House Raising in Sunshine Coast

What house raising in Sunshine Coast actually involves

Raising lifts the whole house off its existing stumps onto temporary supports, so taller stumps or a new structure can go in underneath. People do it for two reasons here: to win a legal, usable level underneath, or to get a habitable floor above a flood level. Guide bands run A$18,000 to A$22,500 for a one or two bedroom cottage around 6m × 8m, A$21,000 to A$30,000 for a two or three bedroom around 8m × 11m, A$33,000 to A$45,000 for a three or four bedroom around 10m × 15m, and A$37,500 to A$57,000 for a larger three or four bedroom around 12m × 18m.

What raising a house involves

Those bands assume a lift of up to approximately three metres and exclude a specific list: drafting of plans, engineering and council approval, reconnection of services, new stairs, and any new concrete slab. On most raises that list is a material share of the total, which is why it sits in its own table on the pricing page rather than in a sentence someone has to find.

If the reason for raising is flood, the governing figure is your finished floor level — and on the Sunshine Coast that comes from a council flood information search, which also returns the defined flood level and freeboard. Council designated the flood hazard area for building regulation purposes by resolution OM23/99 on 21 September 2023, superseding the planning scheme designation. Getting that search before the design is finalised is the difference between raising once and raising to the wrong height.

House Raising in Sunshine Coast — common questions

How high can a house be raised?

The published bands assume a lift of up to approximately three metres, enough for a legal habitable level underneath in most cases. Going higher changes the engineering and puts the job outside those bands.

Will raising the house fix my stumps too?

Not automatically — they are separate jobs at separate prices. A raise usually means new stumps because the old ones are the wrong height, but raise-and-restump is quoted as both, not as one line.

Do I need engineering and approval?

Almost always, and it is excluded from the published bands. A raise typically needs drafted plans and engineering before council will look at it. Where the property is in a flood hazard area, the council flood information search feeds the finished floor level into that design.