Frequently Asked Questions

No. Our standard driveway is a 125 mm slab, and when a job carries more weight we make it thicker rather than change the mix, because the strength is the same on every pour. The surface carries a P4 slip rating, which matters on a sloping driveway after a June downpour.

It can, if the ground around it is allowed to wash onto it. Seed or plant the bare ground and most of the problem goes away. The rest is a monthly look and a yearly sweep, which the maintenance answer spells out.

Houses are only part of it. We also pour council footpaths, shared paths, commercial car parks and sports courts. On the bigger commercial sites our crews place up to 500 m² a day.

Far from it: over 100,000 m² of it has gone down since we started. Stormwater engineers can model it because Permcon is MUSIC certified, and in Queensland that's a big factor when a council submission lands on someone's desk. Behind the product sit ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and our Master Builders Victoria membership.

Permcon is our own permeable concrete, and we still make it and lay it in-house. It goes down as a single continuous slab, with no joints, over a base of clean screenings. Up top, that's a pavement. Underneath, it's stormwater detention that treats what it holds: up to 70 per cent of the heavy metals, hydrocarbons, detritus and suspended solids come out on the way through. From the base, water soaks into the ground or leaves through an under-drain at a controlled rate.

Rain drains down through the slab instead of running off the surface. Of the slab's volume, 20 to 25 per cent is connected void, and water passes through it at 8,000 to 10,000 mm/hr. The base of clean screenings underneath takes it from there. Each 100 mm of that base holds 28 litres per square metre at 85 per cent design capacity, and gives it up slowly rather than all at once.

Yes, and nothing about the mix changes to let it. Every slab we pour is 25+ MPa, and what carries a heavier axle is depth. Our loading chart, a rigid-slab estimate rather than a field measurement, gives the standard slab an estimated 5.8 t per axle and a 175 mm slab 11.3 t, and the figure keeps rising with thickness from there. We've put Permcon under a bus stop on a main road and through the internal roads of caravan parks. Tell us what's going to drive on it, and we'll set the thickness to suit.

Mostly, it's who's standing on site. We make Permcon and lay it ourselves, so the estimator who specifies your slab and base works for the same company as the crew holding the screed. Strength doesn't move between jobs. No-fines concrete is a different thing: a lower-strength product that shouldn't be used where Permcon goes.

Mostly a monthly walk-over. Check that leaves and debris are off it, that it drained after the last rain, that no sediment is sitting on the surface and that the landscaping upstream hasn't changed. Sweep it or wash it when that walk says to. Once a year it gets a sweep regardless, along with a look into the voids for moss or organic build-up. If a new garden bed or regraded lawn is sending extra water or soil across the slab, redirect the flow at its source.

More than 30 years is the design life. Every job carries a 10-year structural warranty, and if the slab fails structurally we assess the area and remove and replace it as required; terms and conditions apply.

Driveways, footpaths, shared paths and car parks, mostly, with sports courts as well. Tree protection zones suit it too, because a street tree's roots keep getting water and air through the voids instead of sitting under a sealed cap. We're always happy to look and review and go through it with a client.

Homeowners and builders ring us for house jobs, and we deal with them direct. Civil contractors, developers, councils and government bodies bring the bigger work, which usually means sitting down with a stormwater engineer so the screenings base is sized to what their design has to hold. Engineers can ask us for the modelling parameters. Our teams are set up in every state.

Some call it porous concrete, others pervious concrete: same idea, a concrete poured with a network of open voids running all through it so rain drains through the surface into the ground rather than running off. Permcon, our version, is poured at 25+ MPa with 20 to 25 per cent void content, passing water at 8,000 to 10,000 mm/hr. Below it sits a base of clean screenings that stores what comes through, then either soaks it away into the ground or lets it go slowly through an under-drain.

Fewer pits and pipes: that's the first thing a stormwater engineer notices. Rain goes through the slab instead of sheeting into a grate, cutting the load on the pipework downstream. Because the surface counts toward the permeable area a council asks for, the detention tank on the plans can shrink, sometimes disappear. The screenings base holds what gets through, the pavement filters it, and the finish carries a P4 slip rating while air and water still reach the tree roots below.

In most cases, yes. Councils write stormwater conditions around three targets: how much of a site stays impervious, how much detention it needs, and how clean the runoff has to be before it leaves. Permcon answers all three at once. Water enters through the slab, the screenings base beneath holds the detention volume, and the voids strip up to 70 per cent of heavy metals, hydrocarbons, detritus and suspended solids before it drains away. It's MUSIC certified, so those figures go straight into your engineer's model, and the same pervious surface can count toward the site's permeable area. Bring the plans and we'll run the numbers.

Ultracon's the smoother option: 2 to 5 mm stone, popular on pool surrounds and tree protection zones where bare feet matter. Standard Permcon keeps its texture more open, running 7 mm stone in Victoria and 10 mm in the rest of the country. Both come in the same four colours, plain grey, charcoal, soapstone and sandstone, and both let water through at the same pace.

Ultracon is the finer, smoother cousin: 2 to 5 mm stone instead of the standard mix, chosen for driveways, paths, pool surrounds, tree protection zones and car parks where the feel underfoot matters. Permcon itself runs open-textured, 7 mm stone in Victoria and 10 mm in the rest of the country. Both drain into the same screenings base, and both come in the same colour range. Once we've seen the site and what has to cross it, we'll tell you which one to pour.

APC has crews in every state, so wherever you are in Australia, there's a team close by. Head office and the factory sit at Mitcham in Victoria. Tell us the location and a rough size of the job and we'll give you details specific to it, with a firm quote following a site visit.

Ground conditions decide most of it: the fall of the block, the soil, and what's going to drive or walk across the surface set the slab thickness and how deep the base needs to go. That's where the cost really sits, not in the finish. To get started, ring 1300 010 499 or send through the location, what the surface is for and a rough area, a photo or plan if you've got one. We'll walk the site, then send back one figure covering design, manufacture and installation from the one team.