Restumping & reblocking firms in Melbourne
Melbourne's Edwardian, Californian bungalow and interwar weatherboard stock sits on timber stumps in reactive clay - which is why 'reblocking' is practically a local industry.
We have checked 6 licensed firms servicing Melbourne: 6 offer restumping, 6 offer reblocking and 5 offer underpinning. Between them they cover metropolitan Melbourne, including the north, west, east, bayside and the inner suburbs.
We do not publish firm names or contact details. Every firm behind this page is a real business we have checked against its own published details. Tell us what is happening with the house and we match you with one of them. You get their introduction by email; reply to it and they quote you, so you are not ringing around.
Reblocking in Melbourne
The west and north - Footscray to Preston - sit on the most reactive clay and generate the steadiest work; bayside and the east add plenty of pre-war weatherboards of their own. Prices track the national range ($500-$700 per stump; most full reblocks $15,000-$30,000), and every legitimate job comes with a building permit, a VBA-registered practitioner and a Reg 126 certificate.
Restumping or underpinning: which one do you need in Melbourne?
The symptom tells you which trade to call. Sloping or bouncy floors, doors and windows sticking, and gaps opening between floor and skirting point to failed stumps under a timber-framed house: that is restumping (reblocking in Victoria). Stepped cracks in brickwork, cracks that widen with the seasons, and a slab home pulling away from its footings point to footing movement: that is underpinning. Our guides on the signs of failed stumps and the signs of subsidence walk through each, and restumping vs reblocking vs underpinning settles the terminology.
In Melbourne, the odds favour stumps: Reactive clay under pre-war weatherboard, brick veneer and Edwardian stock, worst in the west and north. Have the subfloor checked before you assume the worst, because a partial restump of the wet corner is common and far cheaper than a full one.
Permits, licences and insurance in Victoria
The building permit. Restumping is building work under Victoria's Building Act, and it needs a building permit before work starts. The permit is issued by a building surveyor (usually private, engaged by your contractor) against drawings and computations showing stump sizes, materials and founding depths. Expect the permit package - surveyor fees, documentation, inspections - to run roughly $800-$2,000 inside the quote, and to add a few weeks of lead time before work begins. Mandatory inspections during the job are part of the deal, not an optional extra.
Registered practitioners. The work must be carried out or supervised by a building practitioner registered with the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) in an appropriate class. This is your cheapest due-diligence tool: the VBA's public register lets you check a contractor's registration, class and any disciplinary history in about two minutes, before you've spent anything. A firm that hesitates when asked for its registration number has answered your real question.
The Reg 126 certificate. At completion, the building surveyor issues a certificate of final inspection - and the contractor should also provide the compliance certificate commonly called a "Reg 126" in the trade, certifying the work complies with the permit documentation. Do not make the final payment without it. This single page is what future buyers' conveyancers and building inspectors will ask for, and chasing it years later from a wound-up company is somewhere between painful and impossible.
Domestic building insurance. For domestic building work over the statutory threshold (currently $16,000 in Victoria), the builder must take out domestic building insurance in your favour before accepting a deposit - it covers you if the firm dies, disappears or is deregistered before honouring its warranty. Most full reblocks clear the threshold comfortably, so ask for the certificate of currency with the contract. No certificate, no deposit.
Full detail, including the checklist: the Victorian rules explained.
What it costs in Melbourne
Melbourne prices track the national range: $500 to $700 a stump, most full reblocks $15,000 to $30,000, and the Victorian permit package adds roughly $800 to $2,000 inside the quote.
| Job | Typical range 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single stump replaced | $500 - $700 | Minimum call-out often applies below about 8 stumps |
| Partial restump (8 to 20 stumps) | $4,000 - $12,000 | Common where one wet corner has failed |
| Full restump, weatherboard | $15,000 - $25,000 | Typically 40 to 60 stumps |
| Full restump, brick veneer | $20,000 - $30,000 | Heavier loads, more careful jacking |
| Underpinning, typical residential | $10,000 - $40,000 | Single corner can be under $10,000; whole perimeter on poor soil over $60,000 |
| Mass concrete underpinning | $2,000 - $5,000 per metre | A settled corner is often 3 to 6 metres |
| Screw piles | $3,000 - $7,000 per pile | A corner might need 2 to 4 piles |
| Resin injection | $8,000 - $25,000 per problem | Soil-dependent; insist on a soil test first |
| Engineer's assessment and design | $600 - $2,500 | Get it before the quotes for underpinning |
Full breakdowns: restumping costs, underpinning costs, when a partial restump is enough.
Getting quotes you can compare
A quote you can compare states the method, the extent (number of stumps, or metres, piles or zones for underpinning), the stump material, size and founding depth or the depth to bearing, who obtains the permit and whether its cost is included, the insurance that applies, what happens to cracks afterwards, and the warranty in writing. A number produced in the driveway without a look under the floor or an engineer's report is a guess, and the cheapest guess is the one that costs you later.
- Which licence or registration do you hold, and can I check it on the register?
- Is the permit your responsibility, and is it in this price?
- What stump material, size and founding depth are you quoting, and why?
- Have you priced against the engineer's report, or your own diagnosis?
- What is the warranty, and what insurance sits behind it if you close down?
- How many days on site, and will the house be habitable throughout?
More in choosing a contractor and what the process looks like.
Get matched with a firm servicing Melbourne
One form, no phone tag. We email you the matched firm's introduction; reply to it and they respond directly with an itemised quote.
Common questions
Is reblocking different from restumping?
No - reblocking is just what Melburnians call restumping. Same job, same firms, same price. What is reblocking?
Do I need a permit to restump in Melbourne?
Yes. It's structural work in Victoria: building permit, registered practitioner, and a Reg 126 certificate at completion. Victorian rules explained.
Do I need an engineer's report before getting quotes?
For underpinning, yes: it is the only way to get three comparable prices instead of three diagnoses, and most reputable underpinners want one anyway. For a straightforward restump of a timber-framed house, an experienced restumper's subfloor inspection is usually enough, but any change of stump material or founding depth should be specified in writing.
How many quotes should I get, and how do I compare them?
Two or three, all priced against the same information. Send each firm the same description, photos and, for underpinning, the same engineer's report. Then compare method, extent, materials and depth line by line, not just the total. A quote that is much lower than the others has usually left something out.
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