House raising and restumping: the Queenslander guide

Why Queensland raises houses

Three forces meet in Queensland and almost nowhere else. The first is water: large parts of Brisbane, Ipswich and the regional river towns sit in flood overlays, and lifting the habitable floor above the council's defined flood level is the most direct protection a timber house can get. The second is space: raising a highset or lowset Queenslander and building in underneath can double the floor area without touching the backyard. The third is character protection: in Brisbane, houses built before 1947 in character areas are hard to demolish, so families who need more room raise and build under instead of knocking down.

The houses themselves cooperate. A timber Queenslander on stumps is light, well braced and was in many cases carted to its block in pieces a century ago. It is a structure that was always liftable.

What is structurally involved

A raise starts underneath. The crew threads steel needle beams under the bearers, then sets hydraulic jacks on cribbing, the stacked timber towers you see under a house mid-lift. The house rises in small, synchronised stages, checked constantly for twist, until it reaches design height and is parked on temporary supports.

The old stumps come out and new, taller supports go in, usually engineered steel posts, sometimes tall concrete stumps, always with bracing designed for the job, because a tall house on slender posts needs lateral stiffness it never needed at knee height. Then the house is lowered onto its new supports and fixed down, and the stairs, plumbing, drainage and power are rebuilt to suit. Nearly every raise is also a restump, which is why quotes read “raise and restump” as one line. The general sequence mirrors the standard restumping process, stretched taller.

Legal height rules

For the space underneath to count as habitable rooms, bedrooms and living areas, Queensland requires a finished ceiling height of at least 2.4 m. Non-habitable spaces such as bathrooms, laundries and hallways can be 2.1 m. Most designers aim higher, around 2.7 m plus a cavity for beams and services, so the downstairs feels like part of the house rather than a converted undercroft.

Two other height rules matter. Councils set minimum habitable floor levels in flood overlays, which can dictate how high you must go, and overall building height limits, commonly around 8.5-9.5 m in Brisbane's residential zones, cap how high you may go. Our Queensland regulations guide covers the approvals these rules feed into.

Raising versus moving or extending

Raising makes sense when the block is small and the family is not, when the house is in a flood overlay, when character rules block demolition, or when the house needs restumping anyway and you would rather buy height with the disruption you are already paying for. A ground-level extension eats the yard and needs its own footings; moving costs stamp duty and a suburb.

The flood-resilience case goes beyond the floor level. A well-planned raise also lifts power points, hot water systems and air-conditioning units above the water line, so a future flood passes under the house rather than through it. For the money side, including what a build-under adds, see our raise and restump cost guide: expect $30,000-$70,000+ for the lift and new stumps alone.

Raise and build under: what changes

A raise and restump gives you height. A build-under turns that height into rooms, and it is effectively a ground-floor extension: a new slab or floor, external walls and windows, plumbing, electrical, internal stairs and the approvals that go with habitable space. None of that is in a raise and restump price, which is why the two are quoted separately even when the same builder does both. Many owners do it in two stages, raising and restumping first and building under later when the budget allows. If that is the plan, say so at the design stage so the post positions, bracing and final height are set for the rooms you will eventually build, not just for parking a car.

A "raise and hold" is the related job where the house is lifted and held on temporary supports while new footings, a slab or a full build-under go in beneath it before it is lowered onto permanent posts. It costs more in hire and time than a straight raise and restump, so make sure a quote says which it is.

Raising a house in Brisbane

Brisbane produces more raise and restump work than any other city because its three drivers stack: wide flood overlays along the river and creeks, the pre-1947 character protections that make demolition difficult, and tight inner suburban blocks where building under is the only way to add space. Before you get quotes, obtain the council's flood information for the property so the design height is fixed, check whether the house sits in a character or heritage overlay, and confirm the lot's overall height limit. Then send the same brief to each firm so the prices are comparable. The raise and restump cost guide explains what moves a Brisbane price, and the form below reaches licensed raisers servicing Brisbane and regional Queensland.

Who does the work

House raising is a specialist trade within restumping. Plenty of restumping firms do not lift houses beyond re-levelling height, and dedicated raisers own the jacking rigs, needles and cribbage the job demands. Whoever you use must hold the appropriate QBCC licence, carry insurance, and work from an engineer's design through a private certifier. Ask directly how many raises the crew has done in the past year, and apply the same checks as for any contractor selection. In the capital, our Brisbane directory lists firms that raise as well as restump.