Preliminary works

Your local council may have restrictions around home raising. After you were notified that you were eligible for the Home Raising program, you had additional steps to take before funding could be approved.

To meet these requirements, you needed to seek council approval and complete preliminary works.

All preliminary works had to be completed before getting a quote for home-raising works.

Checking with local council

You needed to contact your local council to check whether your home could be raised before you started preliminary design drawings.

We recommended you speak with your local council, building certifier, architect and/or town planner to:

• find out whether any building codes or planning scheme compliance rules applied to your property (e.g. height and boundary set-back restrictions)
• find out whether your local council has minimum habitable floor level requirements
• tell them about the assessed flood level (if available) and 2021–2022 flood event level you needed to meet or exceed as outlined in your Home Assessment Report.

Consider if home raising suits your household

Home raising is a major project. Before you progressed further, we asked you to consider your personal circumstances and whether home raising was the best option for your household.

• Have you considered your finances? Do you have the budget to cover preliminary costs, a possible co-contribution amount and any renovation works not covered by the fund, such as landscaping or other building works? Find out what Home Raising funding covers.
• How will your home function? Are there mobility and access issues to consider for your elevated home?
• How will your home look? Will you be happy with the aesthetics of an elevated home? How will it tie in with the other elements of your home? How will it fit into the surrounding neighbourhood?
• Where will you stay while home-raising works are underway? Works can take about 2 months or longer.
• Are you prepared to pack and shift your belongings if required? For example, if you use the underneath of your house for storage, can you clear this area while your home is being raised?
• Have you considered the timing of the home-raising works in relation to other circumstances (e.g. insurance repairs, your availability for builders and contractors, property access, etc.)?
• If you’re renting out the property, are you prepared to lose your rental income while works are underway? Have you considered your obligations to your tenants?

Arranging preliminary design works

Preliminary design works involves hiring multiple contractors to conduct preliminary investigations (such as surveying and soil testing) and design drawings. This step needed to be completed before getting a home raising quote from a builder.

Your builder might have been able to coordinate these works as part of their service. If your builder couldn't assist you, you could coordinate preliminary works yourself.

• Search the local contractor register for services like soil testing and certification
• Search for architects and engineers using these licensed contractor databases
  • Board of Architects of Queensland
  • Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland.

Alternatively, you could hire a principal consultant to coordinate preliminary works for you, such as:

• an architect
• a builder
• a building designer.

For this, you will have needed to sign a services agreement outlining everyone’s roles and responsibilities.

Engaging contractors for preliminary works

You will have needed contractors to carry out preliminary works. This includes contractors for site assessment and draw or verify designs.

Costs and reimbursement

Preliminary investigations and design drawings for eligible works can cost over $10,000.

Reasonable eligible costs to ensure the home raise meets all relevant requirements will be reimbursed once your home-raising funding application is approved.

You may have submitted these preliminary works costs with your funding application to QRIDA.

Be aware that reimbursed costs will affect your base funding. For example, if you’re eligible for $150,000 plus a dollar-for-dollar co-contribution, and you‘re reimbursed $15,000 for preliminary works, you will have $135,000 in base funding remaining for home-raising works (before a co-contribution amount).

If you don’t progress with the home-raising works, you won’t be reimbursed for the preliminary costs related to home raising.