House and Land Package Costs for Investors

The price buys what the specification describes. A rental has to meet Queensland's minimum housing standards on the day the tenant moves in.

By Kayla Dale, Senior Property Manager and Sales Agent, FAA Property. Last reviewed 7 October 2026. General information only, not legal or financial advice. Get independent legal advice on any package before you sign.

Two house and land packages can hand over quite different houses. NAB's house and land guide says not all packages are fully turnkey, and that buyers should check what's included and what they pay extra for. For an investor, that check has a second job. The house has to be ready for a tenant on the day the first lease starts. Below are the cost categories to look for in a Queensland package, from the driveway to the blinds, most with the Queensland rule or source behind it, checked on 7 October 2026. You won't find prices here. Those depend on the package in front of you, so the last section lists what to ask about one.

Turnkey or base spec: the specification is the price

'Turnkey' on a brochure doesn't tell you what's in the price. NAB's house and land guide (read 7 October 2026) says not all packages are fully turnkey, and tells buyers to check what's included and what costs extra. A package sold as base spec raises the same question from the other side.

Paper settles it. A Queensland domestic building contract for a new house must describe the work and include any plans and specifications for it. The builder warrants the work will be carried out to those plans and specifications. You're entitled to a signed copy of the contract with the plans and specifications in it.

So read the specification line by line. Under Queensland's building law, landscaping, paving, driveways and fencing can all be part of the building work. Whether they're part of yours is a question only your specification answers. NAB lists driveways and fencing as covered 'depending on the builder'.

To see how packages are put together, start with house and land investment packages in Queensland.

Rentable on day one: what a tenancy needs that a base build may lack

Last reviewed 7 October 2026.

An owner-occupier can move into a house with bare windows and buy blinds later. A landlord can't hand that house to a tenant. Every Queensland rental must meet the minimum housing standards when the tenant moves in and for the whole tenancy. The RTA puts that job on the owner or property manager at the start of the tenancy. So the duty sits with you, the owner, rather than with the builder. The law behind it is section 185 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008.

Two of the standards bear straight on a base-spec handover.

Privacy coverings. The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2025, in force since 1 September 2025, requires privacy coverings on windows in every room where a tenant would reasonably expect privacy, bedrooms included. Blinds, curtains, tinted windows and frosted glass all count. Check the specification for any of them, frosted bathroom glass included, before you price blinds for every window.

There's an exception for a window that a fence, hedge, tree or other feature already screens from outside view. On a new lot handed over without fencing or planting, there may be nothing yet to do that screening. Don't count on the exception at first handover.

Locks. Every external window and door that a person outside could reach without a ladder needs a working lock or latch. Ground-floor window locks deserve a line of their own when you read the specification.

Connected hot and cold water suitable for drinking is a standard too. More on that under connections below.

And one thing you don't need. A rental laundry doesn't have to come with a washing machine or other white goods, because tenants may supply their own.

The rest of the standards are set out in our guide to minimum housing standards in Queensland. If coverings or locks aren't in the price, they're a cost you'll carry before the first rent comes in.

Driveways and crossovers when they're not in the price

The crossover is the strip of driveway that crosses the council verge to the road. If a package leaves the driveway out, Sunshine Coast Council puts the whole driveway and crossover on the property owner, drainage and kerbing included. The City of Moreton Bay says the same of crossovers. The owner builds, maintains, alters and repairs them.

Approval rules differ between councils. In Moreton Bay, a crossover that meets the planning scheme's accepted development requirements can go ahead on self-assessment. One that doesn't needs a referral to council, and work can't start until written approval arrives. On the Sunshine Coast, a non-standard crossover may need approval, and fees apply to operational works and vehicle access applications. Buying somewhere else in Queensland? Check your council's crossover rules before you budget.

If your crossover needs approval, put the wait into your handover plan as well as the cost.

Fencing outside the price, and the neighbour's share

Where fencing is excluded, the dividing fences become a shared cost. Under Queensland's Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011, adjoining owners each contribute equally to a sufficient dividing fence. Between two homes, sufficient means 0.5 to 1.8 metres high and made mostly of a listed material such as timber, chain wire, metal panels, brick or concrete block.

If you want a better fence than a sufficient one, you generally pay the part of its cost above that standard. If the estate's rules require a particular fence, ask how its cost is shared before you sign.

You can't book a fencer and send the neighbour a bill afterwards. To ask for a contribution, you give notice on the approved form with at least one written quote. Until you both agree on the work and the split, neither of you can start non-urgent work on the fence. If you can't agree, either owner can apply to QCAT.

New estates add two wrinkles. Your neighbour is whoever is the registered owner of the next lot, and on a new estate that may still be the developer. The fencing rules also leave in place any covenant or agreement between neighbours about the fence. Ask whether one applies before you assume an even split.

Send the notice and quote well before handover. A fence that waits on a neighbour costs time as well as money. How fencing is treated at tax time sits in our capital works deduction guide.

Estate design rules that set the finish you pay for

Last reviewed 7 October 2026.

Ask whether the estate's design rules set the fence type, landscaping, driveway finish or letterbox. Anything they require that the package doesn't include is a cost to you.

Under section 97A of Queensland's Land Title Act 1994, a covenant can be registered on a lot only where the party it benefits is the State (or an entity representing it) or a local government. A private developer isn't on that list. So a developer's design guidelines usually reach you through the land contract, in its pages or an annexure, rather than on the title. Ask for them before you sign. Then price what they require.

A covenant that is registered can relate to how the lot, or a building on it, is used, and it binds later owners. That's one more reason the title search matters.

Buying a lot that hasn't been registered yet? Our guide to buying off the plan in Queensland covers that stage.

Connections to ask about before handover

A tenant can't move in without water. Rental premises must be connected to hot and cold water suitable for drinking. So ask who arranges and pays for each service connection, and get the answer in writing before handover.

For the nbn, NBN Co tells people moving into a new development to contact the developer. Two lines are worth finding in the specification. The lead-in conduit runs underground from the development boundary to the home's external telecommunications point. In-home cabling for the nbn has to be done by registered cablers, using nbn's guidelines. Ask whether both are in the build price.

Passing water use on to a tenant needs an individual meter and a term in the agreement, among other conditions. Ask that the meter is connected at handover, and whether the shower heads meet the rental water-efficiency rule. Our dual key, dual occupancy and duplex guide has the full water rules.

Upgrades, duty and the costs that run before first rent

NAB says upgrades to standard inclusions are unlikely to be in a package price. Choose them before you sign if you can. Picked later, they become variations, which are changes to the contract after signing. How variations work is in our house and land package contracts guide.

Site costs are a category of their own, explained in that guide's section on where the price can move after you sign.

Stamp duty is unlikely to be in the price either, NAB says. How it's worked out on an investment purchase is in our Queensland stamp duty guide.

There's no rent while the house goes up. Loan interest can still fall due. So can land tax and council rates, as the contracts guide sets out under holding costs between land settlement and first rent. Land tax has a guide of its own. For what the cash line can look like once rent starts, see positive cash flow property.

Questions to ask about a specific package

Take this list to the package documents.

• Can I see the full plans and specifications, and do they list everything the price covers?
• Are privacy coverings included for every bedroom and other private room, or is any glass already frosted or tinted?
• Do the ground-floor windows and external doors have working locks or latches?
• Are the driveway and crossover in the price, and if not, what does the council require before work starts?
• Is fencing included, and if not, is there a fencing agreement or covenant on the estate?
• Where are the estate's design rules, and what will they make me build?
• Are landscaping, a letterbox, a clothesline and the driveway finish written into the specification?
• Who arranges and pays for each service connection, and are the nbn lead-in conduit and in-home cabling in the build price?
• Who will inspect the house at practical completion, before I accept it?

For the practical completion inspection itself, see building and pest inspection costs in Queensland. For checks that apply to any investment property, see investment property due diligence in Queensland.

Where to next

• House and land package contracts guide
• Dual key, dual occupancy and duplex guide
• Buying off the plan in Queensland
• Positive cash flow property
• Investment property due diligence in Queensland
• Property spruiker warning signs
• How to use equity to buy an investment property