Qld - current cost to raise a house + cost to extend

Hi

We are weighing up moving/building vs house raise.

Q1 House Raise

We are located within 8km of the city. The house would have to be pushed back on the block about 1.5m and raised by about 1m. There is good access to the block.

If we manage the project ourselves, what costs can we expect...from plans to completed raise with stumps?

Q2 house extension

If we raised the house, we would extend it on one end by 5m (width of house is 9.25). Possibly extend a part of the front by 2m (width of 5m).

The first extension would be the master and large ensuite up amd bedroom/rumpus down. The second would be exte ding the dining room upper amd under is garage.

Any idea on cost per square metre? What about if I do owner/builder path?


Many thanks in advance

 

We just did this a few weeks back. Sounds very similar to what you're doing. I'm doing the owner builder thing and we raised our house about 1400mm and went forward about 500mm. We're also extending out the back about 4 metres.

We got about five quote to raise and they varied from 28k to close to 40k from memory. Our project required a lot of steel due to the nature of the layout downstairs we wanted. There were about 22 posts and a lot of steel beams. Pretty much every existing timber bearer had steel attached.

Process wise this is what I did:

- Site Survey which included a survey of the current stump location. This was because I was doing the plans myself in Revit and wanted a plan of where the existing bearers were with the assumption that the steel posts would be attached to these at some place and this obviously influenced the layout of the walls downstairs.Cost approx: $2400

- Finalised plans for what we wanted. As I said, I did this so tinkered with them on and off for a while until we were fairly happy with it.

- Application to council for site variance. We wanted to go slightly closer to one of our boundaries downstairs than permitted under the development code so we applied to BCC to see if that would be allowed before going any further as we would have to change design if not allowed. This involved getting neighbours signing a form saying that they acknowledged what my plans were and had no objections. You can do this yourself online but annoyingly need to name your building certifier for the application. I didn't have one yet so I found one who was willing to submit the application on my behalf. Was a little annoying as they didn't do anything except put their name to it and I obviously had to pay for that but at least they were good enough to do it. Can't remember cost. Look up council site if this will apply to you.

- Next we got a soil test as this would be needed for the engineer to design slab. Cost $400.

- Once we received the green light for our plans the next step was to engage an engineer to provide the structural plans for the steel, slab, frame etc. Before booking the job in I booked a 1 hour consultation with an engineer to make sure what I had in mind was feasible and what I should change to my plans if anything. Once happy with everything I sent the plans to the engineer for him to work his magic. Cost about $3500.

- Once I had the engineers plans back I got quotes for raiser and concreter for the slab. We wanted to live in the house while the build happened downstairs so there was no stress timewise and we didn't have to bother moving and paying rent. We had to move out for about 4 weeks (turned into 5.5 weeks with first major downpours in months).

- Got the plumber and Electrician to disconnect services.

- House was raised in two weeks.

- Demo and excavation guys came in to dispose of the old downstairs and fibro extension out the back. The downstairs was only ever under-house storage but was made of brick and sooo much concrete. This is the stage that blew out the budget. First they found asbestos under the slab which is pretty common apparently. They used to throw it under before pouring concreting back in the day. So all of a sudden our concrete, which is free to dump, turned into a contaminated substance which is very much not free to dump. Then the rain came. Hadn't rained for 6 months but it bloody rained for a week. Excavators were getting bogged and had to go home a few times and bigger machines had to be used. My tip is this: Sort out a temporary storm water solution as soon as the house has been raised. It started raining literally the day or so after we had raised and the downpipes which no longer connected to the stormwater pipes dumped their contents onto the ground straight below and this in turn settled under the house and turned into a pool. Get flexi pipes and connect those to your down pipes as a temp. solution. Demo cost: Approx: $10k (I know).

- As soon as the site was cleared we got the plumber in to lay underslab pipes. About $2400.

- Concreter was next. Slab was done in about 3-4 days. Cost: Approx $34k.

- Now the concrete was down (so good) we could move back in so temporary stairs went up. About $2000.

- Plumber and electrician back in to reconnect upstairs services and lay foundations for the new downstairs (new fuse box etc).

We also had our water meter moved at some point to allow for driveway which shifted places. About $600. We engaged a surveyor again to plot out profile of house and slab. About $1100. You'll also need port-a-loo for tradies and a temp fence.

That's all I can think of for now. Probably spent about $85k or so up to this point.

 

This is a fantastic response and detail, I literally came on here to search almost the same question.

 

Firstly, thank you for being so generous with your time to give so much detail. It really was great of you. It sounds like you have been at this for a while and obviously learning as you go.

I do have some further questions (if that is ok) that your excellent reply has prompted? I am a total newbie to all this stuff! If you prefer, we can even speak directly.

* if you are using Revit, are you a draftsman or is something that is possible to learn/do ourselves?
* you've spent 85k, would you say that completes the lift/slab/reconnection etc, or is there something more you have to do before you get onto building proper?
* are you going to do the building yourself or get builder to do it, with you supervising? If the latter, what is the indicative cost per m2? I have read this could be 1600 to 2800 (and more)

Your plans sound interesting, wish we could see them to get ideas! Our house sounds similar, timber top and brick bottom that wasn't regulation. House has been cleared of fibro inside, just some on the roof and now you have me worried about under the slab We also have the old septic to fill in too, but guess that won't be much.

Thanks again. Very good of you.

 

Hope it helps!

Ask away! Happy for a pm but I guess it's beneficial for others out here so I'll try do that.

No not a professional by any means. I started a diploma of building design a few years ago through TAFE as I had a bit of down time in my day job. I always wanted to build my own place one day so I figured better to pay to learn the skills myself then paying someone else twice as much to do it for me. I still haven't finished the diploma as work picked up, kids came along etc but I did learn enough to enable me to do most of what I needed including becoming proficient with Revit.

Saying that though, you can definitely learn to use the program on your own. With TAFE I learnt the basics by doing a project that got us to design a basic cottage/house from scratch. So you just copied their design and in the end you had your plan views, elevations, 3d view etc.

The great thing about revit is every page or view comes from the same 'model' you've built up in the program. So change anything in the model and that will change in all of the other views.

My advice would be to do some online course like Lynda or something to get the hang of it. Once you understand the logic it's great as it's fully customisable and makes the planning so much easier and more accurate. Plus doing it myself as opposed to a designer or an architect meant that I was all over every aspect of the build. When the house raisers were putting beams in they were about to place a few in the wrong place etc and being so intimate with the designs I picked up on it before it was an issue.

If you're going the owner builder route you'll find also that if you design it yourself you'll be doing so with the construction of it in mind. So you won't design some aspect that is impossible or incredibly expensive to actually build because you'll be the one getting stuck with having to do that.

Also brush up on the National Construction Code (Volume 2)and the relevant parts that apply to you. It's available for free at the following link:

NCC | Australian Building Codes Board

This is the document that will tell you legal ceiling heights for particular rooms, legal stair design, balustrade heights and all that kind of jazz. Have a look particuarly at Part 3.8 Health and Amenity. Every habitable room needs a certain amount of ventilation and natural light and this part of the NCC tells you how to work out the minimum window sizes to meet these requirements. The building certifier will be checking all of this complies with the NCC when you send plans to them for certification so better to make sure you know it complies before that.

I also found that if you had a decent knowledge of the regs. then you at least knew what you were talking about and tradies etc didn't treat you like a complete *****. Well not always.

So yeah give revit a crack it's not too hard. I'm always happy to answer any questions although I'm no expert myself.

That pretty much has allowed us to move back in and live like we were before the build 6 weeks ago and the slab is now awaiting me to get started framing. Unfortunately we'll be halting for a few months as I'll be starting a new job on Tuesday that takes me away on and off for a few months but that was all in our plan.

Here are our temporary stairs from last week before I finished them.

I'll be trying to do what I can myself. The framing I'll do most of but our extension is going to be double height raked ceilings so I obviously won't physically be able to do that myself so I'll probably contract that out to chippies. Floorboards I'll do, plaster I might contract out as it's not that expensive and they'll do a much better job. Joinery, architraves, wainscoting etc I'll do. Kitchen I'll make. I'll get a roofer for that.

So yeah I'll do what I can and contract out the rest. Whatever you're comfortable doing really. The great thing about living upstairs while we do it is not having that time pressure so you can enjoy the process.

I can't tell you a m2 price as we didn't budget that way. We literally broke everything down in a spreadsheet and worked out costs that way. So Electrical: $15k. Doors and Windows: $16k etc. And for the most part they were fairly accurate (except the damn excavations). So we priced every individual window and door to get that budget. Less straight forward was getting a quote from the plumber or something like that. But we still got a rough quote and that's going to plan so far.

I have to head to work but will put some of our plans up at some point to give you can idea of what our money got us.

 

Is it possible to raise a highest if it was (all - roof and walls ) made of asbestos/fibro? The house is pretty solid. And if the bottom level isn't concrete slabbed, cab you raise it adequately (probably min 2 meters) so the bottom level continues to sit on piers?

 

If it's of lightweight construction and on stumps you can raise pretty much anything. Whether or not it's worth it once taking into consideration the fact that you need to strip it all of it's linings is another matter.

 

Hi all,

First time here and the information Im readin is just so useful - thank you to all who contribute.

We are considering purchasing a old 1930 queensland in Brisbane area.

Under the house its all steel stumps (look relatively new) at a height of 2400mm (legal height) however, if we were to utilise downstairs (put in bedrooms, rumpus etc) we may as well lift it a little higher.

Under the house is completely clear say for the steel stumps (approx 16 I think). My question is, if we were to replace the steel stumps for heigher ones, say 3000mm what would that costs.

Would I need to get all the engineering done, new slab etc or could that just replace the 2400mm stumps for the 3000mm ones?

Sorry if Im asking dumb questions, have renovated a few queenslanders in my time but never done the lift. Its certainly not something I would manage myself.

Thanks

 

Thanks for all this information - such a great help.

We have a old Queenslander so have been seeking out specialists builders who can appreciate the old Queenslanders. We have come across Amazing Builds and Queenslander Renovations both of whom seem excellent in their client service.

Meeting them next week to go through ideas for the renovations.

 

Hey wylie,

I know this is a few years old now but was just hoping to see whether you'd still recommend the above??

Am looking at either a dig-out or further raise for a Queenslander that has been raised in the past but is only 2350mm underneath. So not legal height and also an old reno. Aware that current climate for reno's is hardly ideal but would like to at least pursue some quotes/options.

Cheers

Kris

 

awesome! Sounds like a very good experience. Have asked them to give me a call and get the ball rolling.

Thanks!

 

Hey @wylie - whilst I'm at it, can I ask if you have any recommendations re builder or outfit for bathroom/laundry reno's in Brisbane? I think I've read along the way you've done more than one of these over the past few years. All good if they're flat out and don't want any referrals haha .