The short answer
A structural engineer in Melbourne inspects cracks, sticking doors, sloping floors and slab movement, works out the likely cause and explains it in a signed engineer's report. Many Melbourne suburbs sit on reactive clay, so the report also separates seasonal movement from damage that keeps getting worse. Our foundation and crack inspections start from $450 + GST, and we never sell or carry out repairs.
Structural engineer Melbourne: quick facts
- Typical houses
- Victorian and Edwardian terraces, weatherboards, brick homes and newer slab homes
- Ground
- Reactive clay in many suburbs, including clays on the basalt plains to the north and west
- Common signs
- Stepped cracks, sticking doors, sloping floors and slab movement
- If repairs are needed
- Underpinning designed, documented for the building permit and certified
- Signed by
- A structural engineer
- Price
- From $450 + GST, fixed quote in 1–2 business hours
Why do Melbourne houses crack and move?
Mostly because the ground under them changes with the weather. Many Melbourne suburbs sit on reactive clay, which shrinks as it dries and swells when it gets wet, so footings on it rise and fall a little through the year. When one part of a house moves more than the rest, the walls above it crack and the doors stop closing properly.
Uneven moisture is what usually turns normal seasonal movement into damage. A large tree drying the clay under one corner, a leaking pipe soaking the ground beside a wall, or water ponding against the footings after rain can all make one side of a house behave differently from the other. That's why a structural engineer in Melbourne looks outside as closely as inside: the cause of a crack in the hallway is often in the garden, the drains or the subfloor.
Age plays a part too. Many of Melbourne's Victorian and Edwardian terraces and weatherboards have been through decades of wet and dry seasons, alterations and plumbing changes, so some cracking in an older house is expected. The engineer's job is to tell you which cracks are old and stable, which open and close with the seasons, and which are still getting worse.
What does an engineer check in terraces, weatherboards and newer homes?
Different houses show movement in different ways, so the inspection follows the construction. Here's how it changes with the type of house.
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
Masonry homes, often with a party wall shared with the house next door. We look for stepped cracks through the mortar, cracks at door and window corners, and movement in chimneys, parapets and verandahs.
Weatherboards
Timber homes, many on stumps, tend to flex rather than crack. Movement shows as sloping floors, sticking doors and gaps in linings, so we take floor levels and check the subfloor we can safely reach.
Brick veneer and double brick
Brickwork on strip footings shows footing movement as cracks outside, often stepped, and in plaster and cornices inside. In double brick, a crack through both faces of a wall usually means the movement is structural.
Newer homes on slabs
Slab-on-ground houses can show movement as cracks across the floor, tiles cracking in a line, or a slab edge lifting or dropping, sometimes from slab heave on reactive clay.
Why do Melbourne homeowners call a structural engineer?
Usually because something has changed: a crack that wasn't there last winter, a door that suddenly binds, or a floor that now feels out of level. These are the most common reasons for a structural inspection in Melbourne:
- Cracks in walls and ceilings, especially stepped cracks in brickwork and diagonal cracks from door and window corners
- Doors and windows that stick or won't latch, often worse at one time of year
- Sloping or uneven floors, gaps opening under skirting boards, or furniture that rocks
- Slab movement: cracks across a slab floor, tiles cracking in a line, or a slab edge lifting or dropping
- Large trees close to the house, or a big tree that has recently been removed
- Leaks and drainage problems: a leaking pipe, a downpipe discharging against a wall, or water ponding after rain
- An underpinning or restumping quote you'd like to test against an independent view of the cause
One sign on its own is often harmless. Several together, or one that keeps getting worse, is worth an engineer's crack inspection. As a rule of thumb, have a crack looked at if it's 5 mm or wider, wider at one end than the other, or growing past a pencil mark. Our guide to cracks in walls and when to worry explains the crack widths engineers use.
How does reactive clay affect Melbourne foundations?
It moves them with the seasons. Reactive clay shrinks as it dries and swells when it's wet, and clays like this are found in many Melbourne suburbs, including the clays on the basalt plains to the north and west. Footings on reactive clay rise and fall a little each year, which helps explain why seasonal cracks are so common in Melbourne homes.
AS 2870, the Australian Standard for residential slabs and footings, groups sites into classes by how far the ground surface is expected to move as the soil wets and dries. A geotechnical (soil) investigation classifies a particular site, and newer homes may have their site class noted on the footing drawings.
How far the ground can move: AS 2870 site classes
- Class A · little or no movementLittle or none
- Class S · slightly reactive0–20 mm
- Class M · moderately reactive20–40 mm
- Class H1 · highly reactive40–60 mm
- Class H2 · highly reactive60–75 mm
- Class E · extremely reactiveOver 75 mm
The class tells you how much the ground can move. Whether a house cracks depends on how evenly it moves. If the clay under one corner dries out more than the rest, perhaps beside a large tree, or gets wetter from a leaking pipe or an overflowing downpipe, that part of the house moves on its own and the walls above it crack. On some sites, moisture building up under a slab can lift part of it, which engineers call slab heave.
Seasonal or progressive?
A crack that opens in a dry summer and closes again over a wet winter is moving seasonally. One that is wider every year is progressive. A single visit can't always tell the two apart, so we may recommend repeat readings or crack monitoring before anyone designs a repair.
For more detail, read our guides to reactive clay and slab heave and house subsidence and movement.
Which structural inspection do you need in Melbourne?
It depends on where you are: something is cracking, you're buying, you've been quoted for underpinning, or a repair needs to be designed. Every service is carried out by an independent engineer with nothing to sell you afterwards. If you've been searching for a foundation engineer in Melbourne, this is the same work: our structural engineers assess the footings, slab and ground movement together with the house above.
| Your situation | Service | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Cracks, sticking doors, sloping floors or slab movement | Foundation and crack report | From $450 + GST |
| A structural check of a house you own | House structural inspection | From $450 + GST |
| Buying a house with cracks or signs of movement | Pre-purchase structural inspection | From $450 + GST |
| You've been quoted for underpinning | Underpinning quote review, from documents and photos | From $390 + GST |
| A repair is needed and has to be designed and permitted | Underpinning design and certification | Fixed quote per job |
| You need to know whether cracks are still moving | Crack monitoring | Fixed quote per job |
| Structural defects to document as an owner or buyer, or for a dispute | Building defect report | Fixed quote per job |
Not sure which fits? Choose "Not sure, please advise" when you ask for a quote, describe what you're seeing, and an engineer will suggest the right starting point.
What will a structural engineer's report tell you?
What is moving, why, how serious it is and what to do next, in plain English and signed by the engineer. Each Melbourne report is set out in the same order:
- Concern and scope
- What you asked us to look at, and what we inspected.
- Observations
- Cracks located and measured for width, length and pattern; doors, windows and floors; drainage, plumbing signs, trees and site conditions.
- Crack ratings
- Significant cracks rated against the AS 2870 damage categories, from Category 0 to Category 5.
- Cause and severity
- The likely cause or causes of the movement, and how serious it is.
- Recommendations
- No action, maintenance such as fixing leaks or drainage, monitoring, further testing such as a soil or plumbing test, or a repair to be designed.
- Evidence
- Photos, the engineer's signature and the limits of the inspection.
Because the report is about the cause rather than a product, you can share it with a builder, your insurer or the other party in a dispute without it reading like a sales document.
Why use an independent engineer instead of a repair company?
Because the diagnosis should come before the sales pitch. A free inspection from an underpinning or restumping company is usually part of its quoting process. There's nothing wrong with that, but it means the person diagnosing the problem is also selling the cure. An independent engineer is paid for the diagnosis, whether or not you ever do a repair.
| Repair company inspection | Independent engineer | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | Often free, because it leads to a quote | A fixed fee, from $450 + GST, whether or not you repair |
| Starting point | Usually the method the company sells | The cause of the movement |
| Cheaper fixes | Not always the focus | Leaks, drainage and trees dealt with first where that's enough |
| Repair methods | Usually one | Compared on merit, because we sell none |
| If a repair is needed | Their own scope and price | A design that any licensed contractor can price and build |
Already have an underpinning quote?
Our underpinning quote review checks whether the cause has been identified, whether the scope makes sense and what the quote leaves out, from $390 + GST, without a site visit. If the documents aren't enough, it becomes a foundation and crack report.
Does underpinning need a building permit in Victoria?
Usually, yes. Underpinning is structural work, and in Victoria it usually needs a building permit based on an engineer's design. Councils may also require an asset protection permit when works use the frontage, so check with your building surveyor and your council before anything starts.
If your report shows that a structural repair is needed, we provide the engineering, not the construction:
- Diagnose the cause first. Sometimes that needs a geotechnical soil investigation or a plumbing test before anything is designed.
- Design the repair to suit your soil, your house and the cause, whether that's mass concrete, piers, screw piles or resin injection.
- Prepare the documents your building surveyor needs for the permit.
- Inspect the critical stages while the contractor builds it.
- Certify the completed work.
Any licensed contractor can then build it, and because we don't build, the design isn't shaped around one product. Weatherboards on stumps are a different case: when they need foundation work, it's usually restumping, which replaces the stumps of a raised timber-floored house, while underpinning strengthens or deepens the footings of slab and strip-footing homes, often masonry ones. Read what underpinning is and what underpinning costs, or see underpinning design and certification.
Buying a Melbourne house with cracks?
Have a structural engineer look before you're committed. A building inspector's report is a good general check, but when it flags cracks, sloping floors or movement, a structural engineer can tell you what's causing them, how serious they are and what kind of repair, if any, is likely to be needed.
Our pre-purchase structural inspection focuses on the structure: the cracks, floors, walls, roof framing and footings that matter, crack ratings against AS 2870 and the likely cause of any movement, from $450 + GST.
Cooling-off in Victoria
The general cooling-off period for residential sales in Victoria is 3 business days, and exceptions apply, such as auctions. Check your contract. Tell us your deadline when you ask for a quote and we'll confirm whether we can meet it. This is general information, not legal advice.
How does a structural inspection in Melbourne work?
Six steps, from your first photos to a certified repair if one is needed. Most homeowners only need the first four.
- When you notice it
Record what you're seeing
Photograph the cracks with a ruler in the frame, note which doors stick and when it started, and check for leaks, blocked drains or a downpipe discharging against a wall.
- Within 1–2 business hours
Get a fixed quote
Send the address, your photos and any reports or repair quotes you already have. We reply with a fixed fee and an inspection time.
- On site, 1–3 hours
Inspect and measure
The engineer locates and measures the cracks, checks doors, windows and floor levels, and looks at drainage, plumbing signs, trees and the site outside.
- After the inspection
Read the cause and severity
Your signed report rates the cracks against AS 2870, explains the likely cause and sets out the options, from fixing a leak or drainage to monitoring or a designed repair.
- If movement may be seasonal
Monitor or test further
On reactive clay, repeat crack readings across the seasons, a soil investigation or a plumbing test can confirm the cause before anyone designs a structural repair.
- If repairs are needed
Design and certify the repair
We design the underpinning or other repair, prepare documents for the building permit, inspect critical stages and certify the work. Any licensed contractor can build it.
A typical house takes one to three hours on site. We confirm the report delivery date in your quote, so mention any deadline, such as a contract date or an insurer's request, when you get in touch.
How much does a structural engineer cost in Melbourne?
Our on-site inspections with a written engineer's report start from $450 + GST for a typical house. An underpinning quote review from documents and photos starts from $390 + GST, and design, certification, defect reports and crack monitoring are fixed-quoted for each job.
The fixed price depends on the size of the house, what needs checking and access, and you'll have it within 1–2 business hours. See structural engineer fees for what's included, or request a foundation and crack report now.
Standards and legislation referenced
- Standards Australia, AS 2870-2011 Residential slabs and footings. Site classification, and Appendix C, Table C1: classification of damage to walls