How Much Does A Lift And Build Under Cost In Brisbane?

The Short Answer

A complete lift and build under with Woolley Constructions starts from $1.1 million. Projects with extensions or a full upstairs renovation sit higher, and some pass $2 million.

That figure is the build cost only. Design, engineering, approvals and other consultant fees before construction come on top, typically from around $30,000.

You’ll see much lower figures online, often $150,000 to $600,000, and those usually cover the raise and a basic fit out underneath. Ours is a complete project: a new roof, a rewire where there’s substantial work upstairs, private stormwater and sewer replaced boundary to boundary, a weather resistant barrier and cavity on every new wall, the kitchen moved down to the ground floor, an extra bathroom on the first floor, and the floor plan changes that join the two levels into one home.

For owners of character and heritage homes in suburbs like Red Hill, West End, Wilston and Gordon Park, raising and building underneath is often the most effective way to add a whole new level of living space. It keeps the patina and craftsmanship of the original home, its place in the streetscape, and your life in a neighbourhood you already love. It’s also one of the biggest investments you’ll make in your home, so it pays to understand where the money goes.

Below we explain what drives the cost, the consultant fees you’ll need before construction, why we build every wall the way we do, and exactly what’s included when you build with Woolley Constructions.

What A Lift And Build Under Involves

A lift and build under is really two projects in one. First we prepare the existing house and lift it to its new height. Then we build a complete new ground floor beneath it and stitch the two levels together so the home reads as one.

On site, that usually looks like this:

1. Prepare. Services are disconnected, and the front stairs, lattice, old stumps and anything attached to the underside of the house come out.
2. Raise. We use Raise My House, the most trusted house raisers in the industry, to lift the home and hold it securely while the new structure goes in.
3. Structure. New footings, structural steel posts and beams, and a concrete slab, all designed by a structural engineer for your soil and site.
4. Set down. The house is lowered onto its new structure at its final height and tied down.
5. Build the new level. Framing, the weather resistant barrier and cavity battens, windows and doors, cladding, plumbing and electrical, insulation, linings, then kitchens, bathrooms, joinery and finishes.
6. Connect old and new. A new internal stair, services running between floors, and making good to the existing house wherever stairs, pipes or cladding were cut.

What It Costs In Brisbane In 2026

Our complete lift and build unders start from $1.1 million in build costs. Where your project lands above that depends on your site conditions, the size of the new level and the finishes you choose, which is why we only commit to a number as a fixed price at the end of pre-construction.

What We Include As Standard

These costs generally include a complete re-roof of the existing house. Many character and heritage homes need significant work on the roof, and we’re usually stitching old to new at the rear, so we include new roofing as standard in our preliminary pricing. Most other builders may not.

When you’re investing $1 million or more in your home, it makes sense for the roof to be in brand new condition too, protecting the new work below rather than leaving an old roof over a new home.

Where the scope includes substantial work to the upper level, our preliminary pricing also generally includes a complete rewire of the existing house to current standards. We also generally include full replacement of the existing underground stormwater and sewer on the private lines, from boundary to boundary.

Our pricing also generally includes moving the kitchen down to the new ground floor, adding a bathroom to the first floor, and minor changes to the existing floor plan to suit, such as making room for the internal stair and reworking the space where the old kitchen was.

The lift itself is only a small part of the total. Most of the budget goes into the new level, because that is effectively a new home built under an existing one, with the same trades, finishes and compliance as a custom build.

For a character or heritage home, a lift and build under is often the best value way to add a whole storey. You’re reusing a roof, a floor and a structure you already own, and you stay in the street you chose. If your home isn’t in a character or heritage overlay, it’s generally not cost efficient, and a knockdown rebuild usually gives you more for your money.

Consultant Fees Before Construction

The prices above are build costs only. Before construction starts you’ll also pay for design, engineering and approvals, typically from around $30,000. The biggest variable is who designs your home: a drafts person, a building designer or an architect.

Consultant or fee	What it’s for	Ballpark (ex. GST)
Woolley pre-construction service	Site assessment, consultant coordination, budget check-ins, in-house electrical plans, joinery shop drawings and your fixed price proposal	From $6,000, depending on job complexity and the time estimated for pre-construction
Drafts person	Working drawings for a straightforward design, without a full design service	$5,000 to $10,000
Building designer	Concept, development application and working drawings	$15,000 to $25,000
Architect	Full architectural package	From $30,000
Structural engineer	Steel, footing, slab and framing design	$5,000 to $12,000
Town planner and development application	Planning report, DA lodgement and council fees	$5,000 to $15,000
Building certifier	Building approval and inspections	$3,500 to $8,000
Surveyor	Contour and detail survey, boundary identification	$1,500 to $3,500
Soil test	Site classification for footing and slab design	$700 to $1,200
Service locating and sewer camera	Finding and inspecting sewer, water and stormwater lines before design, plus a final camera inspection at completion	$1,600 to $4,000
Energy efficiency assessment	Energy rating for building approval	$500 to $1,500

Our pre-construction fee includes full electrical plans drawn in-house, and detailed joinery shop drawings for you to review before construction, so there’s no separate electrical designer or joinery drafting fee to pay. Build over sewer approvals, arborist reports and other specialist reports are extra where your site needs them.

Our High Performance Build-Up, And What It Costs

Every new wall we build gets a weather resistant barrier (WRB) and ventilated cavity battens. It’s been our standard on every project since 2024, not an upgrade.

We wrap the frame in a vapour permeable Pro Clima membrane and tape every join, window and door opening. Battens go over the membrane to form a ventilated cavity, and the cladding is fixed to the battens rather than straight to the frame.

The old method, still used by many builders, nails cladding directly over a basic wrap. Any water that gets behind the cladding sits against the wrap and frame with nowhere to go, and in Brisbane’s humid climate that’s how rot, mould and peeling paint start. A cavity lets that water drain out and the wall dry, while the taped membrane keeps wind and moisture out of the frame.

It does cost more. Compared with a regular builder using the old method, expect roughly $15,000 to $30,000 extra on a typical build under, for the membrane, tapes, battens, extra flashings and labour. For a home you’ll keep for decades, we think that’s cheap insurance.

That figure covers the new walls. For the best result, we highly recommend removing the existing cladding upstairs as well, so the WRB runs continuously around the whole house.

It adds to the budget, and we understand these beautiful old character and heritage homes carry a patina that can’t be replaced, so it isn’t an easy call. You’ll need to weigh up what’s most important to you. It’s a tough decision for us too, because we thoroughly enjoy and respect the beautiful old homes Brisbane has to offer.

What Drives The Cost Up Or Down

The size of the new level and the number of wet areas move the budget more than anything else. After that, it comes down to your site and your house.

• Size of the new level. More floor area means more slab, framing, cladding and finishes. It is the single biggest lever.
• Kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. Wet areas are the most expensive rooms per square metre, so each extra bathroom adds noticeably to the total.
• Slope and raise height. We generally raise to the maximum 9.5 metre height. Sloping blocks often need more excavation, retaining walls and taller structure to get there.
• Overlays and approvals. Most of our build unders are on homes with a character or heritage overlay, which nearly always need a development approval. That adds a town planner, council fees and time before construction.
• Condition of the existing house. Older homes can hide borer, rot, uneven floors, tired wiring and old plumbing. Fixing these while the house is up is cheaper than later, but it still adds to the budget.
• What’s under the ground. Sewer and stormwater lines near the house, overland flow paths and soil type all affect footings, slab design and approvals.
• Finishes. Joinery, stone, tapware, flooring and windows vary enormously in price.
• Site access. Narrow side access, steep driveways or no room for machinery, bins and deliveries add labour and time.

Costs That Are Easy To Miss

When you compare quotes, check whether these items are included. They’re often left out, listed as low provisional sums, or quietly pushed back onto the homeowner.

• Consultant fees. Design, engineering and approvals sit outside the build price, as set out above.
• The QLeave levy. Queensland charges 0.575% on building work of $150,000 or more (excluding GST), payable before building approval is issued (QLeave). On $1 million of work, that’s $5,750. Our proposals include it, but not every builder’s do.
• QBCC Home Warranty Insurance. Compulsory cover on residential building work in Queensland, priced on the contract value. Ours is included in our preliminaries.
• Asbestos. Many older Brisbane homes contain asbestos sheeting, which must be removed by a licensed contractor before work starts.
• Sewer and stormwater. Relocating a sewer line, approvals to build near Urban Utilities assets, and new stormwater drainage to the street. We generally replace the private lines boundary to boundary as standard.
• Electrical supply. A bigger home often needs a new switchboard or an upgraded mains supply.
• External works. Driveways, retaining walls, fencing, paths, landscaping and pools, which can add well over $100,000 on some sites.
• Living elsewhere. Rent and storage for the full construction period, as no one can live in the house during the build.
• Realistic allowances. Prime cost and provisional sum allowances should match the finishes you actually want, or the gap shows up later as variations.

What’s Included When You Build With Woolley Constructions

Lift and build unders are our number one specialty, and we run them as one complete service from the first site visit to handover. Here’s what that includes.

Before We Build

• A site assessment report on your property, covering zoning, overlays and the sewer and water mains on and around your block, so there are no surprises underground.
• A structured pre-construction service for a fixed fee, run in three phases: site and planning investigations (survey, soil test, service locating and sewer camera inspection, town planning advice), design development, and pre-construction finalisation. It includes full electrical plans drawn in-house and detailed joinery shop drawings for your review.
• Our trusted consultant team. We coordinate the building designers, structural engineers, surveyors, town planners and certifiers we work with every week.
• Budget check-ins as the design develops, so the design and the cost move together rather than meeting for the first time at tender.
• A fixed price proposal and a Master Builders contract before any work starts on site, with building approval coordinated through a private certifier.

During The Build

• A dedicated site foreman on your job every day, backed by our Construction Manager.
• Our own carpentry crews working alongside long-standing subcontractors we trust.
• An online client portal with weekly site updates, your schedule, selections and documents in one place.
• Open-book pricing. Subcontractor quotes, cost breakdowns and our margins are available to you through the portal.
• No surprise variations. Any change is priced and approved by you in writing before the work goes ahead.
• Our high performance build-up on every project. Every new wall gets a taped Pro Clima weather resistant barrier, with the cladding fixed over ventilated cavity battens.
• Structural upgrades to the existing house while it’s up, when it’s easiest and most cost effective to do them.

After Handover

• A 12 month defects liability period from practical completion.
• QBCC Home Warranty Insurance, plus contract works and public liability cover throughout the build.
• A QBCC licensed builder (licence 15325343) who’s still there for you long after the keys are handed back.

Our Process And How Long It Takes

Allow six to nine months of planning before the house is raised, then roughly 10 to 15 months on site, depending on size and scope. Builds over $2 million can take significantly longer, depending on their complexity.

1. First conversation and site visit. We talk through your brief, budget and timing, and tell you honestly whether a lift and build under suits your home.
2. Site assessment report. We review your property’s zoning, overlays and underground services before any design money is spent.
3. Site and planning investigations, 2 to 4 weeks. Survey, soil test, service locating, town planning advice and an early look at the existing structure.
4. Design development, 8 to 14 weeks. Your designer develops the plans while we price them as they go, coordinate the engineer and certifier, and help you lock in finishes.
5. Pre-construction finalisation, 4 to 6 weeks. Subcontractor site inspections, a fixed price proposal, your contract, and building approval lodged.
6. Approvals. A development approval from council, which our character and heritage projects nearly always need, plus building approval through a private certifier.
7. Construction, about 10 to 15 months. Raise, structure, lower level, connection to the existing house and finishes, with weekly updates through your client portal.
8. Handover. A final walkthrough, then a 12 month defects period for your peace of mind.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can We Live In The House During The Build?

For everyone’s safety, we don’t have anyone living in the house during the build, whether that’s your family or your tenants. Power, water and sewer are disconnected, the stairs come off, and the house sits on temporary supports during the raise.

We’re sure that for your own sanity, you won’t want to live on a construction site for 10 to 15 months either. An empty house also lets us run a more efficient, streamlined build, which gets you into your beautiful new home sooner and keeps our costs down, both during the build and in your proposal.

Do I Need Council Approval To Raise My House?

Nearly always, yes. Most of our lift and build unders are on homes with a character or heritage overlay, which almost always need a development approval from council as well as building approval from a private certifier. We confirm your approval pathway early and build the DA into the planning timeline.

How High Does The House Need To Go?

We generally raise to the highest point allowed, usually 9.5 metres overall. That typically gives you a 2.7 metre ceiling on the new ground floor while keeping the existing 3 to 3.2 metre ceilings upstairs. Your designer and engineer confirm the exact height for your site.

Isn’t It Cheaper To Knock Down And Rebuild?

If your home isn’t in a character or heritage overlay, usually yes. Without an overlay, a lift and build under generally isn’t cost efficient, and a knockdown rebuild gives you more for your money. In character and heritage areas, demolishing a pre-1947 home is generally restricted, so raising and building under is the way to gain a whole new level.

Can We Stage The Work?

Yes. Some clients build the lower level first and renovate upstairs later, or take on parts of the work themselves. Staging needs to be planned upfront so the first stage doesn’t create rework in the second.

How Accurate Are These Prices?

The prices in this post are accurate at the time of writing, October 2026, and reflect the Brisbane projects we’ve priced and built recently. Every home is different, so your fixed price comes at the end of pre-construction, once the design, engineering and subcontractor quotes are locked in.

Thinking About A Lift And Build Under?

The best way to get a real number is to start with your site. Tell us about your home and what you’d like to achieve, and we’ll walk you through what’s possible, what it’s likely to cost, and how we’d approach it.

Send us your details through our project enquiry form or email ben@woolleyconstructions.com.au, and we’ll be in touch to talk through your renovation journey. In the meantime, take a look at our recent projects.

Woolley Constructions. Providing Good Work For Good People.