Raising House vs Adding 2nd Level vs Moving

Hi there,

This is my first post in this forum. We live in a double brick house with concrete rendering that went through the floods in Brisbane last year. Our house has cleaned up pretty well, and we are living there now. However, we are feeling like we need some more space. Unfortunately, because of the floods, it seems that we can't simply add on a room as any additions to our house would need to be at a level above 9.2 metres. Our floorboards are at 7.5 metres, so this would look a bit strange!

The three options would be to either simply move, raise the house and then add on a room, or add a second level on the top (which would then be above the 9.2 metres required). The second option doesn't appeal to me as we have two very young children. Our house is already about 2 metres above the ground, which makes me nervous whenever they are on the porch or steps or near the windows, which don't have any bars on them. Also, we have some older people in our family that would find a higher house to be a problem when coming to our place. I don't think that we could build underneath because of the requirements in this area. Of course cost will also have to be a factor in all of this as well.

What I'm wondering is if anyone roughly knows the difference in cost between raising the house/adding on a room and adding a second level on the top when it is a solid double brick 3 bedroom home or has had any experience with either of these options.

Michelle


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