Underpinning in Melbourne — questions and answers
Short answers on underpinning, restumping and reblocking in Melbourne: what a building permit covers, which contract protections apply, how Home Warranty insurance works and how enquiries here are handled. The answers cite Victorian legislation, plus council pages, regulator pages and CSIRO, as at September 2026, and this site sets no prices.
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How much does underpinning cost in Melbourne?
There is no single price for underpinning in Melbourne, and this site sets none. The costs page gives four Melbourne firms' published whole-job ranges, each credited by name and dated, and each described as what it is a price for. Raise and Relevel says its range depends on the method, the soil and how far the house has moved, so ask each provider which cause its quote is built on.
Is the work insured, and for how long?
Under the Building Act 1993, statutory insurance applies to a domestic building contract worth more than A$20,000, for contracts entered into on or after the scheme's commencement. The Act does not print that date, the scheme's regulations come into operation on 1 July 2026, and Consumer Affairs Victoria says the Building and Plumbing Commission's Home Warranty insurance applies from then to a home of three storeys or less. The builder takes out the cover after you sign, and if no notice of cover arrives you contact the Commission. Cover for a major defect ends 6 years after the completion date and for any other defect 2 years, but a repaired footing is not automatically a major defect, since the Regulations count a defect as structural only where it meets their definition. Whether a contract of exactly A$20,000 is inside the scheme is not established, because the Act says more than A$20,000 while a Department of Transport and Planning page says A$20,000 or more.
Underpinning in Melbourne
Before you sign an underpinning contract
Six checks in the order a contract meets them, each with the rule and the figure Victoria's law gives.
Registration number on the contract
Registration number
the contract must state the builder's registration number, and that registration must authorise the work
Ask for the number before you sign, and ask which class of registration it covers.
Source: Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), sections 29 and 31 · read
Foundations data before the contract
Foundations data
the builder must obtain it before entering the contract, where the work alters the footings or may affect them
You are entitled to a copy once you have paid what is owing for it, so ask for it before you agree to the price.
Source: Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), section 30 · read
What the price assumes about the ground
No later top-up
for an amount the foundations data could reasonably have shown, once the contract is entered into
Ask the builder what the price assumes, and keep the data with the contract.
Source: Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), section 30 · read
A limit on the deposit
5%
the most a builder may demand before starting work, on a contract price of A$20,000 or more; the ceiling is higher below that
A builder must not demand or receive a larger amount before starting any work.
Source: Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), section 11 · read
Time to change your mind
5 clear business days
to withdraw from a major domestic building contract, counted from receiving a copy of the signed contract
Independent advice from an Australian legal practitioner before you sign takes this right away, so decide the order on purpose.
Source: Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), section 34 · read
Notice of cover after signing
A$20,000
the contract value above which the builder arranges Home Warranty insurance, for a home of three storeys or less and a contract entered into on or after the scheme's commencement
The builder takes out the cover after you sign. If no notice of cover arrives, contact the Building and Plumbing Commission.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, Insurance and insolvency (updated 5 February 2026); Building Act 1993 (Vic), section 318A · read
Each figure names its source and the date it was read. The contract rules are those in force on that date, and Victoria has announced changes to them and deferred their start. Nothing here is a quote for your house.
Process
Where does my enquiry go?
Your enquiry is referred on to an independent provider covering your part of Melbourne, who gets in touch to see the house and quote, where one is engaged for your area. You pay us nothing, and if no provider is engaged we tell you.
What should a contract for restumping, reblocking or underpinning show before I sign?
A contract worth more than ten thousand dollars, the amount the Domestic Building Contracts Regulations 2017 fix, is a major domestic building contract, and only a registered building practitioner whose registration authorises the work may enter one. This site states no rule for work below that amount. The contract must state the builder's registration number and carry a notice of your cooling-off right, and the builder must first give you a contract information statement. Victoria's Building Regulations 2018 name a class of domestic builder limited to re-stumping and re-blocking, so ask which class the number covers. Where the work will alter the footings or may affect them, the builder must obtain foundations data before the contract is signed. The panel above shows the deposit limit and the cooling-off right as at September 2026: the state has deferred the Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025 and its regulations to 31 March 2027, so the current rules stand until then and the new ones may differ.
Timing
How quickly can someone get to me?
We can't promise a time: it turns on the provider's bookings and on any permit or neighbour notice the work needs.
Does my neighbour have to be told, and does that add time?
A neighbour must be served notice where the relevant building surveyor determines that protection work is required for the adjoining property. In that case the owner serves notice on the adjoining owner and the surveyor before starting, and the neighbour has 14 days to answer; in general an adjoining owner who does not answer in that time is taken to have agreed. The Building Act 1993 bars the building work that gave rise to the requirement until there is agreement, deemed agreement or a determination, so allow for those 14 days when you agree a start date. The surveyor decides at the permit stage, having regard to matters that include excavation and the likely effect on the adjoining property, so raise a shared boundary at your first meeting. The Act lists underpinning of the adjoining property as protection work, which is not the same as underpinning your own footings, and nothing we read says your own underpinning always triggers a notice.
Permits and approvals
Do I need a building permit for underpinning, restumping or reblocking?
Your building surveyor confirms whether your job needs a building permit, and the Building Regulations 2018 say their exemptions for repairs and for alterations do not include underpinning or replacement of footings. Hume City Council says restumping or completing underpinning work requires a building permit, and describes its page as guidance only. Nothing in the exemptions list names restumping, so we do not say that restumping always needs a permit or that it never does. Planning is a separate question: if your home is in a Heritage Overlay you may need a planning permit even where no building permit is needed, so ask your council.
Source: Building Regulations 2018 (Vic), Schedule 3, items 3 and 4 and the note to them; Hume City Council, Do I need a building permit? (archived copy of 16 January 2026); Victoria Planning Provisions, clause 43.01; all read 22 September 2026
Service area
Which suburbs do you cover?
All thirty suburbs on our list are covered, including Craigieburn, Point Cook, Reservoir, Clyde North, Seaford, Altona and Upwey. The suburbs page links the ones with their own page, and the rest are covered on the same terms.
Do you do the underpinning yourselves?
No. A marketing company runs this site and refers each enquiry on to an independent local provider, who inspects the house and quotes, then does the work. We hold no building registration, and we own no plant. Ask the provider for its registration number before you sign.
Thanks — we have your enquiry. Someone will be in touch shortly. Prefer to talk now? Call (03) 9122 8610.
Last reviewed · Updated · First published