There Are Two Kinds of Costs in Construction
The ones we eagerly count—materials, labour by the hour, plant by the day—and the ones we only encounter when Lady Luck deserts us: the rare, ruinous, reputation-shredding mishaps that arrive at precisely the worst possible time.
Misaligned holding-down bolts belong to the second camp. And because they’re rare, we behave—quite irrationally—as though they’re negligible. Until, of course, they aren’t.
What if you could neutralise this category of risk with an item that costs about the same as a packet of crisps? What if a £1 part quietly turned a low-probability, high-consequence fiasco into a complete non-event?
That is the psychological—and commercial—magic of Centraliser: a tiny polystyrene device that sits in the waxed cone and guarantees the bolt stays perfectly centred during installation and pour.
The benefit is not the polystyrene; the benefit is the certainty—the insurance—against a problem whose tail-risk is grotesquely disproportionate to its frequency. The manufacturer’s own description is gloriously unambiguous:
Why Rare Isn’t Small (and Why the Spreadsheet Lies)
The human mind (and, it must be said, many procurement spreadsheets) hates dealing with rare events. We round them down to zero in our planning, then round them up to disaster when they actually happen.
Behavioural economists call this base rate neglect and optimism bias: because you didn’t have a bolt-alignment issue on the last job, you assume you won’t have one on the next. That’s comforting—until it’s wrong.
Centraliser’s proposition is cleverly aligned to this cognitive blind spot. It reframes the question from “How often do bolts go wrong?” to “What would it cost if they did—and how cheaply can we pre-empt that?”
The product literature puts the core benefit plainly: Centraliser removes the risk of inaccurate bolt positioning and the need for remedial works by keeping the bolt truly central within the cone during installation, eliminating the guesswork that creeps in when boxes are transported or floated into wet concrete.
And this isn’t only about accuracy; it is also about speed and sequence. Correctly centred bolts speed up the steel erection sequence, because the base plates meet the bolts without the dreaded dance of jacking, slacking and swearing.
There is even a prosaic but valuable side effect: after the waxed cone is removed, the device prevents debris dropping into the pocket, so you don’t waste time cleaning cavities before the steel arrives.
In other words, a few pennies worth of certainty neatly unpicks hours—sometimes days—of chaos.
Polystyrene? No. Peace of Mind.
It’s worth stressing that Centraliser’s cultural win is not only technical; it’s psychological.
Most site teams already use waxed cones. Cones are helpful. But cones alone rely on habit, craftsmanship and good fortune to keep bolts perfectly central.
Centraliser is the poka-yoke (error-proofing device) that makes the outcome certain:
- 100% accuracy regardless of installer skill.
- Fast installation by unskilled labour.
- Increased productivity and reduced cost.
- Robust polystyrene design that strengthens the cone during pour.
In an environment where tolerances are tight and responsibility is vast, peace of mind is not a soft benefit; it’s a hard constraint.
Reframing Cost: The Invisible Bargain
Procurement often advances on a narrow front: unit price. If you judge Centraliser as “a polystyrene ring costing £0.60–£1.38,” you will be tempted to penny-pinch.
But judged as insurance, the arithmetic changes entirely.
Pricing (from the costing sheet):
- Smaller sizes (60–90 mm OD): ~£0.60–£0.78 per unit.
- Larger sizes (100–130 mm OD): ~£0.96–£1.38 per unit.
- Supplied in packs of 250 → totals from ~£150 up to ~£345.
The frame becomes: Does spending a few hundred pounds to de-risk a five-figure remedial scenario feel sensible?
At that point, you’re no longer comparing polystyrene to polystyrene; you’re comparing certainty to chaos.
Default Beats Debate: How to Make Adoption Effortless
Humans are lazy in the most wonderful and predictable ways. We tend to choose the default.
The smartest way to adopt Centraliser is to make it the path of least resistance:
- Bundle with waxed cones.
- Include in bolt box kits.
- Write it into RAMS, method statements and ITPs.
This isn’t merely convenience; it’s good psychology. The product is explicitly designed to be quick and easy to install, even by unskilled labour. The more you reduce friction, the more you turn the “right way” into the “default way.”
Social Signalling: Competence You Can See
Clients can’t inspect every calculation, but they can observe visible cues of competence.
Saying “we use Centraliser as standard on holding-down bolts” is a neat status signal—a shorthand for diligence. The brochure’s before/in-place/after sequence is perfect material for toolbox talks and client packs:
- Before: cone without Centraliser, bolt drifting off centre.
- In place: Centraliser holding the bolt perfectly concentric, debris excluded.
- After: base plate dropping cleanly onto bolts, first time.
It’s a small addition to your standard kit that tells a big story about your standards.
What It Is (and How to Specify Without Tears)
Let’s descend from psychology to the practical and make this idiot-proof.
- What it does: Keeps the bolt concentric within the waxed cone during transport and placement into wet concrete; eliminates guesswork; protects the pocket from debris; ensures templates can be stripped without surprises.
- Why it matters: Prevents erosion of tolerances which, if consumed during pour, manifest as misalignment at the base plate.
- What it accelerates: Steel erection (aligned bolts = faster column stand-up).
- What it saves: Not just remedials, but also tedious cleaning of bolt pockets.
Sizes & compatibility:
- Outer diameters: 60–130 mm.
- Inner holes: 22, 26, 32, 38 mm.
- Typically mapping to M20, M24, M30, M36 bolts.
- Covers cone references A–H (229–780 mm).
Packs & pricing:
- Supplied in 250-unit packs.
- Use the published price bands as your anchor.
Objections (and Elegant Counter-Frames)
“We rarely have bolt issues.”
That’s precisely when to buy insurance. Even if the answer is “not very often,” the reason to adopt is peace of mind—guaranteed accuracy regardless of installer experience.
“We’ve always managed with nails and care.”
Nails are a workaround; Centraliser is a standard. Workarounds rely on attention and memory; standards embed competence in the process.
“Another line item, another cost.”
Reframe it: not a cost, a risk transfer. A few hundred pounds per job moves a six-figure reputational risk and a five-figure remedial risk from “your problem” to “non-existent.”
A Tiny Change That Improves Culture
One overlooked benefit of error-proofing is emotional. The end of a pour is a tense moment. If you can end it with bolts that are visibly perfect, you alter the team’s peak-end memory of the task.
It finishes well → the task feels better in retrospect → compliance and care increase next time.
Small visible wins change how people feel about their work, which changes how well they do it.
Implementation Playbook (Copy-Paste This)
1. Make it the default.
- Bundle Centraliser with cones in your materials list.
- Add a RAMS line: “Centraliser to be used as standard for concentric bolt positioning.”
- Add an ITP check: “Bolt concentricity confirmed (photo) post-pour; pocket free of debris.”
2. Size selection cheat-sheet.
- Publish the A–H cone mapping alongside bolt sizes.
- Order per base, with 10–15% overage.
3. Toolbox talk (five minutes).
- Show the brochure’s before/in-place/after imagery.
- Demonstrate how Centraliser sits in the cone.
- Emphasise speed: “No special skill required.”
4. Procurement & packs.
- Order 250-unit packs per size.
- Anchor value to the remedials you’ll never see.
5. Client reassurance.
- Add a note in proposals: “We standardise Centraliser for bolt concentricity—eliminates remedials, accelerates steel erection.”
- Include a photo of your “standard kit” with Centraliser visible.
A Quick Back-of-the-Envelope ROI
- One pack of 250 units: ~£200–£270.
- Even if you avert only one remedial across a project, the pack pays for itself many times over.
- Add reputational savings: avoiding awkward client conversations.
This is not a precise ROI model; it’s an emotional one—and that’s the kind people actually use when deciding.
Why This Works: It Changes the Story
Centraliser shifts the narrative from:
- “We hope the bolts are fine”
to - “We designed a process where they are fine.”
That subtle shift—from hoping to designing for certainty—is what great firms sell as their real product.
The Smallest Big Decision You’ll Make This Year
If a competitor standardises Centraliser and you don’t, the difference won’t show in the bill of quantities. It will show in the tempo of work, the absence of snags, the speed of steel erection, and the calm confidence at the end of pour days.
Clients will notice—even if they can’t quite say why.
Summary (for the impatient)
- Problem: Rare but expensive misaligned holding-down bolts; cones alone can drift.
- Solution: Centraliser sits in the waxed cone, guaranteeing concentricity; prevents debris; speeds steel erection.
- Psychology: Treat it as insurance; make it the default; use it as a signal of professionalism.
- Specs: OD 60–130 mm; inner 22/26/32/38 mm; cone refs A–H (229–780 mm).
- Packs & price: 250-unit packs; totals £150–£345; ~£0.60–£1.38 per unit.
What to Do Next
Centraliser is not polystyrene. It’s peace of mind in a box.
- Spec it: Centraliser explainer on LSSLTD.NET
- Order it: Lichfield Survey Supplies product page
- Learn more: Centraliser.uk
Or download our ready-to-use spec wording and size matrix PDF — and make Centraliser your default from today.
Key Points from This Article
- Centraliser is the £1 insurance policy for holding-down bolts.
- Loss aversion: a rare failure costs far more than the pennies to prevent it.
- Insurance framing: compare certainty to chaos, not polystyrene to polystyrene.
- Default effect: make it the standard in kits and documents.
- Social proof: professional crews adopt Centraliser; cowboys don’t.
Related Reading
- Centraliser: Accurate Bolt Positioning for Construction – full explainer.
- 5 of the Greatest Errors to Affect Total Station Accuracy – why accuracy matters.
- Common Levelling Mistakes and How to Avoid Them – practical accuracy guidance.