Complete Renovation and possible House Raising

Hi All
I have purchased a run down 3 bed house in Manly West in Brisbane. The house is built more than 50 years back, kept poorly by the owners and requires extensive repairing and renovation. I am in the process of getting quotes from builders.

This house is Highset home on stumps. The ground floor is garage and storage space. The space on ground floor is sufficient enough to make additional 1 bedroom, 1 toilet and laundry. However, the height is not legal height. The Building & Pest inspection guy gave me an idea of raising the house to make extra bedrooms downstairs. I am considering raising the house to make the ground floor legal height to use it as bedrooms.

If fellow forum members can help me with following queries:

1. Can anyone suggest a good company to raise house in Manly West / Brisbane area.
2. The house requires raising probably by 1-3 feet to make it legal room height. The expenses of raising 1-3 feet is equals raising house from the ground floor ?
3. Can anyone give estimates of costs from their experiences ?
4. Can anyone explain the process in brief ? Do we need to knock down current walls on ground level ? Do we need to disconnect all plumbing and electrical connections to ground level and re-connect ? Do we need to remove concrete from the ground floor and redo ?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Quick question: are you planning to rent out the downstairs area (once raised) as a 1 brm unit?

 

Hi Alan,
I just want to raise the height at the moment. I plan to make bed room on ground floor in 2-3 years time. Right at the moment, just raise the house, do repairs and renovations and rent out the current 3 bed home (not separate 1 bed unit at the moment).

 

The reason I asked is that you need fire separation if you want to let separately plus some council permission.

 

How are you going @ann_hv
I reckon @Tim86 would know a fair bit about this stuff, probably has some tips for you.

 

Are you allowed to knock it down? What's the benefit of keeping it versus a modern build given it needs "extensive" repairs and renovations?

 

cainhouseremovers - About

Or black and white house raising.

Id estimate $1500 per m2 to do the work underneath.

But no idea really. Whats there already? Is there an approved slab already, etc...

You're going to need to get someone out there to give you a quote.

 

With the age of the building it may pay to see just how much fibro is in the walls,roof,before you start,.

 

Hi Alan, Yes I understand that. That is why I want to take it in stages.

 

Hi Bran, extensive means repairs and renovation ranging from $80k-$100k. Brand new modern build would cost much high.

 

Here is the picture how it looks like:

 

Does this include your lift and build in underneath? If not, add ballpark 60-70k imo

Just a thought.

 

Thanks for your reply. I am trying to get a professional to visit and give me quote for raising and building underneath.

 

Apparently it can cost quite a bit.
Depends on how much you can do yourself as well.

 

I spoke with my BA whose cousin happens to run a house raising company in Brisbane. According to him it will cost anywhere between $30-$50k...So I guess I may not go ahead with raising house at this moment. Will think about raising house in future...

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and posts.

 

Is this property for IP or PPOR?

Just a thought...
Any chance you could skim/excavate the required depth from ground to get the required ceiling height?

However from the sounds of whats been mentioned I'm kinda with Bran re knocking it down, building new.
Any chance to subdivide? Or perhaps build something with a GF (separate entry) under the same roof for dual income.

Perhaps not in your budget/thoughts at the moment so perhaps just give the place a quick/cheap tidy up, rent it out for whatever you can get for now while assessing options.

 

Hi WestOz

Dual occupancy is an option. The house has separate entrance for the back side. Will consider granny in future.

 

Cost me around 90k to build in under my house and I did all the building work myself. 100m2 house.

To raise it is about 7k. To stump it is about 15 to 20k. But youve also got to knock down the existing structure underneath and probably rip up the old slab if there is one as it wont meet building code and then pay 10k for a new slab etc.....

It adds up quick. Especially if you are paying others to do all the work. Much less labour to build new which is why it tends to be cheaper.

 

Oops - my 60-70k didn't include labour either (but it was done by the previous owner).

It sounds like you have options down the track, I'd give it a spruce, get a tenant then take the time to think over your options.

You haven't shown us anything but the underneath photos. If you make it LOOK habitable, even if its not legal height, then the tenants can do what they wish with the extra 'rumpus'.

 

This is a good point, it can be usable even someone tall can't stand up under there. Some good seating, can be like an extra living area. Generally a bit cooler under the house. And good storage of course.

Got any pics?