The last quiet stretch before the noise. Where you'll live while it happens, and how the site gets set up.
Can we live in the house during the renovation? It's the question most people don't ask out loud until the contract is nearly signed, and it deserves an early answer. I'd rather you had it in view from the beginning.
The plain answer on a Queenslander being raised is no. Once the house is off its stumps there's no power, no water and no safe way in. On a rear extension where the existing kitchen and bathroom stay live, staying put is sometimes workable — and always dustier than it sounds in the planning. I'll tell you honestly which one your project is, and give you the window as early as I can.
The rest of this stage is quiet and practical. Before anything starts we settle how questions get asked and answered, and how decisions get written down. That's what makes a build feel calm instead of improvised.
You should be excited on the first day. Everything that makes a site run well is already agreed.
This step produces a site that starts ready — the construction set issued with revisions recorded, insurances and approvals in place, the inspection schedule set, and an agreed way of handling questions and decisions.
The first day is exciting, and it should be. You get to feel that rather than manage it. Everything that makes a site run well has already been agreed by the time the fence goes up.
On your own a build usually begins with a set of drawings and a conversation on site. With work you understand and a builder you know, that's often enough. What's harder is that decisions get made in passing, and nobody has written them down.
I issue the construction set with the revisions recorded, confirm the insurances and approvals are in place, and run a pre-start meeting where we agree the rhythm — how often I visit, how the builder's questions come to me, and how anything decided on site gets confirmed in writing straight away. Setting that once at the beginning is worth more than any amount of chasing later. It also means your builder knows exactly who to ring, which good builders genuinely appreciate.
It depends what's being done. If it's a rear extension and your existing kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms stay intact and separated from the site, it can work. If the roof is coming off, the services are being replaced or the house is being lifted, it can't. Be honest about the middle cases too — living on site slows a builder down, and slower costs money.
No. Raising a house disconnects it from its stumps, its plumbing, its power and its stairs, and it isn't habitable while that's happening or while the new lower level goes in underneath. I'll give you that window at tender, not after you've signed.
Each project is different, and I'd rather give you a real answer for yours than a general one. A raise or a whole-house strip usually means being out for the whole build. A rear extension often means a shorter window around the wet areas. Ask for the range at tender stage, and give yourself a little room at the end.
The contract is executed, the insurances and warranty cover go into place, and the certifier is engaged. The builder mobilises — fencing, amenities, temporary power and water, protection for everything that's staying. I issue the full construction set with revisions recorded. Then there's a pre-start meeting about how questions and decisions get handled — the quiet meeting I'd never skip.
One channel, agreed before anything starts. Instructions to the builder come through me, questions get logged, and anything agreed on site gets confirmed in writing straight away. It feels bureaucratic at first. Later, when someone remembers a decision differently — and everyone does, including me — there's a written answer instead of a conversation.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.
