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Restumping and structural repairs in Victoria, a guide by Dotto

Third vent along the plinth

Owner-builders and structural work

Running a renovation as an owner-builder changes who answers for the work. It does not change what the work under the floor is, or what Victoria expects of the people who do it.

The brick base of an older house below its weatherboards, with three sub-floor vents. The third vent is marked, and beside it a cut-away view of the sub-floor shows floorboards, joists, a bearer and stumps standing in the soil, with the joists picked out.
The third vent, with its round-holed grille, and a cut-away of the floor behind it: the joists that sit across the bearer, in brick red.

Consumer Affairs Victoria recommends that an owner-builder use registered builders for reblocking, restumping, demolishing or removing a home, whatever that work is worth. Its checklist for small jobs says, without naming owner-builders, that re-stumping, re-blocking and structural work are for registered building practitioners; it does not say how that applies to an owner doing the work personally.

General informationA summary of Consumer Affairs Victoria’s page for owner-builders, the BPC’s practitioner page and section 25B of the Building Act 1993, as at 8 October 2026. Not legal advice about any project. The BPC issues owner-builder certificates of consent and is the place to ask how these rules apply.

Dotto is not a builder, tradesperson or property manager. Dotto holds no builder’s or trade licence. It does not do, offer, contract for or arrange any building, trade or maintenance work. This is general information, not advice.

What an owner-builder takes on

Consumer Affairs Victoria is direct about the role: “As an owner builder, you take on many of the responsibilities of a registered builder and accept any associated financial risks.” It adds that owner-builders are bound by most of the laws that bind registered builders.

Among the duties it lists, two bear directly on structural work. An owner-builder must be named as the owner-builder on the permits, and must engage a building surveyor to obtain the building permits, including the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection when the work is finished. The permit question in the second guide does not go away because the owner is running the job.

$20,000Before an owner-builder in Victoria starts domestic building work worth more than $20,000, the BPC says a certificate of consent from it is generally required, as at 8 October 2026.

The rule behind the figure is section 25B of the Building Act. It bars an owner from acting as builder on domestic building work that costs more than the prescribed amount, except where they hold a certificate of consent for that work or fall within one of the other cases the section lists, such as being a builder whose registration authorises the work, other than a builder subcontractor, whether registered or provisionally registered.

The certificate is about who may act as builder. Section 25B turns on acting as builder and names no kind of work. On this guide’s reading, neither it nor the BPC’s line says whether consent lets an owner do re-stumping or re-blocking with their own hands, and Consumer Affairs Victoria’s own recommendation for that work is a registered builder. Where an owner means to do sub-floor work themselves, the BPC is the body to ask before the work starts.

Hiring someone for the stumps

Section 25B also governs the contract. An owner who needs a certificate of consent may give a major domestic building contract for the work, or any part of it, only to someone registered as a builder and that registration authorises the work. A provisionally registered builder, or one registered only as a builder subcontractor, does not qualify.

The condition that the registration authorises the work links back to the classes in the first guide. A registration in a limited class covers only that class’s types of work, and the Regulations prescribe a class limited to re-stumping and re-blocking. So an owner-builder who needs a certificate of consent asks two questions of a builder: is the registration neither provisional nor a builder subcontractor one, and does it cover this job?

  1. The contract in writing

    Consumer Affairs Victoria says that even where you have signed the building permit as owner-builder, you and a builder, contractor or tradesperson must have a written contract for domestic building work worth more than $10,000.

  2. The levies

    Consumer Affairs Victoria notes three levies based on the total cost of a building, and says they apply to owner-builders too.

  3. The registration

    The BPC’s advice before appointing anyone is to confirm their registration or licence covers the work.

The public record

Owner-builder work leaves a trace. The BPC suggests checking whether its public register holds relevant owner-builder details, under the heading of checking whether work was done by an owner-builder. What an owner-builder owes a buyer on selling is a separate set of rules, outside this guide.