Borer in the piles, decking gone soft underfoot, a pontoon sitting low after a storm: we replace piles, re-deck, rebuild bracing and refloat pontoons on Brisbane Water and Tuggerah Lakes. Say whether yours is on Brisbane Water or the lakes, and what it is doing.
Get a Quote →Central Coast jetties span two very different waterways — the tidal estuary of Brisbane Water and the calmer brackish waters of Tuggerah Lakes. Each environment attacks timber differently, so repairs must be tailored to the conditions your structure faces.
Brisbane Water jetties around Woy Woy, Saratoga and Davistown cop strong tidal flow through the channel, accelerating marine borer damage on untreated piles. Tuggerah Lakes structures at The Entrance, Long Jetty and Toukley sit in shallower water with softer sediment, making pile footings prone to scouring after heavy rain events.
A proper repair starts with a below-waterline inspection — checking pile integrity, cross-bracing connections and decking substrate. From there the contractor scopes the work: isolated pile replacement, full re-decking, or structural rebuilds where needed. Marine work is specified in H6-treated timber with 316 stainless hardware to handle the salt environment.
Remove borer-damaged or rotted piles and drive new H6-treated hardwood or composite piles. Cost per pile depends mainly on length and substrate, and rises again where piles have to go into rock.
Replace split or cupped decking boards, rebuild cross-bracing and restore handrails using marine-grade hardwood and 316 stainless fixings.
Inspect and replace pontoon floats, reattach gangways and service guide-pile rollers. Replacement EPS and polyethylene float modules are standard stock items for most pontoon repairers.
Full above- and below-waterline assessment with photo report. Includes pile-sounding, load estimation and a prioritised repair schedule. Cost depends on structure size and access.
East coast lows and king tides regularly damage Central Coast foreshore structures. If your jetty has been hit, send us the details.
On Brisbane Water, how long a rebuilt jetty can be depends partly on the neighbours. Chapter 2.12 of Central Coast Council's Development Control Plan 2022 caps length at the average of jetties within 100 m either side, and at the length needed to reach 900 mm to 1.5 m of water at mean low water. If 900 mm can't be reached within 50 m, plus any agreed 5 m extension, the jetty will not be approved. The same Brisbane Water section puts the deck at least 750 mm above mean high water, 900 mm to 1.2 m wide, on piles spaced 3 m or more apart and never on solid fill.
That matters when a repair becomes a replacement. When an application covers additions, alterations or replacement of an old solid-fill jetty, it must be rebuilt on piers and the fill removed, unless it is a heritage item. Council can refuse a rebuild where sharing a neighbour's jetty is practical. Before a jetty is built, the owner must also lodge a copy of their Crown Land licence agreement and create a positive covenant on their land to hold public liability insurance and keep the structure safe.
The tide also differs across the estuary. Manly Hydraulics Laboratory's 2001 to 2020 tidal planes analysis gives a mean range of 0.722 m at Ettalong but 0.505 m further in at Koolewong, so pile exposure at low tide varies.
Private jetties and pontoons on the Coast are usually on the Brisbane Water foreshores, off the waterfront homes at Ettalong Beach, Booker Bay, Woy Woy, Woy Woy Bay, Blackwall, Koolewong, Tascott, Point Clare, Gosford, Saratoga, Davistown and Kincumber. The other stretch is the Tuggerah Lakes shore at The Entrance, Long Jetty, Toukley and Budgewoi.
The Council jetty controls we cite come from the Brisbane Water section of the Central Coast DCP 2022, so if your jetty is not on Brisbane Water, confirm which controls apply before any work is planned.
If yours is somewhere else on the Coast, tell us where it is and we can usually get out that way.
Tell us what you need and where the property is.