Restumping and underpinning resources for Shepparton home owners.

• Building and Plumbing Commission: find and check a practitioner: The Victorian regulator's public registers. Use them to confirm a builder's registration status, the type of work they may do and any conditions, and to check the compliance and enforcement register.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: finding a practitioner and getting quotes: Tips on checking credentials, finding reviews of past work and getting quotes. Read it before you ring around for restumping prices.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: engaging a builder: Explains when a registered builder is required, the classes of builder and what can happen if you use someone unregistered. Structural repairs to a house are one of the examples it gives.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: agreements and contracts: Covers when a written contract is required, contract types, deposits, prime cost items and provisional sums. Keep it open while you compare a restumping quote with the contract that follows it.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: insurance for domestic building work: Explains Home Warranty and Domestic Building Insurance, including time limits and how to make a claim. There is also a way to request an insurance information statement for a property.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: foundations: Explains foundation data, the soil-test report that recommends the depth of stumps or the type of footing, when a builder must get it and how to obtain a copy. This is the page to read if a quote says little about the ground under your house.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: Domestic Building Consumer Guide: The guide a builder must give you before you sign a major domestic building contract. Download it early so you can read it before the contract arrives.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: building and renovating checklists: Printable checklists for renovations, contracts, plans and permits, warranties and paying for building work. Useful for keeping track of a restump that is part of a bigger renovation.
• Energy Safe Victoria: working with tradespeople: The state energy safety regulator's guide to hiring electricians and gasfitters, with its public register. Use it if wiring or gas lines under the floor need moving during a restump, and ask for the Certificate of Electrical Safety for any electrical work.

• Guidelines to mitigate structural damage due to water content change in Victoria's expansive soils: A research report led by Adelaide University and funded through a Building and Plumbing Commission grant. It explains how clay-rich soils shrink when dry and swell when wet, and how that can crack buildings and damage buried pipes. It is technical and is not specific to Shepparton.
• Bureau of Meteorology: climate statistics for Shepparton Airport: Monthly climate statistics from the local weather station. Use the rainfall and temperature tables to see when the ground is likely to be wettest and driest in a typical year.
• Goulburn Broken climate guide: A short regional guide written for agriculture, from a project involving the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. Its rainfall charts include Mooroopna, which gives some long-term context for ground moisture.
• Shepparton Mooroopna flood mapping project: Council's page on modelling of the Goulburn River, Seven Creeks and Broken River, with the reports to download. It names a planning scheme amendment as the next step, so confirm the current overlays with Council for your address.
• Goulburn Broken CMA: land-use planning and building self-assessment: The catchment authority's guide to flood controls in planning schemes, including overlays and flood mapping not shown in those schemes. Read it if your block may be flood prone and you plan to change floor levels or footings.
• VICSES: Greater Shepparton flood guides: Flood history and local flood guides for Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla, Congupna, Katandra West, Murchison and Tallygaroopna. Useful if you are checking a house after high water.
• VicEmergency incidents and warnings: The state's live map and list of warnings and incidents. Check it first during flood or storm events, before anyone goes under a floor.
• Goulburn Valley Water: contact us: Contact details for the local water authority, including its faults and emergencies line. Report a suspected leak in its network here, because leaking water can change the moisture in the ground around stumps.
• Before You Dig Australia: Free plans of underground and overhead services at your site. Request them before any digging for underpinning or new footings.
• Geoscience Australia: earthquake: The national geoscience agency's explanation of earthquakes in Australia and how intensity is measured. Useful background if you notice new cracks after a tremor.
• Expansive clay (Wikipedia): An overview of clay soils that are prone to swelling and shrinking as their moisture changes. Good background before you read a soil report.
• Goulburn River (Wikipedia): The article on the major inland river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, which passes through Greater Shepparton and is part of the Murray-Darling basin.
• Shepparton (Wikipedia): A general article on the city, including its history, its name and its climate.

• Master Builders Victoria: find a Master Builder: The association's searchable directory of member builders across Victoria, with filters such as repairs and maintenance, renovations and heritage restoration. Check any builder you find here on the regulator's register as well.
• Housing Industry Association: resources and advice: The national home building association's hub of information and advice for the residential building industry. Some material is for members only.
• Engineers Australia: National Engineering Register: A publicly searchable register of engineers run by the national professional body. Useful if you need a structural engineer's report on a house that has moved.
• Association of Consulting Structural Engineers Victoria: A professional association of structural engineers in Victoria, whose members work across sectors including residential. A way to learn who represents consulting structural engineers in this state.
• Australian Geomechanics Society: The society for geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists, with a journal, events and courses. Mostly for practitioners, and useful if you want background on the people who write soil reports.
• Design Matters National: A national community of building designers and energy efficiency assessors, with a members directory. Consider it if a restump is part of a renovation that needs drawings.
• Australian Institute of Architects: find an architect: A search of the institute's practice members by location or name. It reminds you to check that an architect holds current registration with the state board.

• Building and Plumbing Commission: issues, complaints and disputes: The regulator's guide to fixing a domestic building or plumbing issue, including dispute resolution, reporting defective work and insurance claims.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: building disputes, defects and delays: Steps for resolving a dispute with your builder, along with information on delays and changes in contract price.
• VCAT: building and construction disputes: The Victorian tribunal's page on disputes between property owners, builders and others, and between owners and warranty insurers. It sets out the process before and during a hearing.
• Law Institute of Victoria: looking for legal help: The peak body for Victorian solicitors, including its referral service for people who need a lawyer. Useful if a building dispute needs legal advice.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: owner-builders: What being an owner-builder involves, how to become one, and the obligations when selling an owner-built home.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: owner-builder public register: Lets buyers check whether a property had owner-builder work under a certificate of consent issued since 1 September 2016. Worth searching before buying a house with a recently repaired subfloor.
• Building and Plumbing Commission: at the end of your building project: Explains the occupancy permit and the certificate of final inspection. Ask for the right document when a restump is finished and keep it with your property records.
• Moneysmart: home insurance: Australian Government guidance on choosing cover, storm and flood insurance, and making a claim. Read it alongside your policy if you are wondering whether ground movement is covered.
• Insurance Council of Australia: reduce your risk: The general insurance industry's representative body on making a home more resilient to extreme weather, including factors such as floor height and building materials.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: repairs in rental properties: Explains urgent and non-urgent repairs and what rental providers must do. Rental providers and renters can both use it if a floor problem is reported.
• Australian Taxation Office: how to claim rental expenses: The categories of rental expense, including repairs and maintenance and capital works. Raise a restump on an investment property with your tax adviser using these terms.
• Real Estate Institute of Victoria: The peak body for Victorian real estate professionals. Useful for owners preparing a house for sale, and for reading about current changes to residential property sales.
• LANDATA Victoria: The Victorian land title and property information service. You can order a copy of title or plan here, which helps if you need to check the property details before work starts.
• ACCC: Consumer rights and guarantees: The national regulator's page on the basic rights a business must meet when it sells a product or service. Read it if restumping work was not what you paid for.
• Australian Financial Complaints Authority: Make a complaint: A free, independent service for consumers and small businesses with a complaint about a financial firm. Use it if a dispute over a home insurance claim is not settled with the insurer first.

Does restumping need a building permit in Greater Shepparton?

Greater Shepparton City Council says you need a building permit if a renovation impacts any part of the foundations of the building or affects its structural soundness. Its building page lists examples of exempt work and the steps for applying.

Can Council or a private surveyor issue the permit?

Both can. Greater Shepparton City Council says private building surveyors and Council both have the authority to issue building permits, and it points to the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors for a list of private surveyors.

How do I check a restumper's registration in Victoria?

Use the Building and Plumbing Commission's public registers on its find and check a practitioner page. They show registration or licence status, the type of work allowed and any conditions.