.

It depends on the building, not the foundation. Many decks, sheds and sleepouts are exempt, and from 2026 small standalone homes up to 70m² can be built without consent if they meet the Schedule 1 conditions. Hari Tiny Homes, our sister company, has a checklist for this. Houses, extensions and most relocated homes need consent.

Your designer or council has the final say. Either way, we can supply the engineering paperwork.

Our piles are hot-dip galvanised steel. The engineer checks the soil and site (coastal and corrosive ground need extra allowance) and specifies the steel thickness and coating to meet the Building Code durability requirement for the structure, which is 50 years for foundations.

Most of it: clays, silts, sands, fill and soft ground (we simply go deeper). Solid rock, big boulders and buried services can limit where a pile can go, so we check the site first. For consented work the engineer may want a geotechnical report.

Yes to both. There are no holes to fill with water and no concrete to protect, so a wet day rarely stops us. On slopes the piles go in at the natural ground level and are cut to height, so there's no benching or retaining needed for the foundation itself.

Our standard rig needs about 1.8 m of clear width. For tight sections, backyards and under existing buildings we use a smaller rig or hand-held drive heads, which are slower but get in almost anywhere.

Yes. They unscrew the same way they went in, which makes them a natural fit for relocatable homes, temporary buildings and anything you might want to move. There's no lump of concrete left in the ground.

Yes. Ground screws, extensions, saddles, plates and bracket kits are available supply-only for builders and confident DIYers, with pick-up from Takanini or delivery. Engineered helical piles for homes are supply-and-install only, because the torque record is part of what makes them compliant.

From our yard on Great South Road in Takanini we cover Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Further afield is by arrangement, so ask.

Yes, we're sister companies on the same site. If you're building a Hari tiny home or granny flat, or a Kiwi Steel Frames build, we can pile it as part of the same job, with one team and one point of contact.