Full House Restumping in Bendigo
Replacing every stump under the house — the job when the original timber stumps have reached the end of their life and patching one corner will not hold.
What full house restumping involves
A full restump replaces every stump under the house rather than the handful that have failed most obviously. On Bendigo's older housing that is usually the right call, because the original stumps all went in at the same time, in the same ground, and they age at roughly the same rate — replacing six of forty buys you a few years and a second disruption. The work starts with levels: a laser is set up under the floor and readings taken across the whole subfloor to map where the house actually sits relative to a datum, because the room that feels worst is often not the room that has moved most. From there the floor is supported on temporary props and jacks, one section at a time. Old stumps are dug out, new footing holes are excavated to the depth the soil requires, and concrete pads are poured or pre-cast pads set. New stumps go in plumb, packed and wedged to the level the laser calls for, and the bearers are re-seated. The house comes up progressively, over days rather than in one lift — jacking too fast is what tears plaster and cracks cornices, and there is no way to un-crack a wall you rushed. Bearers and joists get inspected while the floor is open, since that is the only sensible time to find rot or termite damage, and any that need replacing are quoted separately rather than absorbed silently. Restumping is building work in Victoria: it needs a building permit and a registered building practitioner, and we organise the permit as part of the job rather than leaving it with you.
When you need full house restumping
- Floors slope or bounce across most of the house, not just one room
- The original stumps are timber and the house dates from before the 1970s
- Cracks have opened at cornices, above doorways or through external brickwork
- Doors and windows have started binding at the same time as the floors moved
- A previous partial reblock has held while the rest of the subfloor keeps dropping
How the job runs
- 1
Take levels across the whole subfloor
A laser datum tells us where the house actually sits, which is regularly not where it feels worst from inside.
- 2
Permit and scope in writing
Restumping needs a building permit in Victoria. We organise it, and you get the stump count and the scope before anything starts.
- 3
Prop, excavate, pour, set
The floor is supported in sections, old stumps removed, footings dug to the depth the ground requires and new stumps set plumb.
- 4
Lift progressively, then sign off
The house comes back to level over days, not in one go, and the work is inspected and certified at completion.
What full house restumping costs in Bendigo
Full restumping is quoted per stump, and in the Bendigo area that generally lands around $400 to $700 each. A modest three-bedroom home on roughly 50 stumps commonly totals $8,000 to $9,000; a larger or two-storey house running past 100 stumps can exceed $16,000. The per-stump rate is not the whole story though — subfloor clearance is the variable that moves it most, because a crawlspace a person can work in is a completely different job to one where every barrow of spoil comes out on someone's stomach. Ask for the stump count and the rate separately, so you can compare two quotes that assumed different numbers.
How do I get full house restumping quotes in Bendigo?
Submit your job details through Bendigo Restumping Co and local restumping professionals who handle full house restumping will contact you directly with quotes. The service is free and there is no obligation to accept any quote.
Full House Restumping questions
Do I have to restump the whole house at once?
Not necessarily, but on a house where all the stumps are the same age and the same material, doing part of it is usually deferring rather than solving. Where the movement is genuinely confined to one section — a later addition on different footings, or one corner in wetter ground — a partial reblock is legitimate and we will say so. What decides it is the level readings across the whole subfloor rather than which room feels worst, and we will show you those readings rather than asking you to take our word for it.
Will restumping crack my plaster?
Some cracking is normal and you should expect it. A house that has settled unevenly over decades has plaster, cornices and architraves that have adjusted to being out of level, and bringing the floor back to true moves all of it. That is exactly why the lift is done progressively over days instead of in one go — slow movement lets things flex rather than tear. Budget for patching and repainting as part of the project rather than treating it as a fault, and be wary of anyone promising no cracking at all.
Also need something else? See all restumping services we provide.