Understanding how a raise is structured, and what separates a well-run operation from a disorganised one, helps you make a better call when choosing who to bring on. At Raise My House, we run four dedicated speciality crews. Each one owns a specific stage of the raise. Here’s what each team does and what it means for your build.
Our Steel Up crew is your first point of contact on site. Before any lifting happens, the structural steel framework has to go in, and that’s what this team handles. They install the PFCs, the steel beams that sit beneath the house and carry the load during the raise. The crew preps, positions, screws in and welds off the beams, working around whatever access constraints the site presents.
This team also coordinates with you at the outset to confirm the setup is aligned with your build scope. If there’s anything specific to your project, heritage overlays, tight site conditions, unusual floor framing, this is the stage where those factors are worked through before the raise begins. When the Steel Up crew hands over, the structural steel is in place and the house is ready to be lifted.
The raising crew takes over once the steel is done. This is the team that lifts the house up into the air. They set the stacks, temporary support structures built up using stys, and position the hydraulic jacks. The crew then works as a coordinated team to lift the house off its existing stumps and bring it to the target height.
That height is set to allow excavation equipment to get underneath and dig the column holes. Getting this right the first time matters. If the house is lifted too low, the digger can’t access properly. Too high without adequate support and you introduce unnecessary risk. The raising crew call that height based on experience and the specific requirements of the job.
Once the house is sitting at height and secured safely on the stacks, the raising crew is done and the site is stable and ready for the next stage.
This is the stage that locks in the permanent sub-floor structure. The hang and pour crew moves in while the house is held at height and carries out all the below-floor work. They start by confirming everything is level, then dig the footing holes for the new concrete columns. The columns are hung, screwed into position and prepped, including waterproofing applied at the base where moisture management is needed.
Once the columns are set and inspected, the house is lowered down onto them. The concrete is then poured into the footings to permanently anchor the columns in place. From your perspective as the builder, this is the stage that determines the quality of what you’re building on. A properly hung and poured column set means a solid, level base for everything above it.
Shortcuts here show up later, in floors that aren’t flat, doors that don’t hang right, and callbacks you don’t want.
The weld off crew is the last team on site, and their job is to complete the structural steel and hand the project back to you in a condition you can actually work with. They cut and weld the remaining column steelwork, weld in the structural bracing, and then work to pull the house into shape, correcting any minor movement or racking that occurred during the raise so the structure sits square.
This step is easy to underestimate, as a house that’s been lifted and set back down can shift slightly. The weld off crew addresses that before they leave, so you’re not inheriting alignment issues. Once the welding is complete and the house is square, the temporary equipment comes off and the site is cleaned up. What you get back is a raised, structurally complete sub-floor ready for your scope to begin.
The four-team model exists for one reason…it keeps the raise moving. Each crew is focused on their stage and there’s no one team trying to manage the whole job with generalist knowledge and not enough hands. Our 4 teams can complete these steps within 1-2 weeks.
With 50+ crew across the four teams, we have the capacity to run jobs without the downtime that holds smaller operations back. Handovers between stages are clean because each team knows exactly what they’re receiving and exactly what they’re leaving behind.
From the Steel Up crew arriving on day one to the weld off team clearing the site, the full four-stage process is typically done in under two weeks. For a builder with trades lined up behind, that’s a timeline you can actually plan around.
