Restumping Bendigo

Typically $12,000 to $30,000 for a full house, or around $280 to $550 per stump if only some need replacing. Underpinning — where the ground rather than the stumps is the problem — typically runs $15,000 to $40,000 and up.

The spread is wide because the cause decides the method, and the method decides the price. Full breakdown of what drives the number.

Sloping floors, cracks above windows and doors, sticking doors and bouncy floorboards are the usual signs — but they have three different possible causes in Bendigo, and they cost very different amounts to fix.

The only way to know is to measure floor levels across the whole house and look underneath. Plenty of period houses here sit slightly out of level, structurally sound, and have done for a century. The three causes, and how to tell them apart.

Some cosmetic cracking should be assumed rather than hoped against — the house is being moved, and lifting is done in stages specifically to keep that to a minimum. On old lath or lime plaster, some movement will show.

Most people stay in the house, though expect noise, vibration and periods where parts of the floor are inaccessible.

Worth settling in writing beforehand: who patches, what "make good" covers, and whether painting is included. It very often isn't.

Depends which kind of brick, and the difference matters because the price gap is large.

Brick veneer — a timber frame with a brick skin — usually has a suspended timber floor on stumps behind the brickwork. Those stumps can be replaced like any others.

Solid or double brick with a timber floor is two structures at once: the walls sit on strip footings, the floor sits on stumps. The floor can be restumped. If the walls are what's moving, that's a footing problem and it needs underpinning instead — and some houses need both. More on houses with two foundations.

Brick on a concrete slab has no stumps at all, so restumping is impossible. Underpinning or resin injection are the only structural options.

The quickest way to tell: look for subfloor vents low on the external walls. Vents mean a subfloor, which means stumps.

For the work itself, not really — it isn't weather-dependent the way roofing is. Wet winters make excavation messier and subfloors damper to work in, but that affects comfort more than outcome.

For working out what's wrong, timing matters a lot. Reactive clay is at its driest in late summer, so that's when shrinkage is greatest, cracks are widest and movement is most visible. Assess the same house after a wet winter and the clay has swollen, cracks may have closed, and the problem can look considerably milder than it is.

Which cuts both ways: a late-summer assessment shows you close to the worst case, and a spring one can understate it. If you're not in a hurry, the genuinely useful thing is to measure at both ends of the cycle. How to monitor it across a season.

Bendigo and the surrounding shire. The suburb matters for more than travel time — it usually tells you what the house is sitting on before anyone visits, and one whole group of suburbs can't be restumped at all because the housing sits on slabs.

Every suburb, and what the housing sits on.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all timeframe, because every house is different. Duration depends on the number of stumps being replaced, the size of the home, access beneath the floor, the condition of the existing subfloor, and whether additional work such as relevelling, bearer replacement or underpinning is required.

Most projects begin with a structural inspection to determine the cause of the movement before any schedule can be confirmed. If reactive clay, historic mine-related ground movement and deteriorated stumps are all contributing, the repair strategy may involve more than simply replacing stumps.

Rather than relying on a generic estimate, you'll get an expected timeframe after the property has been inspected and the structural condition beneath the floor assessed.

In Victoria, structural building work such as restumping or reblocking may require a building permit depending on the scope of the work. Requirements can differ depending on whether stumps are being replaced, repaired or packed, and whether underpinning forms part of the project.

Permit requirements are determined under the Victorian Building Regulations and can also depend on the specific circumstances of the property. Before work begins, we'll confirm the position with the City of Greater Bendigo so you know what applies to your job rather than guessing at it.

If your property is affected by a Heritage Overlay or other planning controls, additional approvals may also be required before structural works commence. More on heritage precincts and planning approvals.

Structural work of this kind must be carried out by an appropriately registered building practitioner. Before anything starts, you'll be given the name and registration number of whoever will be working on your house, in writing, so you can check it yourself on the Victorian Building Authority register.

You should expect that from anyone quoting you, not just from us. A registration number that can't be produced, or doesn't check out when you look it up, is the single most useful thing you can screen for — and it takes about two minutes.

You'll also know before work begins exactly what's included in the scope and what isn't, because that's where most disputes on this kind of job start. The nine questions to ask any quote.

The lifespan of house stumps depends on the material, drainage, soil conditions and subfloor ventilation rather than age alone. Well-installed concrete stumps commonly last for many decades, while timber stumps can deteriorate sooner where they stay exposed to moisture, termites or fungal decay.

Galvanised steel stumps are also designed for long service life — but whatever the material, the thing that shortens it is water. A downpipe discharging beside the house or a subfloor that can't dry out will do more damage than the choice between concrete and steel ever will. Concrete versus galvanised steel, compared.

Many period homes across Bendigo still sit on original timber stumps that may now be significantly deteriorated. If floors have become uneven, doors have started sticking or cracks keep reappearing, the priority isn't the age of the stumps — it's establishing which of the three possible causes is actually moving the house.