Client: commercial fitout builder (confidential). Location: Oran Park NSW. Scope: commercial polished concrete, about 310 square metres of exposed aggregate floor ground, grouted, densified, polished to 200 grit, sealed and burnished. Status: completed in one working week, November 2026.
Commercial polished concrete for a gym fitout in Oran Park
A commercial builder called us with a tight one. They had a new gym going into a ground floor tenancy in Oran Park, south west Sydney, and the floor was on the critical path. About 310 square metres of slab had to become a full exposure polished concrete floor, polished to 200 grit, and they had one week to get it done before the next trades and the fit out moved in.
We said yes and planned the job around one idea. Get the most out of the gear we already own. Instead of one big planetary grinder on the floor we sent two, kept them running for the whole shift, and worked 10 hour days through the week to Saturday. The floor was finished, sealed and burnished on the Saturday afternoon.
What the job involved
- Three coarse passes with metal bond tooling to take the slab down and expose the aggregate to the level the client wanted
- A 60/80 pass with liquid grout to fill pinholes and the few hairline cracks in the slab, so no separate patching was needed
- A 100/120 pass plus extra time on scratch removal, with a hand grinder on the edges and around columns
- Two coats of densifier, the first before polishing and the second after the 100 grit resin
- Resin polishing at 50, 100 and 200 grit across the open floor and the edges
- Sealer applied and burnished once dry
This is the same concrete polishing process we use on retail, office and gym floors. The difference here was the programme.
What made it hard
The concrete was extremely hard. Hard slabs are good for a finished floor but slow to cut, and exposing aggregate on them takes patience. Push the machine too hard and the diamonds glaze and stop cutting, and you end up chasing an uneven exposure across the floor. We had one set of soft bond tooling on day one and ordered more on the first morning so both machines could run soft bond shoes.
It was also a live fitout. Scissor lifts, ladders, other trades and deliveries were all on the same floor, and the slab carried scratches from the build that had to be ground out before polishing. The edges along the shopfront and the new partition walls had to be done with a hand grinder, which always takes longer than people expect. Phone reception on site was poor, so the crew posted progress photos to our job channel at the start and end of every shift.
How we did it
Day one went into the first coarse passes with both machines. Day two finished the three coarse passes and started the 60/80 grout pass. Day three was the 100/120 pass, the scratch removal and the first coat of densifier. Day four was the 50 and 100 grit resin passes and the second coat of densifier. On the last day the crew started at 5:30 am, ran the 200 grit pass, applied the sealer and burnished it once it had dried.
The builder's site supervisor checked the floor each morning and was happy with it. Before the coarse passes we agreed the level of aggregate exposure with the client, so nobody was guessing at the end.
Exposed aggregate polished concrete, pass by pass
People ask what full exposure means. It is a floor ground down far enough that the stone in the concrete shows right across the surface, not just the cream and fine sand on top. Once the stone is showing, every pass after that is about taking out the scratches from the pass before. Skip a step and the scratches show under the sealer. That is why a fast programme has to be won with more machines, not fewer passes.
The result
The builder got about 310 square metres of commercial polished concrete in one working week. Full exposure aggregate, polished to 200 grit, densified, sealed and burnished. A hard wearing floor for a gym that is easy to clean and will take the traffic of people, weights and equipment.
Lessons learned on this job
What worked
- Two machines instead of one. On a short programme the fastest way to win time is to put more gear on the floor and keep it running, not to cut passes.
- Running the machines for the full 10 hour shift and changing tooling on the go, so neither grinder sat idle.
- Agreeing the aggregate exposure with the client before the coarse passes, and reporting progress with photos at the start and end of every shift.
What was difficult
- Very hard concrete. Test the slab on day one and have the right soft bond tooling for every machine ready, not one set.
- Build scratches on a live fitout. Allow time for extra scratch removal before the densifier goes on.
- Edges and columns by hand grinder. They take longer than the open floor, so put a dedicated person on them from the start.
Gym and retail floors up and down the east coast
Gyms, shops and showrooms open on fixed dates, and the floor is often one of the last trades before handover. We polish commercial floors from Sydney and from our Queensland base at Slacks Creek, so the same method of two machines, full shifts and daily reporting works in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. For floors that are already down, we also do polished floor maintenance and resealing.
If you have something similar
If you have a commercial floor to polish on a tight programme, have a look at our concrete polishing and concrete polishing Sydney pages, see our Leppington concrete polishing job, or get in touch.
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