The Project

A 1920s Coorparoo Queenslander, raised, built under and documented in full.

Real costs from 2018-2020, real sequencing, real mistakes. One project, documented with the detail we wish someone had given us before we started.

Start with the budgetSee the photo gallery
The original 1920s Coorparoo Queenslander before raising

$331,510

Total build-under, 2018-2020 dollars

112.5 m²

Habitable ground floor, owner-builder procurement

1920s

Original Coorparoo Queenslander, single-storey, single-bath

🧭 Explore the project

Pick a thread

🏠

Project Overview

The Coorparoo Queenslander before we started, what we set out to do and the constraints we worked inside.
📅

Project Timeline

Stage by stage, from first conversation with the engineer through to the final certifier sign-off.
💰

Budget & Costs

The single canonical breakdown of what our Coorparoo project cost between 2018 and 2020. Historical, contextual, not a current quote.
🏗️

Raising The House

The raise itself: contractor, engineering, temporary works, sequencing and what we learned from doing it.
📐

Structural Work

Subfloor framing, raft slab, posts, beams, bracing: the structural decisions and the engineering behind them.
⚠️

Mistakes & Lessons

The honest list. Sequencing mistakes, budget surprises, scope creep and the calls we got wrong.
🖼️

Before & After

Side-by-side photo comparisons of every meaningful change to the original 1920s structure.
📷

Photo Gallery

Curated stage galleries from the build: before, raising, framing, finishing.
🧭

What We'd Do Differently

With hindsight: the trade we should have engaged earlier, the line item we underspent, the design decision we regret.

About the figures and timelines on this site. Every figure documented here was incurred between 2018 and 2020 on one specific Coorparoo project. Brisbane construction pricing has moved since. Use the structure and the ratios as a sense-check alongside your own current trade quotes. See how the figures work.

The completed Coorparoo Queenslander
The finished Coorparoo Queenslander.

Read the project, then work the line items

The full $331,510 line items, in the Budget Toolkit

Every line item from the Coorparoo build as a working spreadsheet, pre-loaded as a worked example with quote-entry worksheets and a contingency calculator.

  • All 8 cost categories with individual line items
  • Enter your own quotes against the real figures
  • Contingency calculator and payment schedule
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