Raising a Queenslander: What to Expect

Raising a Queenslander is one of those jobs that sounds simple — lift the house up, build underneath, put it back down — but the reality involves a lot of moving parts. This is what the process looked like for our Coorparoo project.

What “raising” actually means

A house raise involves temporarily lifting the entire structure off its existing stumps using hydraulic jacks, then either inserting new bearers and stumps at the new height, or building a new subfloor frame underneath while the house is suspended.

For a Queenslander build-under, the house typically goes up to somewhere between 2.4m and 3m under floor level, giving you enough height for a liveable ground floor underneath.

Who does the work

House raising in Queensland is specialist work done by licensed house raising contractors. There are a handful of established operators in South East Queensland. You won’t find them on Hipages — word of mouth and recommendations from structural engineers are how most people find them.

The raiser coordinates with a structural engineer who designs the temporary works (the lifting system) and the permanent new subfloor structure. Your builder or you as owner-builder then coordinate the slab and framing work that follows.

The sequence at our place

1. Structural engineering — Our engineer specified the new bearer and joist sizes, the stump positions, and the connection details for where the old sub-floor would tie into the new build-under framing.

2. Pre-raise preparation — Inside the house, some internal walls needed temporary bracing. Services (water, gas, electrical) were disconnected or given enough slack to move with the house.

3. The raise itself — Our raiser used a hydraulic jack system spread across approximately 30 jack positions. The house came up over about four hours. It’s slow, controlled, and genuinely impressive to watch.

4. Temporary support — Once at height, the house sits on temporary steel frames (or timber crib stacks) while the permanent sub-floor structure is built up underneath.

5. Permanent subfloor installation — New stumps, bearers, and joists were installed. This took about a week.

6. Lowering — The house is lowered onto its permanent new subfloor and bolted down. Services are reconnected.

How long does it take

The raise itself — getting the house from ground to full height — is typically one to two days. The temporary support and permanent subfloor work takes anywhere from a week to three weeks depending on the complexity of your project.

Our total from first jacks in to services reconnected was about two and a half weeks.

What it costs

House raising costs vary significantly based on the size of the house, the height being raised, access constraints, and the specific contractor. For a typical 3-4 bedroom Queenslander in Brisbane in 2024-2025, expect the raise alone to be in the range of $30,000–$60,000 including the structural engineering.

That’s separate to the slab, the build-under framing, and any reinstatement works.

Things worth knowing

Access is critical. The raising equipment is large. If your block has tight side access, that affects how the contractor sets up and may add cost.

The house will creak and move. This is normal. Old Queenslanders are flexible structures — they were designed to move. Some settlement of plasterwork and joinery is expected.

Disconnect everything properly. Services that aren’t properly isolated before the raise will get damaged. We had our plumber and electrician on site the day before.

Your neighbours will want to watch. It’s not every day a house gets lifted two and a half metres into the air.