Concrete Piers & Pier Footings in Australia: Depths, Costs & Types

A concrete pier is a vertical column of concrete that carries building loads down to stable ground. Piers support houses, decks, extensions, verandahs and even slabs, and they're one of the most common footing types in Australia — especially on the reactive clay soils found across Melbourne and much of Victoria. This guide covers the main types of concrete piers, how deep they need to go, what they cost in 2026, and when a concrete-free alternative such as a screw pile or driven steel footing is the smarter choice.

What is a Concrete Pier (and a Pier Footing)?

A pier is a discrete vertical support — think of a column in the ground rather than a continuous strip. Loads from bearers, posts or slab beams concentrate onto each pier, which transfers them down to soil that's strong and stable enough to carry them.

A pier footing is the complete assembly: the pier shaft plus whatever spreads the load at its base. That base can be a widened "bell" at the bottom of a bored hole, a concrete pad the pier sits on, or simply the shaft's own bearing area if the soil is strong.

Types of Concrete Piers

• Bored piers. The most common residential type. A hole (typically 300–600mm diameter) is drilled with an auger, reinforcement is placed, and concrete is poured in situ. Used under houses, extensions and slab edge beams on reactive or filled sites.
• Mass concrete piers. Bored piers poured without reinforcement, used for lighter loads on stable ground where the engineer's design allows.
• Belled piers. Bored piers with an enlarged base to spread load or resist uplift, common on highly reactive (Class H/E) clay sites.
• Precast concrete piers. Factory-made columns or blocks placed in an excavated hole or on a prepared pad. Quick, but limited to lighter structures and dependent on design acceptance.
• Pier and beam. Piers supporting ground beams or bearers, keeping the floor structure clear of reactive topsoil — the classic stumped-floor arrangement.
• Brick piers. Traditional masonry piers on concrete pads, still seen under older Victorian and Federation homes, usually replaced with steel or concrete during restumping.

How Deep Do Concrete Piers Need to Be?

There is no single standard depth — the answer comes from your site's soil classification and the engineer's design. As a rule of thumb:

The governing principle: the pier must found below the zone of seasonal moisture change, in natural soil of adequate bearing capacity. On reactive clays, the top metre or more of soil shrinks and swells with the seasons; a pier that stops in that zone will move with it. Trees make this worse — see our guide to footings near trees.

Concrete Pier Costs in 2026

Watch the hidden costs: access for the drilling rig, spoil removal, concrete truck access or pumping, wet-weather delays, and the return visit after curing before you can build. On small jobs — a deck, a granny flat, a pergola — the mobilisation and concrete logistics can cost more than the piers themselves. That's exactly where concrete-free footings shine.

Piers vs Footings vs Stumps

• Footing is the umbrella term: anything that transfers building load to the ground. Strip footings, pad footings, slabs and piers are all footings.
• Pier is a discrete vertical column footing, poured or placed in the ground.
• Stump is the post that carries the floor structure above ground level — timber, concrete or steel — usually sitting on (or integrated with) a pier or pad footing. Modern systems like RapidStump combine the footing and the stump in a single driven steel unit.

For a broader look at footing types — strip, pad, slab and pier — see our complete guide to concrete footings in Australia.

Standards & Engineering: AS 2870 and AS 3600

For houses and other Class 1 buildings, pier design falls under AS 2870 (Residential Slabs and Footings), with the concrete itself governed by AS 3600. In practice that means:

• A soil report classifies the site (Class A, S, M, H1, H2, E or P).
• A structural engineer sizes the piers — diameter, depth, spacing and reinforcement — for that classification and the building's loads.
• The building surveyor may require a pier hole inspection before pouring, confirming depth and founding material.
• Concrete is typically N20–N25 grade for residential piers, placed on the day of inspection.

Concrete-Free Alternatives to Concrete Piers

Concrete piers work, but they bring drilling rigs, spoil, concrete trucks, curing time and weather risk. Engineered steel footings do the same structural job without any of that:

• SurePile screw piles. Helical steel piles wound into the ground to a verified torque, ideal for high loads, reactive clay, sloping blocks and sites where piers would need to go deep. Load-tested as installed — no pier hole inspection or curing.
• RapidStump driven steel footings. An all-in-one footing and stump driven mechanically in minutes. Build the same day, any weather.
• StumpRite adjustable steel stumps. Adjustable steel piers with up to 120mm of screw height adjustment, suited to new floors, decks, tiny homes and restumping over existing or new footings.

All three are engineer-certified to Australian standards, installed by Easy Footings across Melbourne and Victoria, and typically faster and cheaper than bored piers on small-to-medium jobs. Read the full comparison in concrete-free footings vs traditional concrete.

Concrete Pier FAQs