Supplying Steel Frame Homes in Bundaberg

Paperwork - we supply your architectural plans, site plan, structural engineering and its Form 15 and your Six Star Energy Efficiency Report for you as Owner Builder, or your Master Builder’s building application. 

Components - we supply stumps, bearers and joists, your portal framing system, internal and external stud and plate wall components, the thermal wrapping to the exterior walls, the steel framework for the ceilings and your complete roof, gutters and wall cladding if you choose from the Colorbond Steel range.

Also included are all the bolts, screws and fixings required to install the materials supplied. For sites in the Wide Bay area we supply the Structa-Floor flooring, but for more distant projects it is more cost effective for you to order your flooring from your local suppliers.

We deliver all of our materials to your building site.

We do not supply - concrete for slabs or piers, decking, aluminium windows and doors, down pipes or cladding other than from the range of Colorbond Steel cladding. All of these products are more economically sourced direct from your local building material suppliers where you can liaise with experts in their products.

We personalise the design of your home to your requirements within the parameters of our engineering. Once you sign off on the design we organise the paperwork and send it to your Building Certifier for Building Approval. In the meantime you will need to complete the Owner Builder course on-line, obtain Plumbing Compliance and soil tests - all of which you then forward to your Certifier. We can help and show you how to organise these items.

While your paperwork is with the Certifier for building approval we manufacture your RHS main frame and have it ready for you to be able to start your project as soon as you receive building approval. (Building approvals in most areas today are processed by private Certifiers not your Local Council, but Councils still look after the important plumbing side of your project.)

Remember to ask your suppliers for a builder’s price on your window, door, and insect screen selection, as you are an Owner-Builder!

There are many colours, types, and styles of windows and doors, all with varying ways of opening and different grades of glass and tinting – then there are the screens, also with many options for security and insect defence. We have found over the years that it’s best for clients to deal directly with their local suppliers of windows and doors to ensure they understand all of the available options and that everything turns out just the way they expect.

Remember to ask your suppliers for a builder’s price on your window, door, and insect screen selection, as you are an Owner-Builder!

House roof "clunk" is associated with steel roofing that is fixed to timber trusses. Because the expansion rate of steel and timber vary a slight adjustment can occur as the day warms and later cools resulting in a clunk sound. All Steel Homes consist of a steel roofing system fixed to steel framing that both adjust to temperature variations at much the same rate, consequently expansionand contraction noises are minimal, if at all. We are not saying that steel framing is noiseless, but in 25 years no one has ever commented to us that their roof ‘clunked.’

All house designs today must attain a mandatory Six Star Energy Efficiency Rating and a report on how this is to be achieved is required to be part of the Building Approval process. We provide this report for you and you are required to adhere to its requirements. To energy rate a house, points are awarded for the energy saving attributes of the building such as verandahs that shield the windows from direct sunlight, the size of windows, wall and ceiling insulation, fans, solar systems, the flow of air through a house, etc;

The large verandahs on our designs and your sensible positioning of the windows, the aspect of your house and suitable  insulation usually provide enough points to obtain the required rating. A top up may be required with the inclusion of some ceiling fans or a small solar power system. 

Every house is unique and assessed individually. The report we provide will inform you of the requirements to obtain your home's Six Star Rating Energy Rating.

All Steel Homes mounted on a stumped flooring system are ideal for sloping blocks. Our standard pricing allows for a mild variation in ground level. Sites that slope significantly may cost a little more and are remedied with stronger stumps and floor bracing.

All new houses require a test to check the reactivity of the building site's soil. Reactive soils can crack and move and this is particularly important when designing the concrete floor foundation slab. High reactivity may require these foundations to be strengthened accordingly which can be a considerable expense in concrete and re-bar. 

Stumped floor systems are more forgiving than concrete slabs and better cater to reactive soils. This often makes them a more cost-effective option . If land ‘reacts’ and moves, it can crack a concrete slab and even become out of level, whereas a stumped house can absorb slight movements. If the movement is significant our floor brackets, which slide inside the stumps, can be vertically adjusted to maintain a level floor.

Unfortunately reactive soils are more common than not in Queensland, making stumped floor systems the preferred option, they also keep your home high and dry above any local flooding and for what it's worth, they are more forgiving on tired feet than a solid concrete slab.

For a simple answer Google ‘termites.’

The first point to note when considering a house design, whether you deal with us or not, is to make sure your building is steel framed as the termite risk in Australia is becoming ever greater with climate change.

These destructive pests are spreading and thriving across Queensland and now we have the West Indian termite to contend with. Steel framing cannot be destroyed by termites and does not require the mandatory additional cost of the termite construction infrastructure or its annual ongoing obligations and maintenance.

Sleep peacefully knowing that your structural framework is Australian steel, rather than listening to termites consume your most valuable asset ............. and yes, you can actually hear and smell them dining on timber framing!

Google ‘West Indian termites.’

To treat a house for West Indian termites can cost up to $40,000 as the entire building is required to be completely sealed, up over the roof and sealed to the ground in a plastic bubble while pressure fumigated. These termites have been in Queensland since the 1960s.

Rather than the advantages of steel framing, let's look at the disadvantages of timber framing.

White ants and termites eat timber!!! There's no other reason required. And their favouite timber is pine, it's full of starch, soft on the palette and readily available in dark, damp wall cavities. Pine framing is chocolate in heaven to termites!

Yes, timber is treated, but termites are building up a resilence over the years at the same rate the chemicals lose their potency ....... and who wants toxic pesticides in their walls?