Sloping floors, sticking doors or rotten piles? We jack your home back to level and replace failed piles with sound timber or concrete — workmanship you can stand on.
Worried about sloping floors?
Older Auckland homes settle and move over the decades — it is common, and it is fixable. A few of these together is your cue to get the subfloor checked, calmly and without pressure.
Sloping, sagging or springy floors, or a noticeable dip as you cross a room, often point to piles that have sunk or failed underneath.
When frames go out of square, doors jam and windows won't latch. It usually means the structure above has shifted off level.
New cracks in plaster or cladding, and gaps opening between the skirting and floor, are classic signs of movement below.
Standing water, poor ventilation and a musty smell underneath rot timber piles and bearers over time.
If you can see piles leaning, cracked, sunken or rotted when you look beneath the house, they are no longer doing their job.
Most homeowners can't tell minor settlement from a real problem. A free inspection tells you exactly where you stand.
Plain English
Re-piling means replacing the piles — the posts and footings beneath a suspended timber floor — once they have rotted, cracked, sunk or shifted, so your home sits on sound footings again. House levelling means jacking the structure back to level and re-setting it so the floors run true. On most jobs the two go together.
Many Auckland villas and bungalows — especially pre-1970 — sit on native or treated timber piles rather than a concrete slab. Timber has a finite life and eventually needs replacing.
Auckland's heavy clay and volcanic soils swell, shrink and move with the seasons. Over decades that ground movement lets piles settle and shift unevenly.
Poorly ventilated subfloors, blocked drainage and moisture around the footings speed up rot in timber piles and bearers. Tree roots nearby can add to the movement.
We get under the house, check the piles, bearers and floor levels, and work out what has failed and why.
We scope the work, recommend the right piles and confirm whether your job needs a building consent.
The house is carefully raised on jacks and brought back to level, room by room, without rushing it.
Failed piles come out and new timber or concrete piles go in on sound footings, sized for your home.
Bearers, joists and bracing are reconnected so the structure is solid and stays level for the long haul.
We complete final checks, tidy up and arrange the council inspection where the job was consented.
Most residential jobs run from a few days to a few weeks, depending on house size, pile count and access.
There is no one-size answer — we recommend the right pile for your house based on ground conditions, load, access and budget. Read the full signs & process guide →
Honest, up front
Most foundation websites stay vague on price and the council process. We'd rather give you a straight, honest picture before you ever pick up the phone.
| Type of work | Indicative range |
|---|---|
| Partial re-pile (failed piles only) | $5,000 – $20,000 |
| Full house re-pile | $15,000 – $100,000+ |
| House re-levelling (no full re-pile) | $5,000 – $30,000+ |
| Building consent fees (where required) | $2,000 – $5,000 |
These are indicative ranges only. Every job differs by house size, pile count, soil, access and pile type — the only accurate number is a written quote after an on-site inspection. Figures drawn from published NZ sources (see footer).
A free inspection turns the guesswork into a clear scope and a real number.
What we do
We focus on subfloor and foundation work — it's all we do, and we do it properly.
Removing failed piles and replacing them with sound timber or concrete on solid footings.
Book inspection →Jacking your home back to level and re-setting it so floors run true again.
Book inspection →Bearers, joists, bracing and drainage put right so the whole subfloor stays solid and dry.
Book inspection →An honest, no-pressure assessment of your subfloor, with a clear scope and an indicative price.
Book inspection →Why homeowners trust us
Re-piling is structural work on a five-figure asset — your home. That's why we lead with credentials, not adjectives. We're foundation specialists, not a general builder doing it on the side.
*Demo placeholder figures. On the live site these are replaced with the real contractor's verified numbers — see the staging note in the footer.
Sample reviews
The quotes below are illustrative demo content for this staging site, not real customer feedback. See the footer staging note.
"Our bungalow floors had been dropping for years. They explained exactly what was happening underneath in plain English, levelled the house and replaced the rotten piles. No drama, no surprises on the bill."
"Doors that hadn't shut properly in a decade close cleanly again. They sorted the building consent themselves so we didn't have to deal with the council at all."
"The free inspection was genuinely no-pressure. We only needed a partial re-pile in the end, and that's exactly what they quoted — not a full job we didn't need."
Where we work
We cover homes right across the Auckland region. A few of the suburbs we work in regularly:
Your questions, answered
The everyday signs are things you can feel and see at home: floors that slope, sag or feel springy underfoot; doors and windows that suddenly stick or won't latch square; new cracks in linings or cladding; gaps opening between the skirting and the floor; and, if you look under the house, piles that are leaning, cracked, rotten or sitting in a damp, musty subfloor. One sticking door on its own is rarely a crisis. When you notice several of these together, it's worth getting the subfloor looked at.
As an indicative guide only, replacing just the failed piles (a partial re-pile) tends to run from roughly $5,000 to $20,000, while a full re-pile of a whole house commonly falls anywhere from about $15,000 to $100,000 or more. Re-levelling without a full re-pile is often in the $5,000 to $30,000 range. Where a consent is needed, allow for council fees on top. These are ranges, not quotes — the real number depends on house size, pile count, soil, access and pile type, so the only accurate figure is a written quote after an on-site inspection.
As a general rule in New Zealand, altering or replacing a building's foundations is structural work that usually requires a building consent. Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 does set out a narrow exemption for certain repair, maintenance and like-for-like replacement work, so a small comparable repair may qualify — but exemptions are conditional and assessed case by case. The honest answer: fuller re-piling and re-levelling commonly needs consent, while a minor like-for-like repair may not. Always confirm your specific job with Auckland Council and check the MBIE Building Performance guidance before any work begins. We'll confirm what your job needs and can manage the consent process for you.
Neither is universally better — they suit different situations. Treated timber piles are cost-effective, traditional and easy to work in tight, low subfloors, though timber still has a finite life and remains more vulnerable to damp long term. Concrete piles cost more per pile but offer greater durability and load capacity and perform better in damp ground or under heavier loads. The right choice comes down to ground conditions, load, access and budget, guided by the inspection and any engineering input. We recommend the right pile for your house rather than a one-size-fits-all answer.
Most residential jobs take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The timeframe depends on the size of the house, how many piles are being replaced, subfloor access and whether a consent and council inspection are part of the scope. We give you a realistic timeline with your quote so you can plan around the work.
In many cases yes. Most of the work happens beneath the floor in the subfloor, so households often stay put through a re-pile or re-level, with some short periods of noise, vibration and restricted access. We'll tell you up front what to expect for your particular job and flag anything that might mean staying elsewhere for a day or two.
Yes. We'll check whether your job needs a building consent, prepare what's required and manage the council process on your behalf so you're not left navigating it alone. Where engineering input or a producer statement is needed, we arrange that too. You get one point of contact from inspection through to sign-off.
Free, no obligation
Tell us a little about your home and what you're noticing. We'll call you within one business day to arrange a free, no-pressure subfloor inspection.
We'll call you within one business day to arrange your free re-pile inspection. No pushy sales — just a straight look at what your home needs.
(Demo: nothing was actually sent — this is a staging site.)