When the build happened
The Coorparoo Queenslander raise and build-under documented here ran from 2018 to 2020. Every figure is what we paid in invoices to licensed Brisbane trades during that period: $331,510 across eight cost categories.
Why the structure still matters in 2026
Construction prices, trade availability and council fees all move over time. Several parts of a Queenslander build-under barely move, whatever the year the work happens:
- The categories you need to budget for
- The ratios between those categories on a typical Queenslander build-under
- The order trades work in and the hold-point sequence
- The decisions you face at each stage
- The patterns of items that come in over initial estimates
That is what the Coorparoo project gives you: the structure of a real Brisbane Queenslander build-under, line by line, in the format trades quote and certifiers inspect. That structure outlasts the specific dollar values.
What has changed since 2020
Brisbane construction costs have risen since the Coorparoo project, and lead times for some trades have extended. Material costs, in particular, have moved across timber, steel and aluminium joinery. Council fees and certifier rates have moved with CPI. The QBCC owner-builder process is broadly unchanged.
For a current quote on any line item, contact a licensed Brisbane trade in that discipline. The site does not maintain a real-time price book. It maintains the structure that lets you organise current quotes against a known reference.
How to use the figures
- Use the categories as your budget skeleton. Raise and subfloor, slab, framing, services rough-in, external works, insulation and linings, fit-out, permits and fees. Eight categories.
- Use the Coorparoo ratios as a sense check. If a trade's quote is wildly outside the proportion the same category represented on Coorparoo, that's a flag to dig into.
- Use the line-item breakdown to ask better questions. Knowing the Coorparoo electrical rough-in included an upstairs upgrade lets you ask your own electrician whether the same scope is in scope.
- Replace the dollar values with your own current quotes in the Budget Toolkit or your own spreadsheet. Keep the structure. Update the numbers.
What this site is not
- A current Brisbane price book
- A quantity surveyor's report
- Professional building, engineering or financial advice
- A substitute for trade quotes on your specific scope
For the full liability framing, see the Disclaimer.
One line summary
These are historical reference points, not a current quote.
