Reblocking & restumping in Williamstown,
done once, done properly.
Whole-of-house concrete stump replacement for weatherboard and timber-frame homes in Williamstown and the surrounding Hobsons Bay council area. Computer-levelled, fully permitted, and backed by a 15-year written guarantee on every job we sign off.
Replacing every stump
that holds your house up.
Reblocking, restumping and underpinning all describe the same family of work: replacing the supports under your house. Williamstown is one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs, full of heritage Victorian and colonial cottages that have been settling for well over a century. On a typical one, those supports are timber stumps installed when the home was first built. After 60, 80, sometimes 100 years in the ground, they rot, lean and let the floor drop.
We replace them all. Every stump, every load point, every bearer connection. New concrete stumps with steel caps, computer-levelled to engineering spec, and signed off with all the building permits. The house ends up sitting straighter than it has in decades, and it stays that way.
The ground under Williamstown. Williamstown is low-lying and close to the bay, with a high water table and pockets of filled ground through the older streets. Timber stumps standing in damp soil rot at the ground line, and on houses this age they have been doing it a long time. Every house is different, which is why the inspection happens on site and not over the phone.
Getting to the job in Williamstown. Williamstown's heritage streets are narrow and parking is tight, and many of the older cottages have no side access at all. Hand excavation and a carefully staged setup are usually the only way in.
Melbourne's oldest cottages,
on bay-side ground.
Williamstown was Melbourne's first port, and the streets back from the water still hold some of the oldest timber houses in the city. Under the oldest of them the original supports are often not sawn timber stumps at all but red gum blocks, or a mix of red gum, bluestone and whatever a previous owner packed in when a corner dropped. That patchwork is common in houses this age, and it is why the floors in these cottages rarely fall in one direction.
A reblock here usually means taking all of it out, not topping up the worst few. Mixing new concrete stumps with century-old red gum leaves the house sitting on two materials that move differently, and the old ones keep settling after we have left.
Much of the older town sits under a Hobsons Bay heritage overlay. A reblock that keeps the house at its current height and leaves the front of it alone is normally a building permit job only. Lifting the house, or changing a visible base or front stumps on a heritage street, is where a planning step can come in, so we check the overlay before we quote rather than after the house is on jacks.
Recent Williamstown enquiries have come in two ways: a pre-purchase building report that has flagged stump settlement, and a front room that has visibly dropped against the rest of the house. Both are worth an inspection before anything else is done to the floor, because re-sanding or re-laying boards over failing stumps just means doing them twice.
Heritage overlay
Checked before the quote, not discovered on the day. Height and street-facing changes are the triggers.
No side access
Common on the old cottages. The dig is by hand and staged so the house is never left short of support.
Pre-purchase reports
If a building report has flagged the stumps, we can inspect and quote before settlement so the figure is known.
How you know your stumps have had it.
If two or three of these are happening in your house, it is almost always the stumps. We will tell you straight after the inspection. No upsell.
A marble rolls across the lounge, or one room feels like it dips. That is the bearers losing their seat.
Frames go out of square as the floor moves. Doors stop closing. Windows stick when they never used to.
Stair-step cracks above doorways, hairlines along the cornice line, gaps opening up in skirting.
If you can push a screwdriver into a stump or it crumbles when you knock it, the timber has gone.
Stand at the front fence. If the eave line sags or the verandah droops at one end, the supports have moved.
If the house has never been reblocked and it was built before the 1970s, it is on borrowed time.
Five clear steps. Two weeks on most houses.
Every job runs the same way. You know what is happening, when, and what we will need from you. No mystery, no creep.
Free on-site inspection
We come out, get under the house, and assess every stump. Honest, on the spot, no obligation.
Fixed-price written quote
A clear scope, a fixed price, and a timeframe. No surprises mid-job. No verbal agreements.
Permits and engineering
We pull all building permits, organise engineering sign-off, and handle council where needed.
Reblock the house
Hydraulic jacks, every stump replaced, computer-levelled across the whole footprint. You can stay in the house.
Sign-off and 15-year guarantee
Final inspection, paperwork, written 15-year guarantee in your hand. We are still here in 15 years.
We do not use timber. Ever.
Timber stumps are how you got here. Concrete stumps with steel caps will outlast the house. There is no good reason to put back what failed.
Real jobs, real homes.
Photographed under the house and from the street. This is the work, with nothing tidied up for the camera.
The questions we get every week.
Do you service Williamstown?
Yes. Williamstown is squarely in our patch. Maribyrnong & Hobsons Bay Reblocking is family-owned and based in Melbourne's inner-west, and we reblock and restump homes across Williamstown most weeks. Free on-site inspection, fixed written quote, and the same 15-year guarantee as every job.
Do I need a permit to reblock in Williamstown?
Yes. Reblocking is structural work, so it needs a building permit before we start. In Victoria that permit is issued by a registered building surveyor rather than over the counter at Hobsons Bay City Council, and we arrange it as part of the job - it is in the quoted price, not billed on top. Parts of Williamstown also sit inside a heritage overlay, which can add a planning step through Hobsons Bay City Council before the building permit is issued. We check that at the inspection so it does not surface halfway through the job.
Can we stay in the house during the reblock?
Yes, on most jobs. We do the work in stages so the house stays livable. You will hear us, and there are short windows where the floor moves a few millimetres at a time, but you do not need to move out.
How long does a full reblock take?
Most single-storey weatherboards take one to two weeks on site, plus a few weeks lead time for permits before we start. Larger homes and tight access add days, not months.
Will reblocking fix my cracks and sticking doors?
In most cases, yes. Once the house comes back to level the doors free up and most hairline cracks close. Larger plaster cracks may need a quick patch afterwards. We will tell you what to expect on inspection.
Do I need a permit for reblocking?
Yes. A reblock is structural work and requires a building permit. We organise it. You do not need to call council or chase a private surveyor.
What does reblocking actually cost?
It depends on the number of stumps, the height under the house, and the access. We quote a fixed price after the inspection, in writing. No hourly rates, no scope creep mid-job.
Is the 15-year guarantee in writing?
Yes, every job. You get the document with the final paperwork. We have been here for 35 years and we will be here in 15.
Reblocking across the inner-west and the Ranges.
We are inner-west locals who know the housing stock street by street, and we take the same crew and the same guarantee up into the Macedon Ranges. Find your suburb for reblocking and restumping right where you are.
Other work we do under the house.
Underpinning
Strengthening footings on brick, slab and double-storey homes that are subsiding.
Learn more →Levelling, Lifting & Raising
Computer-levelled lifting and raising for floors that have dropped, sloped or settled unevenly.
Learn more →Timber to Concrete Conversion
Replace tired weatherboard-era timber stumps with modern concrete stumps for life.
Learn more →
Think your house needs reblocking?
Let us tell you for free.
We will come out, crawl under the house, and give you the truth. If you do not need it, we will tell you. If you do, you will know exactly what is involved and what it costs before you decide anything.