Project facts
| Status | Under construction (wall frames and roof trusses delivered) |
|---|---|
| Location | Crafers, Adelaide Hills, SA |
| Design | BRIbuild Stables kit home (set material template) |
| Site | Sloping block, building pad cut and benched into the hillside; car shed planned at the rear |
| Build team | Stuart, with builder friend Darren |
| Foundations | Inline steel subfloor on 90×90 SHS galvanised posts in augered piers, levelled on adjustable props before concreting |
| Frame | Light gauge steel wall frames and roof trusses, delivered labelled in build order; subfloor steel supplied from BRIbuild's Adelaide facility |
| Related | Adjustable footings |
The Block
The Stables kit home journey starts here. This is the first photo Stuart sent us of his block at Crafers, in the South Australian Adelaide Hills — open pasture rolling down to native bush across the valley, with his dog Ceaser out surveying the ground where the home will go. We'll follow this build from bare site through to handover.
Cutting & Benching the Building Pad
Before any steel arrives, the building platform is cut into the slope. With an existing access road already in place and a car shed to be built at the rear, the level of the house had to be dropped down — so the pad was cut and benched into the Crafers hillside to sit right with both. The profile pegs mark out the building outline, ready for the subfloor posts to go in.
Preparing the Access Road
Subfloor Steel Delivered
With the block prepped, the first materials arrive on site. Because Stuart's Stables uses a set material template, the subfloor steel is supplied locally and directly from our Adelaide facility — a short, direct run into the South Australian Adelaide Hills. This build uses an inline subfloor system that sits on 90×90 SHS galvanised posts concreted into the ground, giving a level, durable platform on the sloping Crafers site.
Drilling the Subfloor Piers
With the pad prepped and the subfloor steel on site, the next step is setting out and drilling the footings. Every pier hole is positioned straight off the subfloor layout sheets in the engineering plans, so each post lands exactly where the design calls for it. Stuart and his builder mate Darren drilled all the holes themselves, using Stuart's own small excavator fitted with an auger. You don't need to own a machine for this stage, though — a day-hire digger, or most small earthmoving and landscaping outfits, can knock it over in a session. It's one of the parts of a kit home build that's well within reach of a capable owner-builder.
Setting the Subfloor Level
With the pier holes drilled, the subfloor comes together from the ground up. The 90×90 galvanised posts are stood in the open holes — but nothing is concreted yet. The steel subfloor frame is built up over them and carried on adjustable props, so every point can be lifted and fine-tuned before anything is locked in. Each post is cut to height on site, and the whole frame is then brought to dead level — which matters most on a block cut into a slope like Crafers, where no two posts sit at the same height. Darren, being a builder, shot the levels with a laser level. You don’t need a builder’s kit for it, though — a simple string level does the same job just as well for an owner-builder. Only once the frame is dead level and square do the posts get concreted in, so the finished floor level is set first and then made permanent
Concreting the Subfloor Piers
With the inline purlin subfloor frame stood up on adjustable props and every post cut to height, the frame gets brought dead level across the whole footprint before a drop of concrete goes in. Only then does the concrete go down. A Format concrete pump runs the mix straight into each pier hole around the posts, locking the level in permanently — the level is set first on the props, then made permanent in concrete. Using a line pump like this saves barrowing wet concrete across a cut, uneven site and gets a clean pour into every footing.
Concrete poured directly into the footing holes at Stuart's Stables in Crafers. Placing it straight into the excavated holes forms the piers that carry the steel structure above, a simple and solid way to found the build on this site.
Working across the footing holes at Crafers, each one filled with concrete in place. These piers set the foundation grid the steel frame will land on.
The pier footings are in at Crafers and left to cure. With the foundations set, the site is ready for the steel frame to go up next.
Light Gauge Steel Manufactured
The light gauge steel for Stuart's Stables is manufactured and ready for delivery to Crafers. Rolling and bundling the frames off-site means they arrive precise and ready to stand, which keeps the on-site build fast and accurate.
The finished steel bundled and ready to load for the trip to Crafers. Made to measure in the factory, each frame is labelled and ordered so it goes up in sequence once it lands on site.
Wall Frames and Roof Trusses Delivered
Delivery day at Stuart's Stables in Crafers. The light gauge steel wall frames and roof trusses arrive on site, bundled and labelled in build order so they can be unloaded and stood in sequence.
Unloading the frames at Crafers. A tractor with a frontend loader is enough to lift the bundles off the truck, and where a site does not have that a crane truck can bring its own extension crane as part of the delivery.
The roof trusses laid out on site at Crafers. With frames and trusses both delivered, everything needed to stand the structure is now on the ground.
The delivered steel set out and staged at Crafers, ready for assembly. Having every frame and truss on site and in order means the build can move quickly once it starts.