Raising your house is a choice (mostly), restumping is a necessity.

However, both procedures improve your living space and increase the value of your home. True, raising or restumping your house is not a small project and is a major financial commitment; but when done right, the benefits far outweigh the sacrifices.

To make sure you know what to expect and can plan and prepare accordingly, the Thirdson Construction team have put together a comprehensive overview of costs, services and factors to consider.

Please note that the need for these upgrades or replacements varies from property to property; and figuring out which apply to your project is an important part of your planning stage.

• Replacing and moving electrical wiring below the house to facilitate the work and new steel supports, approximately $8000 – $10,000
• Sanitary and/or stormwater drainage, approximately $12,000 – $15,000
• Gas Metre relocation, approximately $3000 – $5000
• Connecting and disconnecting overhead power, and temporary power during constructing, approximately $6000

It can be helpful to understand what the experts think of long term when undertaking a raise or restump project.

• Protecting existing areas of the house (during the lift) – i.e. bathrooms and/or kitchens level and straight when raising and restumping to preserve the investments already built upstairs.
• Head heights for stairwells, especially if you are considering future builds under the house
• Room for services – i.e. AC ducting and plumbing. Experienced builders can tweak the design to avoid nasty fix-up bulkheads in the lower story to hide services.
• Maximising bracing and giving you more space for doors and windows.
• Moving or replacing post locations with more cost effective steel supporting beams to best maximise cost efficiency and avoid unnecessary complexity.