Building On Poles

Our block has a 2m fall and we have been told we will probably have a 200mm slope down into the garage. Not too pleased with that idea with the sort of deluges we get during the rainy season. Our builder has assured us the only possible problem is if they get leaves in the drains and this was only suggested as the cost of trucking in enough fill to raise the building platform could be very expensive. His other suggestion is a pole house. There is one of these not too far from us and is built on a block which slopes up at the back slightly and isn't all that high, probably only about 1 to 1.5m at its highest point. I like the idea (he said it might be cheaper as well and we have an amazing view) and wonder how these work. Can you build a standard house or does it have to be specially designed and adapted? Ours wouldn't be a great towering thing, just high enough to get away without cutting and filling.

You can build essentially a standard bearers and joists type construction, but just on longer posts. It's probably easier if your garage can be slab on ground though. If you have brick cladding, then that would need to go all the way down to the ground, so can mean quite a bit of brick.

Hi 1st timers, we are in the same boat as you right now... We have had our house pushed back by council which means it will be on a slope. We are looking at building a 340sqm home and was told that site costs on its own will be $42000 due to the sand pad/fill which is 144 truck loads of sand to make it level... we are thinking poles might be the way to go... Look into cedar homes... There website has some plans and check the specifications... That should give you more info or call a builder

I live in a house built on steel poles. My block is very steep with 10m fall front to rear.
The house was a standard timber framed brick veneer project house.
There is a strip foundation around the perimeter of the house (to support the bricks) with piers elsewhere to support the steel poles.
A system of timber bearers are supported on top of the steel poles with a platform timber floor. Above the timber platform is a standard timber framed project house.
There is no cut or fill under the actual house footprint so "standard" foundations were used.

Thank you for your reply. If we were going ahead with the pole house idea you would have done much to allay my concerns but we have decided, after much reassurance from our builder, to go ahead with the 200mm drop towards the garage. We may regret it later but I'm sure if we keep on top of the maintanence on the drains we shouldn't have any problems.