What Height Are Door Handles in Australia?

Most Australian homes have their door handles about 1000 mm above the floor, measured to the centre of the handle. Hardware sellers Domino Brass and Schots both give 1000 mm as the usual height, inside a range of 900 to 1100 mm.

Below are the heights for levers, knobs, sliding doors and deadlocks, what the access standards say, and what it costs to move a handle. These are market prices from cost guides, checked on 4 November 2026. They are not a quote from us.

What is the standard door handle height in Australia?

About 1000 mm from the finished floor to the centre of the handle. We found no rule that sets a handle height for a house, so this is the habit of the trade. Three Australian hardware sellers say much the same thing:

Finished floor means the top of the tiles, boards or carpet, not the slab. If the new floor is not down yet, allow for how thick it will be. Schots gives the same range for levers, knobs and pull handles.

Why are door handles so high in old Australian homes?

Nobody really knows. Doorstop says Federation and pre-war houses often had handles two-thirds of the way up the door, and that doors about a hundred years old usually have them at 1440 mm. It says the exact reason "is still unclear".

It offers three guesses: to keep small children out of rooms, a passing fashion, or to line up with the picture rails and dado rails used in rooms with tall ceilings. If you are restoring an old house, you may want to keep the old height on the original doors so they still match each other.

What height does AS 1428.1 set for accessible door handles?

900 mm to 1100 mm above the finished floor. AS 1428.1 is the Australian standard for access and mobility. The standard itself is sold by Standards Australia, so we used two summaries: one from Australian hardware brand Zanda and one from supplier Criterion Industries. Criterion says the range covers locks as well as handles.

Other points from those summaries:

• the end of a lever must curve back to within 40 mm of the door face, so it cannot catch clothing (Zanda)
• a handle should let someone with a weak grip hold it without slipping (Criterion)
• sliding doors need D-type or D-pull handles (Criterion)

AS 1428.1 is written for buildings the public uses. Zanda says compliance is almost certainly needed for Class 2 to 9 buildings under the NCC, such as apartment blocks, shops, offices, schools and aged care. A house is Class 1a, so the standard is not a rule for your home. It is still a useful guide if someone in the house uses a wheelchair or finds it hard to grip.

Does the Livable Housing Design Standard set a handle height?

No. The Livable Housing Design Standard is part of the National Construction Code 2022. We read version 1.3 (November 2023), and it gives no height for door handles. It mentions them only twice: a door handle may stick into the 820 mm clear opening, and door hardware may stick into the minimum hallway width.

The Queensland Government says the standard has applied to new houses and units since 1 October 2023. Its list of what a new home needs is a step-free entry, slightly wider internal doors and corridors, a step-free shower, an accessible toilet, and bathroom and toilet walls strengthened so grab rails can go in later. Handle height is not on it, so in a new Queensland home the height is your choice.

For the door widths that rule sets, see our guide to standard door sizes in Australia.

Should I choose a lever handle or a knob?

A lever, unless you are matching an old house. Schots says levers are generally recommended for accessibility because you can push one down with a closed fist and need little grip. It says knobs suit traditional Federation and Victorian style homes.

Height does not change between the two. Aim for the centre of the lever or knob at the same height as the rest of the house.

Planning a bathroom around someone who finds gripping hard? Our guide to an accessible bathroom renovation covers the rest of the room.

Where can the handle go on a hollow-core door?

Only where the lock block is. A hollow-core door is a timber frame with a cardboard honeycomb inside, so the handle needs a solid piece of timber to screw into. Door maker Corinthian calls this the lock block. Its care guide says:

• the lock block is 300 mm high on an internal 2040 mm door
• it is 500 mm high on an external door
• it takes a handle with a backset of up to 60 mm (the distance from the door edge to the centre of the handle)
• a label on the door edge shows which side the block is on

Corinthian's install guide says door furniture can go anywhere on its solid doors, but on its honeycomb doors you should "check lockblock position first". This matters if you want to move a handle up or down on a hollow-core door. If the new height falls outside the block, there is nothing inside to hold the screws. Schots lists 60 mm as the standard backset on modern Australian doors, which fits the block.

What height should a sliding door handle be?

Match your hinged doors. None of the maker sheets we opened gives a floor height for a sliding door or cavity slider handle, so keeping them in line with the rest of the house is the simple choice.

A cavity slider slides into the wall, so its handle is usually a flush pull set into the door face. Corinthian's Platinum 4000 cavity unit can be set up two ways:

• Flush jamb. The door slides all the way in and its edge finishes level with the jamb.
• Flush pull. A 60 mm stop on the back edge holds the door so about 50 mm stays out of the wall. That leaves the edge and pull in reach.

For public buildings, the Criterion summary of AS 1428.1 also asks for at least 60 mm between the handle and the jamb or wall opening, with the door open or shut, so there is room for your hand. Our sliding doors page shows the cavity and barn doors we fit.

How high should a deadlock be above the door handle?

150 to 200 mm above the centre of the handle, says Schots. Domino Brass puts it more loosely, at several centimetres above the handle. Schots says the gap keeps the lock clear of the handle's backplate or rose.

A front or back door usually has one of two set-ups:

• a lever set with a separate deadlock above it
• an entrance set, which Schots describes as two handles, a euro mortice lock and a key cylinder in one kit, with 85 mm centre to centre

On a honeycomb entrance door, the handle and the deadlock both need to land on the lock block. Corinthian makes that block 500 mm tall on its external doors.

Should every door handle in the house be the same height?

Yes, where you can. Domino Brass says once you choose a height for one door, match it across the others. Doorstop gives the same advice so the house looks neat.

It gets harder in a few cases:

• an older house with handles at an older height, where moving them means new holes in every door
• hollow-core doors, where the lock block may not reach the new height
• a new floor that is thicker than the old one, which leaves every handle that much closer to the floor

How much does it cost to move a door handle?

None of the cost guides we checked gives a price for moving a handle. These are the closest figures:

Moving a handle is more work than swapping one. Airtasker says labour depends on whether the job needs changes to the door. A move means new holes, then filling and painting the old ones. Sparky says new hardware for a whole house of 6 to 10 doors adds $300 to $700.

If a hollow-core door has no lock block at the height you want, a new door can be the simpler fix. Our guide to door installation cost has those prices.

We hang internal, front and sliding doors across the Gold Coast, and fit the handles and locks that go on them. See our carpentry work for the doors and other jobs we do.

Where do these figures come from?

Checked on 4 November 2026: Domino Brass (door handle height guide, January 2026), Schots (door handle sizes guide, August 2026), Doorstop (why are door handles so high in Australia, March 2020), Zanda (AS 1428 accessible door hardware, dated 28 May with no year) and Criterion Industries (disability access spatial dimensions, August 2017, summarising AS 1428.1-2009). Rules from the ABCB Livable Housing Design Standard 2022, version 1.3 (November 2023), and the Queensland Government's page on the accessibility standard for new homes (March 2025). Product details from Corinthian's door care and maintenance guide and door installation guide (both September 2024) and its Platinum 4000 cavity install instructions (undated). Prices from Airtasker (doorknob installation cost, April 2025), Sparky (door and window costs, September 2026) and What's The Damage (Gold Coast carpenter costs, November 2026). We will check the prices again every three months.

See our carpentry work, or check what your job will cost.