House rising - please help

[andylo]

I have made a few calls to the guys doing house rising but I have a neg. feeling that they are being too optimistic and just trying to get the business 1st, then add cost later.

Just wonder if anyone has 1st hand experience here? So I can PM you to ask a few things?

Thanks

[3oneday]

a what ?

[andylo]

House rising. Make single deck house -> double deck house.

[TS]

Andy. The house I live in used to be a 25 years old single storey house.

[andylo]

Did you get someone to raise the house for you?

[Fishman Dan]

Just add water.

[Jarro]

Viagra

[amanda]

A-lo - have you thought about KDR? (Knock down and rebuild)

Check out this website:
http://www.archicentre.com.au/

They also have a cost guide:
http://www.archicentre.com.au/2008Jancostguide.pdf

Whatever you do - get a fixed price contract!

[markTHEblake]

You can build a bloody good 2storey house for $200k.

[Moe Norman]

A-Lo give Budget Restumping a call.

Raising a colonial style home is very cheap, so don't be surprised if the quote comes back at as low as $10k depending on size and footings.

[just]

As Mo said A-Lo raising and re-stumping is cheap, in the vicinity of $10-15K generally. Its building in underneath were the cost comes in.

[Peter]

Umm, does he mean lifting the place up or building a 2nd storey on top?

Why not just sell it and buy a new place? Works for golf clubs...

[just]

Peter
he means lifting the house and possibly building underneath, a common practice with Queenslander style houses in Brisbane. They are already on stumps, so you just need to raise them to legal height to build underneath and add extra room.

[markTHEblake]

just spoke to builder client of mine., he said bloody good idea.

In consideration of that, and thinking about the suburb you are in, this type of renovation is much more cost effective.

[Moe Norman]

not many other ways to double your useable space for under $20k.

[goughy]

Heck, even if you don't build underneath straight away, you have somewhere extra to park the cars, or a cooler area to stick a table and chairs and have a bbq!

[BrisVegas]

A mate of mine recently raised his Qld'er and built new bedrooms, study, bath, home theatre and garage etc under it. I'm not sure what the cost of raising it up was, but he spent around $50-60k on the other stuff. Seems like a great idea to me.

[markTHEblake]

thats what my builder mate said - $50-$60k

what are you putting downstairs Lo-ey? a indoor driving range or a chinese laundry?

[andylo]

Not rising where we are living right now.

Yes, we going to rise the existing house and build extra rooms and living area, then put the original house on top of it, with new balcony extra.

Thanks Moe and just, I thought no one will able to give me a useful answer.

Thanks Mandy too... but rebuild etc just out of reach budget wise.

[kpac]

get a comparable quote if you dont trust this fella Alo, plenty of people between gold coast and brisbane that can do it for you, whole house is worth around 20k depending on many things obviously.

[amanda]

No worries Alo! I thought you meant building a 2nd storey on top.

What you're suggesting isn't really common practice down here in Sydney.

[andylo]

No worries Alo! I thought you meant building a 2nd storey on top.

What you're suggesting isn't really common practice down here in Sydney.

Yeah, I then realize it.... it seems only Queensland got those timber houses you can move around a lot.

[Grunt]

Could be why that style of house is called a Queenslander Alo;)

[Fishman Dan]

So you're trying to make your house pop-up?

[markTHEblake]

Yeah, I then realize it.... it seems only Queensland got those timber houses you can move around a lot.

Havent you worked out yet the reason why Qld houses are often built above the ground. :-)

Hint - watched the news lately ?

BTW, A "queenslander" is a house with a verandah all the way around, often enclosed. It doesnt mean a house on stumps, although many are.