What an install covers, and what it does not

An install is everything between the home leaving the factory and someone being allowed to live in it: the site check, the set-out and footings, transport and the crane, setting the home down and tying it to its piers, joining the modules if there are two, connecting water, sewer, stormwater and power, decks and stairs if they are in the job, and the certifier's final inspection. What it usually does not include is the home itself, the approvals unless the installer has agreed to run them, mains or switchboard upgrades at the main house, and landscaping, turf and driveways. In Queensland any building work over $3,300 must be done by a licensed contractor, and the plumbing and electrical by licensed trades whatever the value, so an install is licensed work from the first pier.

What is in an install

1. Site check. Access, crane position, powerlines, sewer and slope, before anything is booked. A good installer does this before quoting.
2. Set-out and footings. A surveyor marks the position; the engineer's design says bored piers, screw piles or stumps, and how many. The certifier inspects the footings, then they cure before the lift.
3. Transport. From the maker's yard to the block. A load wider than 3.5 m or longer than 25 m travels with a pilot vehicle in Queensland, which most single modules over 3.4 m wide do.
4. Crane day. Crane in, outriggers down, the module lifted onto the piers, levelled and tied down. Truck in to module down is usually three to six hours.
5. Joining and weatherproofing where the home comes in more than one module.
6. Connections. Water, sewer, stormwater and power, by a licensed plumber and a licensed electrician.
7. Decks, stairs and balustrades if they are in the job.
8. Final inspection with the certifier, and the yard tidied.

What is usually not

• The home, which is bought from the maker under its own contract.
• The approvals, unless the installer has agreed to run them. Many do, for a fee inside the certification bucket.
• Mains or switchboard upgrades at the main house, and a new Energex connection if the flat gets its own meter.
• Reports the map decides: BAL, flood, geotechnical on a steep block, a hydraulic engineer for building near a sewer.
• Landscaping, turf, driveways and fencing. Retaining walls on a slope.

What the law says must be licensed

Under the QBCC Act, building work valued at more than $3,300 including labour, materials and GST must be carried out by a licensed contractor or an owner builder with a permit. Plumbing, drainage and gasfitting need a licensed plumber at any value, and electrical work an electrician licensed by the Electrical Safety Office. Home warranty insurance is compulsory on residential work over $3,300 done by a licensed contractor, and the premium on an install is charged on the factory build, the transport and the install together.

What it usually costs

Most installs in South East Queensland land between $59,000 and $140,000 inc GST on top of the home, across five buckets: certification and approvals, footings, delivery and crane, plumbing and drainage, electrical. The block decides where in that range a job lands. Get every item priced in writing before signing, so nothing turns up on crane day; how to read a building quote shows where the gaps hide.

See it for your block

• How installs work, start to finish
• Install cost calculator
• Install builders, listed by name

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