Restumping cost in Melbourne runs from about $500 a stump to $35,000 for a whole weatherboard house. The spread comes down to four things: how many stumps, concrete or steel, how much of the house, and what's under it. The table below puts numbers on each.
Ranges are what Melbourne restumpers quoted in 2025–26 for ordinary access. Your quote is free and comes from one licensed restumper, not a list of five.
Supply and labour, including the engineer's levels where the job needs them. Permits, asbestos and rubbish are listed separately below because they aren't in every job.
| Job | Typical Melbourne price | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Full restumping, weatherboard 60–90 stumps, timber floor | $15,000–$35,000 | Stump count, concrete or steel, how low the floor sits (under 400 mm clearance adds digging time). |
| Full restumping, brick veneer stumps under the floor, brick skin on a footing | $12,000–$28,000 | Fewer stumps than a weatherboard of the same size; the brick skin stays put. |
| Partial restumping one room, a wet area, one side of the house | $3,000–$10,000 | A minimum call-out applies: the gear and the levelling set-up cost the same for 8 stumps as for 20. |
| Relevelling only repacking existing sound stumps | $2,000–$6,000 | Only when the stumps are sound and the floor has settled. A restumper checks before quoting it. |
| Per stump, concrete | $500–$800 | The standard replacement in Melbourne. Lasts 50+ years in dry ground. |
| Per stump, galvanised steel | $650–$1,000 | Adjustable, so the floor can be re-levelled later without digging. Preferred in reactive clay. |
| Underpinning (per pier) for a sinking brick footing, not stumps | $1,500–$3,500 a pier | Concrete piers. Resin injection is priced per metre of wall instead ($3,000–$15,000 a job). |
Want a number for your own house? The restumping cost calculator picks the right row and adds the extras.
Restumping in Victoria needs a building permit when the work is structural, which a full restump is. Allow $800–$2,000 for the permit and the building surveyor.
Pre-1990 houses can have asbestos sheet under the floor or in the subfloor walls. Removal by a licensed remover is extra: $1,500–$5,000.
Lifting a settled floor back to level moves the walls above it. Cracks and sticking doors after a restump are normal. Allow $500–$3,000 for patching, more on a house that had dropped a lot.
Melbourne restumpers fit two of the three. The third is what's coming out.
$500–$800 fitted. Precast, sits on a concrete pad. The Melbourne standard for 40 years. Not adjustable once set.
$650–$1,000 fitted. An adjustable head, so the floor can be re-levelled in future without digging. Picked in reactive clay (the north and west) and under heavy houses.
What most pre-1970 Melbourne houses stand on. Rots at the ground line after 40–80 years. Not refitted: it's the reason you're reading this.
Steel costs about 25% more per stump and saves the second restump. On a house in clay that moves between wet and dry years, most restumpers now quote steel first. On sand and in the dry inner east, concrete is the usual quote.
One of these on its own can be something else. Two or three together usually means the stumps.
A restumper's inspection is free with a quote. They crawl under, count the stumps, check the bearers, and tell you whether it's a few stumps, a side, or the lot.
The job is the same everywhere. The soil, the housing stock and access aren't, and that shows in the quotes.
Between $15,000 and $35,000 for a full weatherboard house in 2026, $12,000 to $28,000 for brick veneer, and $3,000 to $10,000 for a partial job. Per stump it's $500 to $800 in concrete and $650 to $1,000 in steel, fitted.
Yes. The set-up (jacks, levels, the engineer's visit) is the same for 10 stumps as for 80, so the per-stump price falls as the count rises. That's why a partial job can look dear per stump.
In reactive clay (much of Melbourne's north and west), usually yes: an adjustable steel stump lets the floor be re-levelled later for a few hundred dollars instead of a second restump. On sand, concrete is the usual quote and lasts as long.
For a full restump, yes: it's structural work and needs a building permit through a registered building surveyor. The restumper usually arranges it. Allow $800 to $2,000.
Normally yes. The crew works under the floor; a full restump takes one to two weeks. Expect noise, some cracked plaster afterwards and doors that need easing.
One licensed restumper who works your area. The quote and the inspection are free, and your details go to that one business only. We're a quote service, not the restumper: the footer says who runs it.
Three taps, your name and number. A licensed restumper who works your suburb rings you back. No phone line, no call centre, no list of five.