With a crystal saw and a +5 spicy stew, base Construction level 84 builds every functional part of a max house, because 84 plus 8 reaches the crystalline portal nexus at 92. Base 83 reaches the ornate jewellery box at 91, and base 82 reaches the ornate rejuvenation pool and occult altar at 90.
Nothing above 84 buys you a house feature you will use. It buys decoration, and one teleport hotspot that most players solve a different way.
What “max house” actually means
There are two versions of the question and they have different answers.
A maxed useful house is one where every hotspot you interact with is at its top tier: the pool, the altars, the jewellery box, the portal nexus and the teleport hotspot. That is the version this guide plans for.
A literally complete house includes decorative hotspots with higher requirements than any of that, and its floor is base 90 rather than 84.
| Build | Level | Boostable to | Useful? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ornate rejuvenation pool | 90 | base 82 | Yes |
| Occult altar | 90 | base 82 | Yes |
| Ornate jewellery box | 91 | base 83 | Yes |
| Crystalline portal nexus | 92 | base 84 | Yes |
| Marble adventure log | 93 | base 85 | Cosmetic |
| Marble door | 94 | base 86 | Cosmetic |
| Spirit tree and fairy ring | 95 | base 90 | Situational |
| Obsidian decorative bench | 98 | base 90 | Cosmetic |
The two entries that set the base 90 floor are a decorative bench and a combined teleport hotspot. Neither is a reason to train sixteen extra levels.
How the boosts work here
Two mechanics do all the work, and the difference between them is the single most misunderstood thing about max house planning.
The crystal saw is an invisible +3 and only applies to builds that require a saw. It comes from The Eyes of Glouphrie and is sung from its seed at a singing bowl. It has 28 charges, or 56 with the medium Western Provinces Diary.
A visible boost sets your level rather than adding to it. An orange spicy stew is a random swing of up to +5, and a trimmed cup of tea is a flat +3. You take whichever one you drink, so they do not combine with each other.
| Combination | Total | Reliability |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal saw only | +3 | Guaranteed, saw-required builds only |
| Crystal saw and trimmed tea | +6 | Guaranteed, saw-required builds only |
| Crystal saw and spicy stew | +8 | Random, reroll until it lands |
| Spicy stew only | +5 | Random, works on rooms and plants |
| Trimmed tea only | +3 | Guaranteed, works on rooms and plants |
The reason base 84 is the answer and not base 86 is that the crystalline portal nexus needs a hammer and a saw. The reason base 90 is the floor for the combined spirit tree and fairy ring is that it does not, so the saw contributes nothing to it.
The full mechanics, including what a spicy stew reroll actually costs you, are in the Construction boosts guide.
The 82, 83, 84 decision
These three levels are not arbitrary. Each one is exactly eight below a real unlock.
Base 82
Reaches level 90, which is the ornate rejuvenation pool and the occult altar.
The pool restores hitpoints, prayer, run energy, special attack energy and drained stats, and cures poison and venom. It is the single most-used object in most houses.
The occult altar switches you between the standard, Ancient, Lunar and Arceuus spellbooks in one click, and other players can use yours.
If you only ever built two things, these are the two.
Base 83
Adds level 91, which is the ornate jewellery box.
The ornate box carries ring of dueling, games necklace, combat bracelet, skills necklace, ring of wealth and amulet of glory destinations with unlimited charges. It is the reason 83 is the number most often quoted, and it is a defensible place to stop.
You must build all three tiers in order. The basic box at 81 and the fancy at 86 are not optional steps you can skip by being boosted higher.
Base 84
Adds level 92, which is the crystalline portal nexus.
This is the largest jump in the list and the reason to prefer 84 over 83. The nexus tiers go marble at 72 with 4 teleports, gilded at 82 with 8, and crystalline at 92 with 41. Going from 8 destinations to 41 is a different object, not an upgrade.
Like the jewellery box, the tiers are sequential. Marble, then gilded, then crystalline.
Above 84
Base 85 adds the marble adventure log. Base 86 adds a marble door. Base 90 adds a decorative bench and the combined spirit tree and fairy ring hotspot.
You can sidestep that last one entirely. A superior garden has one teleport hotspot but you can build more than one superior garden at 75,000 coins each. Two gardens give you a spirit tree in one and a fairy ring in the other, at base 70 and base 80 respectively with a spicy stew, which is twenty levels below the combined hotspot.
Every useful unlock, with its boosted floor
| Unlock | Room | Level | Needs saw | Base with saw and stew | Base with stew only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior garden (room) | 65 | No | 60 | ||
| Gilded altar | Chapel (45) | 75 | Yes | 67 | |
| Spirit tree | Superior garden | 75 | No | 70 | |
| Achievement gallery (room) | 80 | No | 75 | ||
| Basic jewellery box | Achievement gallery | 81 | Yes | 73 | |
| Gilded portal nexus | Portal nexus (72) | 82 | Yes | 74 | |
| Fairy ring | Superior garden | 85 | No | 80 | |
| Fancy jewellery box | Achievement gallery | 86 | Yes | 78 | |
| Boss lair display | Achievement gallery | 87 | Yes | 79 | |
| Ornate rejuvenation pool | Superior garden | 90 | Yes | 82 | |
| Occult altar | Achievement gallery | 90 | Yes | 82 | |
| Ornate jewellery box | Achievement gallery | 91 | Yes | 83 | |
| Crystalline portal nexus | Portal nexus | 92 | Yes | 84 |
The rooms themselves are the trap. The achievement gallery needs level 80 and the crystal saw does not work on rooms, so a base 75 account boosting to 83 with a saw and a stew still cannot build the room the jewellery box goes in. Build the room first, at base 75 with a stew or base 77 with a trimmed tea, and only then worry about the furniture.
The spirit tree also needs 83 Farming, which is boostable in its own right but is a separate grind.
What the materials cost
Levels are the easy half. These are approximate totals at Grand Exchange insta-buy prices checked on 7 September 2026, and the expensive lines move.
| Chain | Rooms | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Jewellery box, all three tiers | Achievement gallery, 200,000 gp | ~743k gp |
| Pool, all five tiers | Superior garden, 75,000 gp | ~2.5m gp |
| Portal nexus, all three tiers | Portal nexus, 200,000 gp | ~5.3m gp |
| Gilded altar | Chapel, 50,000 gp | ~1.2m gp |
| Occult altar | Achievement gallery | ~5.9m gp in tradeables |
| Fairy ring | Superior garden | ~2k gp |
A few notes on the outliers.
The occult altar is the expensive one. The tradeable half is a magic stone, 10 limestone bricks and 20,000 runes across blood, soul and astral. On top of that it needs the three spellbook signets and an uncharged pharaoh’s sceptre. The signets are effectively free: the ancient signet from Eblis after Desert Treasure I, the lunar signet from Baba Yaga’s Magic Shop for 2 coins after Lunar Diplomacy, and the arceuus signet from Tyss.
The pool chain is front-loaded and back-loaded. The restoration pool needs 1,000 soul runes and the ornate needs 5 gold leaf and 1,000 blood runes. The two middle tiers are potions and are almost free by comparison.
The fairy ring is the cheapest useful unlock in the game. Ten mushrooms and a 100 coin fairy enchantment from Fairy Fixit in Zanaris, after Fairytale II. The level is the only real cost.
Gold leaf, marble blocks and magic stones are the volatile items in every one of these totals, so re-price them on the GE price tracker before you commit.
Room count is the second constraint
Levels do not only gate hotspots. They gate how many rooms you are allowed at all, and a max house uses more of them than people expect.
You start with 24 rooms available from level 1 to 25. From level 26, one extra room unlocks every six levels up to 92, then one more at 96 and one more at 99, for a maximum of 38.
| Base level | Rooms available |
|---|---|
| 1 to 25 | 24 |
| 74 to 79 | 33 |
| 80 to 85 | 34 |
| 86 to 91 | 35 |
| 92 to 95 | 36 |
| 96 to 98 | 37 |
| 99 | 38 |
All three of 82, 83 and 84 give you the same 34 rooms, so the room limit is not a reason to pick one over another.
It is a reason to plan. A functional house wants an achievement gallery, a superior garden, a portal nexus, a chapel, a quest hall, a menagerie and a costume room before you have built anything decorative, and each dungeon section counts as its own room. If you also want a second superior garden for a separate teleport hotspot, that is another one.
Thirty-four is comfortable. It stops being comfortable if you build every room the interface offers.
The order to build in
The sequence matters more than most guides admit, because upgrade chains are sequential and rooms are not saw-boostable.
Rooms first, at their own boosted floor. The achievement gallery needs base 75 with a spicy stew or base 77 with a trimmed tea. The portal nexus room needs base 67 with a stew. Build them as soon as you clear those numbers, because everything above waits on them.
Then the cheap utility. The gilded altar at base 67 with a saw and stew, and the fairy ring at base 80 with a stew. Both are used constantly and neither needs a high base level.
Then the chains, one tier at a time. Basic jewellery box at base 73, fancy at base 78, ornate at base 83. Marble nexus at base 64, gilded at base 74, crystalline at base 84. All six need a saw, so the crystal saw counts on every one of them, but the marble nexus is really gated at base 67 because that is where the room it goes in becomes buildable. You cannot skip a tier by being boosted higher than the top one.
Pool last. The ornate rejuvenation pool at base 82 sits on top of four earlier tiers, and the two middle ones are cheap. Build the chain in one session once you are at 82.
Each of those boosted builds burns a crystal saw charge, and the saw holds 28 or 56. A full max house is comfortably inside that, but a saw that already went through a training session may not be, so check it before a boosting run.
What it costs in experience
| Target | Experience | Share of a 99 |
|---|---|---|
| Level 82 | 2,421,087 | 19% |
| Level 83 | 2,673,114 | 21% |
| Level 84 | 2,951,373 | 23% |
| Level 90 | 5,346,332 | 41% |
| Level 99 | 13,034,431 | 100% |
Going from 83 to 84 costs 278,259 experience, which is under two hours on any of the fast methods. Going from 84 to 90 costs 2,394,959, which is roughly nine times as much for a decorative bench and a teleport hotspot you can build another way.
That is the whole argument for stopping at 84.
Recommended stopping point by account
Ironman or budget account. Base 82. The pool and the occult altar are the two objects that change how you play, and getting there is roughly a fifth of a 99.
Main account, general purpose. Base 84. It is under two hours past 83 and it is the difference between 8 and 41 nexus teleports.
Teleport-heavy account, no jewellery box. Base 84 still, but build the nexus before the jewellery box and see whether you still want the box afterwards. They overlap more than people expect.
Completionist. Base 90 for the last decorative hotspots, or 99 for the Construction cape, which acts as a hammer and saw and gives unlimited house teleports.
For a full comparison of where to stop across the whole skill rather than just the max house question, see level 83 vs 91 vs 99.
Plan the route, not just the level
Once you have picked a base level, the remaining question is what to build to get there.
At current prices, oak dungeon doors from 74 are the cheapest fast route into the eighties, mounted mythical capes are the cheapest route overall from 50, and gnome benches are the fastest if hours matter more than gold. The 1-99 training methods guide covers the transitions.
Enter your current experience and a target of 82, 83 or 84 in the OSRS Construction Calculator to get the exact builds, planks and gold between you and each of them at today’s prices. The gap between 82 and 84 is usually smaller than people assume, which tends to settle the argument.
Sources for this max house guide
Construction levels, materials, experience values and tool requirements come from the OSRS Wiki pages for each hotspot and room, read from the recipe data rather than summary tables. Boosted floors are taken from the wiki’s own boost notes on the ornate jewellery box, ornate rejuvenation pool, crystalline portal nexus, boss lair display and achievement gallery pages, which state the exact levels reachable with a crystal saw plus a spicy stew or a trimmed cup of tea. Experience thresholds use the standard RuneScape experience curve. Material costs are Grand Exchange insta-buy prices from the real-time prices API, checked on 7 September 2026.