If you’re building on a block around Kingaroy, Nanango or anywhere in the South Burnett, the house pad is usually the first real cost you’ll pay once the plans are approved. Here’s what a pad actually costs in 2026, what pushes the number up, and how to get a fixed price you can trust.
The short answer: most house pads we cut in the South Burnett land between $4,500 and $9,000 + GST. Shed pads on gently sloping ground start from $1,500 + GST. Slope, soil, access and where the dirt ends up decide where your job sits in that range.
What a house pad actually is
A house pad is the flat, compacted platform your slab gets poured on. Your builder’s plans set the finished level, and the earthmover’s job is to get the ground to that level so the concreter can box up and pour without surprises.
A proper pad job usually covers:
- Stripping the topsoil and grass off the building footprint, plus a working margin around it
- Cutting the high side down and filling the low side up to the design level
- Placing fill in layers and compacting each layer, so the pad stays where it’s put
- Trimming to the levels on your plans and checking them before we leave
- Shaping the surrounds so stormwater runs away from the house
What a house pad costs in the South Burnett
These are the starting prices we publish, based on real jobs around the region. They’re ex GST and assume normal access and no rock.
| Job | Typical price | What usually sits behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Shed pad, gentle slope | From $1,500 | Small footprint, cut and fill balance on site |
| House pad | $4,500 to $9,000 | Standard single storey footprint. Gentle slopes sit at the lower end, steeper cut and fill at the higher end |
| Steep or difficult block | Quoted after a site look | Retaining, rock, imported fill or carting spoil off site |
Most pads are priced on machine time, so it helps to know the hourly rates behind the numbers. Our 14.5 tonne excavator runs at $190 per hour with an operator, and the Positrack and 5.8 tonne excavator are $165 per hour. Tippers are $170 per hour. Every rate is listed on our equipment page.
The five things that move the price
1. Slope
Slope is the biggest driver on house pads. A block that falls a metre across the footprint needs far more cut and fill than one that falls 300 mm. More dirt moved means more machine hours and more compaction.
2. What’s under the grass
The red soils around Kingaroy generally dig well. Rock, old footings, buried rubbish or wet clay slow everything down, and hard rock may need the rock breaker at $275 per hour. If we hit something unexpected, you get a call before we do anything extra.
3. Where the dirt goes
The cheapest pad is one where the cut from the high side becomes the fill on the low side. If you have spare spoil that has to leave the block, that adds truck hours and possibly tip fees. If you’re short and need fill brought in, that adds material, cartage and extra compaction.
4. Access
Soft entries, tight gates, overhead power lines and steep driveways all slow machines down. Good, dry access keeps your hours low.
5. What your builder or engineer asks for
Some jobs need compaction testing, controlled fill or specific material under the slab. Those requirements come from your engineer’s design and your site classification, so check your plans before you get quotes. Testing is usually extra and is done by a separate testing company.
Know your site class. Before your slab is designed, a geotechnical engineer classifies your soil under the Australian Standard for residential slabs and footings, AS 2870. Class A is stable sand or rock. Classes S, M, H1, H2 and E step up through slightly to extremely reactive clays, and Class P covers problem sites. The more reactive the soil, the more your engineer will ask of the pad and slab.
How to get an accurate, fixed price
You’ll get a tighter quote, faster, if you can send the earthmover these things up front:
- Your address, or a map pin if the block doesn’t have a number yet
- Your site plan with the finished floor level and the pad size
- Your soil report or site classification, if you have it
- Three or four phone photos of the entry, the building area and the ground
- Whether spoil can stay on site, and where
- When your builder wants the pad ready
With that in hand, we can often quote from photos and plans. Within 50 km of Kingaroy we’re happy to come and look in person, and quotes are free.
Common questions
How long does a house pad take?
Most standard pads take one to three days of machine time, depending on slope and how much material moves. Weather is the main thing that shifts the date, and if it does, you hear from us the night before.
Can you do the shed pad at the same time?
Yes, and it usually saves money because the machines are already on site. The same goes for the driveway, the tank pad and trenching for power.
Do you do the electrical trenching too?
We do. Our licensed electricians (Qld Lic. 92899) can trench and run power to the house site or shed while we’re there, so you book one crew and get one invoice. Read more on running power to a shed or house site.
Next step: grab the free South Burnett earthworks price guide for every starting price and machine rate, or see what’s included in our house and shed pads service. When you’re ready, send us your plans and we’ll come back with a fixed written quote.
Want real numbers for your job?
Grab the free South Burnett price guide, or send us a few photos and get a fixed written quote. We reply within 2 business hours.
