Service · Terminology
Reblocking in Melbourne
If you have been told your house needs reblocking, the first useful thing to know is that it is the same job as restumping. Same work, same permits, same price — just the older Melbourne word for it.
Where the word comes from
The posts holding up a suspended timber floor were originally called blocks. Replacing them was reblocking. As the trade and building documentation standardised on the word stump, restumping became the more common term, and today most contractors, building surveyors and permits use it.
Reblocking never disappeared though, and it is worth knowing who still uses it. You will hear it from longer-established tradespeople, from older homeowners who have had the work done before, and you will see it in real estate listings and building inspection reports. It is also a distinctly Melbourne word — walk into a builder's yard in Brisbane or Perth and it will get you a blank look. Both words are alive here because Melbourne has more pre-1970s stumped housing than anywhere else in the country.
What it means for your quote
Practically, nothing. A quote headed "reblocking" and a quote headed "restumping" describe identical work, and the word chosen tells you nothing about the quality of the contractor. What actually differs between quotes:
- Stump count — has anyone been under the house and counted, or is it an estimate from outside?
- Access allowance — hand-dug or machine-dug, and is spoil removal included?
- Whole house or partial — partial jobs are often described as though they were complete.
- Permit and inspection fees — in or out of the price?
- Plaster patching — re-levelling cracks plaster; who repairs it?
Our costs page breaks down per-stump pricing and how to compare two quotes properly, and the full process — permits, the lifting sequence, sign-off — is on therestumping page.
Buying a house advertised as "recently reblocked"
This is where the word matters most, because it appears in listings constantly and is very easy to take at face value. Before you rely on it, ask for three things:
- The building permit. Reblocking requires one, issued by a registered building surveyor. No permit means the work was unauthorised, and that becomes your problem at resale.
- The certificate of final inspection. This confirms the work was inspected and signed off, not simply done.
- The scope — whole house or part. "Recently reblocked" frequently means the front two rooms, or the section that had visibly dropped. A partial job is perfectly legitimate, but it is not the same as a house that will not need attention for fifty years.
If the paperwork does not exist, that does not automatically mean the work was bad — but it does mean you are buying an unverified claim, and it is fair to have the subfloor inspected before settlement rather than after.
Which houses can be reblocked
Only homes with a suspended timber floor sitting on individual stumps — overwhelmingly built before about 1970. That covers the weatherboard cottages, Edwardian villas and California bungalows across Melbourne's inner west, inner north, inner east, bayside and established eastern suburbs.
It does not cover slab-on-ground homes, which have no stumps at all. If your house is brick veneer on a concrete slab — the norm across the western growth corridor — then reblocking is not a service that can be performed on it, and movement there is addressed byunderpinning instead. Anyone offering to reblock a slab home has not looked at what it is built on.
Suburbs where reblocking applies
These are the areas where the housing stock is genuinely stumped:
- Yarraville 3013Inner West · $14,000 – $22,000 for a full restump
- Footscray 3011Inner West · $12,000 – $20,000 for a full restump
- Seddon 3011Inner West · $13,000 – $21,000 for a full restump
- Brunswick 3056Inner North · $13,000 – $20,000 for a full restump
- Coburg 3058Inner North · $11,000 – $18,000 for a full restump
- Sunshine 3020West · $11,000 – $18,000 for a full restump
- Northcote 3070Inner North · $13,000 – $21,000 for a full restump
- Thornbury 3071Inner North · $12,000 – $19,000 for a full restump
- Preston 3072Inner North · $11,000 – $17,000 for a full restump
- Reservoir 3073Inner North · $10,500 – $16,500 for a full restump
- Williamstown 3016Inner West · $14,000 – $23,000 for a full restump
- Moonee Ponds 3039Inner North West · $13,000 – $22,000 for a full restump
- Hawthorn 3122Inner East · $16,000 – $30,000 for a full restump
- Kew 3101Inner East · $18,000 – $34,000 for a full restump
- Camberwell 3124Inner East · $14,000 – $26,000 for a full restump
- Surrey Hills 3127Inner East · $13,000 – $24,000 for a full restump
- Brighton 3186Bayside · $18,000 – $34,000 for a full restump
- Bentleigh 3204Bayside · $12,000 – $21,000 for a full restump
- Elsternwick 3185Bayside · $13,000 – $23,000 for a full restump
- Box Hill 3128Eastern Suburbs · $11,000 – $20,000 for a full restump
- Blackburn 3130Eastern Suburbs · $11,000 – $20,000 for a full restump
Reblocking questions, answered properly
Is reblocking the same as restumping?
Yes — identical work, two names. "Reblocking" is the older Victorian term, from when the timber posts holding up a house were called blocks rather than stumps. "Restumping" is what most contractors and building surveyors use today. If one quote says reblocking and another says restumping, that is not a difference in scope and neither word tells you anything about quality. Compare the stump count, the access allowance and the inclusions instead.
Why do two words exist for the same job?
It is a Melbourne quirk of language rather than a technical distinction. The supports under a suspended timber floor were originally called blocks, so replacing them was reblocking. Over time "stump" became the standard term in the trade and in building documentation, and restumping followed. Older homeowners, longer-established tradespeople and some council and inspection paperwork still use reblocking, which is why both words persist in Melbourne while neither is common in most other Australian cities.
A house I want to buy says "recently reblocked" — what should I check?
Ask for the building permit and the certificate of final inspection. Reblocking is building work requiring a permit from a registered building surveyor, carried out by a registered building practitioner, with inspections at set stages. If the vendor cannot produce that paperwork, the work may have been done without a permit, which becomes your problem as the new owner — both for future sale and if the work turns out to be inadequate. Also ask whether the whole house or only part of it was done, since partial jobs are frequently described as though they were complete.
Does reblocking cost more or less than restumping?
Neither, because it is the same job. Price is driven by stump count, access and footing depth — roughly $250 to $500 per stump where a machine can reach, $600 to $900 where holes are hand-dug and spoil is carried out through the house. A full three-bedroom weatherboard typically lands between $11,000 and $22,000. If one quote is materially cheaper than another, the difference is in the scope or the count, not in the word on the letterhead.
Can a brick house be reblocked?
A solid brick house cannot — it has no stumps or blocks, so there is nothing to replace, and movement in solid brick is a footing problem addressed by underpinning. A brick veneer house with a suspended timber floor is a different matter: the brickwork is a non-structural skin over a timber frame that does sit on stumps, and those can be replaced. The distinction is what the floor structure is, not what the outside walls look like, which is why an inspection matters more than a photo.