Serving Townsville & surrounding areas
NDIS Home Modifications in Townsville
Homes That Work For The People In Them
Practical NDIS home modifications for Townsville and the surrounding communities. Tell us what you've noticed and we'll give you a clear assessment and quote.
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- Townsville & surrounding suburbs
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Service area
Townsville, QLD and surrounding suburbs
Cost of a quote
Free — no obligation
Modification categories
Minor (Category A) under $10,000; complex structural mods $20,000+
What we do
NDIS Home Modifications services in Townsville
NDIS Bathroom Modifications
Level-access showers, grab rails, slip-resistant flooring and accessible vanities — the most requested NDIS modification. We build accessible bathrooms across Townsville, and it is the modification we are asked for most.
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Wheelchair Ramps & Access
Modular and custom ramps, handrails and step-free entries — including safe access solutions for Townsville's high-set Queenslander homes.
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Disability Home Renovations
Doorway widening, accessible kitchens and whole-of-home access changes so a participant can move safely through every room.
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Aged Care Home Modifications
Rails, ramps and bathroom safety upgrades for older Townsville residents, whether funded through the NDIS or aged-care support.
Learn more1:14
Standard accessible ramp gradient — the number that sets required length
Into structure
Grab rails fixed to noggings or backing plates, never to lining alone
Built to the OT report
We price and build against the therapist's recommendations, not around them
Itemised quotes
So a plan manager can match line items and stage the work if funding comes in parts
What sets us apart
Why Townsville homeowners call us
Grab rails go into structure, not into lining
This is the most common dangerous shortcut in access work. A grab rail has to hold a person's entire body weight at the moment they are falling, and plasterboard, tile or cement sheet alone will not do it — the fixing pulls out exactly when it is needed. Rails must be fixed to timber noggings between the studs or to purpose-made backing plates. On an existing wall that means taking the lining off, installing backing and making good. It costs more, it takes longer, and there is no version of this we will skip.
We build to the OT report, not around it
An occupational therapist establishes what the person actually needs the home to do — the transfer space beside a toilet, a shower without a hob, a gradient someone can genuinely self-propel. Our job is to price and build that, and to say clearly when something specified will not work on the site so it can be resolved properly rather than quietly substituted. Where there is no report yet we can still quote work you already know you need, but for anything complex the report makes the whole process faster.
High-set Queenslanders, honestly assessed
Townsville's raised housing is what makes ramps hard here. At 1:14, a 1.2 metre floor height needs about 17 metres of ramp plus landings — more than most blocks have in a straight line. Sometimes a switchback fits. Sometimes a platform lift or moving the accessible entry to a lower rear door is genuinely the better answer, and we would rather tell you that at the quoting stage than build a compliant ramp that consumes the yard and is exhausting to use.
Built for the climate, not the catalogue
Access work in the tropics has to survive the tropics. External ramp surfaces need slip resistance that still performs in the wet season, not just when dry. Steel needs proper corrosion protection, because coastal humidity attacks fixings, welds and base plates — and a ramp corroding at its base plate is a structural failure rather than a cosmetic one. Fixtures and hardware get chosen with that in mind rather than specified from a southern supplier's default.
We will tell you when layout beats building
A surprising share of access problems are solved by where furniture sits, which way a door swings, or removing a built-in cupboard rather than moving a wall. Changing a bathroom door from inward-opening to outward or sliding frequently resolves the whole problem — and it also means the door cannot be blocked by someone who has fallen inside. When the cheap answer works we will say so, even though the expensive answer is the one we would be paid for.
Getting started
Our NDIS home modifications process
A straightforward path from first enquiry to finished work, planned around your property and the level of work involved.
Tell us what is difficult
Not a diagnosis — just what is hard about the house as it stands. Getting in, getting to the bathroom, using the shower, turning a corner.
We measure the real constraints
Floor height and block length for ramps, clear door openings, turning space, and where structural backing exists for rails.
Itemised scope and quote
Line by line, so an OT or plan manager can match it against the report and so it can be staged if funding is approved in parts.
Build around the household
The person lives there while we work. Bathrooms get staged so there is always something usable, and we clean up daily rather than at the end.
About us
Access and home modification work across Townsville
We build home modifications in Townsville — bathrooms, ramps, doorway widening, rails and the whole-of-home changes that let someone move through their own house safely. The work comes from NDIS participants and their families, from occupational therapists and support coordinators, and from older residents who want to stay where they are and need the house to catch up.
Townsville shapes this trade more than people outside it expect. The raised Queenslander housing that gives the city its character is genuinely difficult for ramp access — a metre of floor height needs fourteen metres of ramp before you count landings, and most blocks do not have it in a straight line. The tropical climate is the other factor: external steelwork needs proper corrosion protection in this humidity, and slip resistance has to hold up through a wet season rather than in a showroom.
The part we are least willing to compromise on is structural. Grab rails fixed to plasterboard instead of noggings, shower floors graded by eye, waterproofing rushed — those are the failures that hurt someone later, and they are also invisible in a finished bathroom, which is exactly why they are where a cheap quote comes from. If our price is higher than another, that is the question worth asking both of us.
Everything you need to know
NDIS Home Modifications in Townsville, answered
How much do NDIS home modifications cost in Townsville?
It depends on the work. Minor (Category A) modifications like grab rails and ramps are under $10,000; Category B minor works run $10,000–$20,000; and complex or structural changes such as a full accessible bathroom are $20,000 and up and need building approval. When approved in your plan, eligible modifications are funded by the NDIS rather than paid out of pocket.
Do I need an occupational therapist assessment first?
Yes. NDIS home modifications start with an OT assessment — an AHPRA-registered occupational therapist assesses your needs and recommends the works, and complex modifications need a specialist home-modification assessor. We can pass your details to local builders who work alongside OTs.
Can OTs or plan managers request quotes on a participant's behalf?
Yes, and it's often the easiest way to run it. Occupational therapists, support coordinators and plan managers can request a quote directly, and we'll turn it around quickly so it can go into an assessment or report without holding up the plan.
Do you work from an occupational therapist's report?
Yes, and the job is cleaner when there is one. An OT report sets out what the home actually needs to do — transfer space beside the toilet, a shower without a hob, a ramp gradient a wheelchair can genuinely manage — and we scope and price the build against that rather than guessing at it. Where there's no report yet, we can still quote work you already know you need. One thing worth sorting early: whether your funding requires a registered provider depends on how your plan is managed, so confirm that with your plan manager or support coordinator before anything is booked.
Our promise
What you can expect from us
Nothing structural gets skipped to hit a price
Rail backing, correct shower falls, proper waterproofing and adequate lintels are not the items where a cheaper quote should come from. If our price is higher than another, ask both of us what backing the rails are fixed to and how the shower floor is being graded — the answer is usually the difference.
We say when something will not work
If a specified ramp will not fit the block at a usable gradient, or a bathroom cannot achieve turning space without moving a wall, you will hear it before the quote rather than after the work. That sometimes means telling an OT that a recommendation needs revisiting, which is a normal part of the process and better done early.
The household keeps functioning
People live in these houses while the work happens, and often the person who most needs the bathroom is the one whose bathroom is being rebuilt. We stage the work so there is always something usable, keep dust and disruption contained, and tidy up at the end of each day rather than leaving a site until the job finishes.
Where we work
Townsville suburb by suburb
Access work is decided by what the house is, not where it is — and around Townsville the housing type changes markedly from suburb to suburb.
North Ward holds much of the older raised housing, and that makes it the hardest area in Townsville for entry access. A traditional high-set Queenslander can sit well over a metre above ground, which at a usable 1:14 gradient needs seventeen metres of ramp plus landings — more than most inner blocks have available in any direction. Switchback designs solve some of it. Where they do not, a platform lift or moving the accessible entry to a rear or under-house door closer to ground level is often the better outcome, and we will raise that rather than building something technically compliant and practically exhausting.
Kirwan is largely single-storey slab-on-ground housing on flat blocks, which is close to the easiest access situation available. Entry ramps are short or unnecessary, thresholds are low, and level-entry shower conversions are simpler because there is no subfloor to work around. The constraint here is internal rather than external: circulation space inside compact bathrooms and hallways, where the fix is usually a wall or a door swing rather than anything to do with the entry.
Aitkenvale and Annandale sit between those two, with a mix of raised and lowset homes and a good deal of 1970s and 1980s stock. That era brings its own pattern — small bathrooms with the toilet in a separate room, narrow internal doorways, and thresholds between every floor covering. The work here is usually less about the entry and more about the path through the house: getting from a bedroom to a bathroom in a wheelchair often needs two doorways widened and a threshold removed rather than one big change.
Douglas is dominated by the hospital and university precinct, and a share of our work there follows hospital discharge — a house that needs to be made safe on a deadline rather than modified at leisure. Those jobs get staged deliberately: grab rails with proper backing, a handrail at the steps and a temporary modular ramp can be done quickly, while a full level-entry bathroom involves waterproofing and drying time that genuinely cannot be compressed. Telling us the discharge date early changes what we recommend doing first.
How it works
How NDIS home modifications actually get approved and built
The building is the straightforward part. The process around it is what people find confusing, and knowing the shape of it makes the whole thing faster.
Home modifications under the NDIS generally fall into two broad groups, and which one you are in changes how much process is involved. Minor modifications are lower-complexity changes that improve safe access without significant structural work — grab rails, lever tapware, a handrail, a small threshold ramp. More substantial home modifications involve structural change: removing a shower hob and re-grading a floor, widening a load-bearing doorway, building a permanent ramp, reconfiguring a bathroom. The second group requires more assessment, more documentation and usually more waiting, which is worth knowing at the start so the timeline is not a surprise.
The sequence is normally the same. An occupational therapist assesses what the person needs the home to do and documents it — this is the foundation of everything downstream, and it is their professional judgement rather than a builder's. Builder quotes are then obtained against that report, which is where we come in. The quotes and the report go to the NDIA or through the plan manager for approval. Once approved, the work is scheduled and built, and for substantial modifications the OT usually confirms on completion that what was built matches what was recommended.
Two things speed this up more than anything else. The first is an itemised quote. If a quote is a single number, a plan manager cannot match it against the report and an approver cannot see what they are approving — and if funding is granted in stages, an unitemised quote cannot be staged. We break quotes down by element for exactly this reason. The second is flagging conflicts early. If a report specifies something that will not work on the actual site — a ramp gradient the block cannot accommodate, turning space a bathroom cannot achieve without moving a wall — that needs raising before the quote goes in, not after approval, because resolving it afterwards means going back around the loop.
One question we get constantly: whether the builder needs to be a registered NDIS provider. That depends on how the plan is managed rather than on the work itself, and it is genuinely worth confirming with your plan manager or support coordinator before anything is booked. It is a straightforward question with a clear answer for your situation, and it is much better established at the start than discovered at invoicing. We are not in a position to advise on your plan — but we would much rather you ask early than assume.
Local conditions
Why ramps are hard on a Townsville Queenslander
The single most common disappointment in access work here comes down to arithmetic that nobody does until a builder is standing in the yard.
An accessible ramp is built to a gradient of about 1:14 — one unit of rise for every fourteen of horizontal run. That ratio is not arbitrary. It is roughly the limit at which a person can self-propel a manual wheelchair up a slope without assistance, and steeper ramps become both exhausting to ascend and genuinely dangerous to descend. It also means required length is fixed by the height you are climbing, and nothing about design or materials changes it.
Apply that to Townsville's housing. A lowset home with a 300mm step needs a bit over four metres of ramp — easy on almost any block. A traditional high-set Queenslander with a floor 1.2 metres above ground needs around seventeen metres, and the standard also calls for level landings at intervals along the run and at both ends, adding further length. Very few inner-suburban blocks have seventeen metres of clear run available in a straight line, particularly at the front of the house.
The usual solution is a switchback: the ramp runs, turns on a level landing, and runs back the other way, folding the length into the depth of a yard. Done well this is unobtrusive and works fine. It needs width to turn, though, and on a narrow block it can consume most of a side yard or the entire front garden — which is a real cost to a household even when it is not a financial one.
Where a switchback does not fit, two alternatives deserve serious consideration before anyone compromises the gradient. A platform lift needs a fraction of the footprint and handles a large rise directly, at higher cost and with ongoing maintenance. Or the accessible entry moves: many raised Townsville homes have a rear door, a laundry or an under-house area considerably closer to ground level than the front door, and a short ramp there can be far better than a long one at the front. What should not happen is building at 1:8 because that is what fits — a gradient nobody can self-propel is not access, it is a slope with handrails, and it will not pass an OT's review either.
How long it takes
Why home modifications take longer than the building work does
Almost all of the elapsed time in a modification project happens before anyone picks up a tool — and knowing that changes how you plan it.
The construction itself is usually the shortest phase. A set of properly backed grab rails is a day. A ramp is days to a week or two depending on length and footings. Even a full level-entry bathroom conversion is measured in weeks, and much of that is waterproofing and tiling that has to cure and cannot be hurried — a bathroom rushed at that stage is one that leaks into the wall cavity later.
What takes the time is everything around it. Getting an occupational therapy assessment scheduled and the report written. Obtaining builder quotes, which requires builders to visit, measure and price. Approval, which for substantial modifications is not immediate. And then scheduling the work into a builder's calendar. Each step is reasonable on its own and they add up to months rather than weeks, particularly for structural work.
There are ways to lose less time. Getting quotes organised promptly once the OT report exists is the obvious one — reports sometimes sit while everyone waits for someone else to act. Itemised quotes prevent a round trip when an approver wants to see the breakdown. Raising site conflicts before submission avoids the worst delay of all, which is approval for something that then turns out to be unbuildable as specified. And if the modification is for a rental, landlord consent should be started early rather than at the end, because it is frequently the item that holds everything up and it is entirely outside both our control and the NDIA's.
Where there is a hard deadline — a hospital discharge is the common one — the sensible approach is to split the work. The high-impact, low-complexity items can genuinely be done quickly: rails with proper backing, a handrail at the entry steps, lever hardware, a temporary modular ramp that can be removed later. The structural work is then planned properly on its own timeline. That is a better outcome than compressing a bathroom conversion into a week and living with the consequences, and it is how we would suggest running it if the dates are tight.
Where we cover
Proudly serving Townsville & surrounding communities
We work throughout Townsville and the towns around it. Choose your area for local detail.
Get your NDIS home modifications questions answered
Tell us what you've noticed and we'll give you a clear assessment. Free quote, no obligation.