Why are core drills so expensive and do I really need one?

Weekly Workplace Insight – October 5, 2022
By Ben Markham

Q: What is a Core Drill?

A: Core drilling creates a hole through the floor of an office so that power can come to the conference table, desk, or workstation from below, creating an access point so the wires can be tucked away into the furniture without looking like a mess.

Challenges of Core Drilling

Contractors need to access the connections from the floor below

Causes disturbance to other tenants
Not widely used and may require a custom contractor
Landlords prefer not to permanently modify their building
Expensive, cost often gets transferred to tenants

Alternatives to Core Drills

Sometimes core drills can be unavoidable, depending on your space. However, there are alternative solutions for your office space.

Position the furniture next to a wall or column.
Integrate a power pole to come down from the ceiling.
Add to an existing floor power location.
Poke thru devices: provide convenient access to existing below-floor-level power, communications, and audio/video services.
Use a floor track system – such as https://connectrac.com/ – for either under carpet or low-rise floor track. Talk to your electrician about wire needs.

Power Pole

Poke thru device

Connectrac

Recent Projects with CoreDrill and Connect Track

Core Drill

Connectrac

When to Start Talking Furniture (and Power Access)

Having Jefferson Group involved in the beginning stages of your floor planning is important to determine if a core drill is needed to meet the workspace requirements. If we look at your space and determine where workstations or conference rooms will be, any required core drilling can be scheduled and may not be as much of an issue or cost. Our project managers and installers are knowledgeable and helpful with these issues.

The best time to bring furniture discussions into your project would be before the lease is signed. Often tenants can negotiate site work or a higher tenant allowance. Reviewing your furniture needs early in the process provides plenty of time to plan out intricate details of how the office space should be set up and ensures your furniture arrives on time at the best cost. However, we can still help you if you are further along the process.