Moving foundations?

One of my properties in Sydney is starting to have cracks in the walls. When it rains, some of the doors dont close properly. Its built on a slight slope and quite an old house built on piers.

I had noticed that at the lower side of the property seems to be sinking into the ground and the piers have moved.

Is this generally a big job? Should I be engaging a structural engineer before doing anything else? Would insurance cover something like this?

Iv had 2 people look at it .
1. Builder - house needs to be jacked up, old piers removed, new concrete foundations, then new piers to level the house.
2. Bricklayer - also agrees with the above . But he said that it may only last 2-3 years before it moves again.

Iv also read about underpinning. Is this the same thing? Would it be cheaper to use the existing piers and jack it up that way? I would rather a solution that would last longer than 2-3 years.

Rough quote $10K to do the side of the house.

front of house ( slight movement ) - told can be left alone


Back of house “extension”




Low side of house


low side of the house towards the front . You can see how much it’s moved by. Was told that not all the Brick has to be removed and this can just be replaced with piers anyway