waterdamagequotesWater damage restoration cost in Australia
Every cost page in this market gives you a range and no source. The direct competitor describes its figures as “estimates synthesised from public market data using AI research”, with no sample size and nothing to check. This page does the opposite: nine published rates, each one attributed to the Australian company that published it and the day it was read, and a calculator that adds up those exact numbers and shows every line it used.
What it costs, by what caused it
| What caused it | Assumed scope | Water category | Drying total | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burst pipe, found the same day | two rooms or a hallway and a bedroom, 4 days | Category 1 | $1,913 | The plumber, and the failed part |
| Hot water system failure | two rooms or a hallway and a bedroom, 5 days | Category 1 | $2,269 | The replacement unit |
| Ceiling leak, two rooms below | two rooms or a hallway and a bedroom, 5 days | Category 1–2 | $2,269 | New sheet and insulation |
| Wet carpet, one room, caught fast | one room, wet carpet only, 3 days | Category 1 | $1,260 | Underlay and relay |
| Sewage or drain overflow | two rooms or a hallway and a bedroom, 5 days, HEPA | Category 3 | $2,669 | Removal, disposal, containment |
| Flood water through the ground floor | around half the floor area of a house, 7 days, HEPA | Category 3 | $6,213 | Flood cuts and reinstatement |
| A slow leak found late, most of the house | most of the floor area of a house, 7 days, HEPA | Category 2–3 | $8,885 | Removal, and the wear-and-tear argument |
Two things move these numbers more than anything else, and neither is the cause. The first is days: equipment is hired per unit per day, so a job that runs from four days to seven is not a small variance. The second is category: from Category 3 onwards porous materials are removed rather than dried, and removal, disposal and containment are not in any figure above because no Australian company was found publishing rates for them. Why the category moves with time.
Whether you or your insurer carries the total is a separate question, answered by where the water came from — what your policy calls it maps each cause above onto its provision, and what to check if the claim is declined covers the other outcome.
The published rates
| Line item | Published rate | Basis | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency call-out | from $149 | per attendance, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Standard water damage call-out, first hour included | from $198 | per attendance, not stated | Reztor Restoration |
| Carpet water extraction, first hour | from $250 | first hour, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet water extraction, each hour after the first | from $90 | per hour, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet dryer (air mover) hire | from $69 | per unit per day, minimum 3 days, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Dehumidifier hire | from $149 | per unit per day, minimum 3 days, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| HEPA air filtration unit hire | from $80 | per unit per day, minimum 3 days, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet relay after drying | from $250 | per job, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet cleaning, two rooms | from $120 | minimum, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
Read the third column carefully, because it is where the money is. Equipment is priced per unit per day, and two of the three hire lines carry a published minimum of 3 days. That is not a sales tactic — drying a building takes days, and a restorer who agrees to a two-day dehumidifier hire is agreeing to leave before the job is finished.
Add it up
Structural drying calculator
Pick the size and the duration. Everything it produces comes from the table above and nothing else — no modelling, no estimating, no averages.
Worked examples
| Job | Days | Dryers | Dehumidifiers | HEPA | Total ex GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One room, wet carpet only | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | $1,260 |
| Two rooms or a hallway and a bedroom | 4 | 3 | 1 | — | $1,913 |
| Open-plan living area | 5 | 4 | 2 | — | $3,449 |
| Around half the floor area of a house | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | $4,629 |
| Most of the floor area of a house | 7 | 9 | 3 | 1 | $8,885 |
The equipment counts in that table are the same ones the calculator uses, and they are our own assumption about what a job of each size needs — that part is judgement, not a published figure, and it is the one input on this page that is. The rates they are multiplied by are published. Anyone who disagrees with the equipment counts can substitute their own and use the same rates.
Request real quotes for your actual job
The calculator is arithmetic. A quote is someone who has looked at it.
What the calculator does not include
This is the section that matters most, because the gap between a drying quote and a finished job is where people are surprised.
For putting the house back afterwards — plasterboard, floors, bathrooms and kitchens — water damage repair cost has the published reinstatement prices this site could source.
| Item | When it appears |
|---|---|
| Making the building safe | Anything structural, anything electrical, any sagging ceiling |
| The plumber, roofer or drainer who stops the water | Always. A restorer dries; they do not fix the cause |
| Underlay removal and replacement | Category 2 and 3 water (categories and classes) |
| Flood cuts — removing plasterboard to above the water line | Category 3, and Category 2 where the wall stayed wet |
| Wet bulk insulation removal | Any wall or ceiling cavity that got wet |
| Antimicrobial treatment | Category 2 and 3 |
| Containment and negative air pressure | Category 3 |
| Waste disposal | Anything removed. Charged by volume or by bin |
| Contents handling, pack-out and storage | Where rooms have to be cleared to be dried |
| Specialty drying for timber and concrete | Class 4 — hardwood floors, slabs, masonry |
| Asbestos assessment | A home built before 1990 where material is to be cut or removed |
| Mould remediation | Where drying was late. Whether a policy pays, and how much, is in its mould terms (mould cover and limits) |
| Reinstatement — plaster, paint, flooring, cabinetry | Putting the building back. Often a separate contract and a separate trade. Published prices: ceilings, carpet |
Ask about asbestos before anything is cut. Victoria’s Department of Health says Australian homes built before 1990 may contain asbestos, and lists eave linings, bathroom linings and fibre cement cladding among the places firmly bound asbestos is found in older homes (Victorian Department of Health, Asbestos in the home). If a wall or ceiling has to be opened, ask whether the material has been tested before the work is scheduled.
The adjacent trades
These are published by hipages rather than by restoration companies, and they are the other invoices in a water event.
| Item | Published | Basis | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumber, hourly rate (Australia) | $80 to $200 | per hour | hipages |
| Plumber, hourly rate (Sydney) | $80 to $200 | per hour | hipages |
| Plumber, hourly rate (Melbourne) | $80 to $160 | per hour | hipages |
| Plumber call-out fee | $150 to $250 | per attendance | hipages |
| Mould clean, whole home | $500 to $6,000 | per job | hipages |
| Mould clean, small bedroom | $50 to $100 | per room | hipages |
| Mould clean, kitchen or bathroom | $50 to $4,000 | per room | hipages |
| Mould clean, loft or storage area | $500 to $4,000 | per area | hipages |
| Mould inspection | $150 to $350 | per inspection | hipages |
| Mould air sample test | $250 to $300 | per test | hipages |
| Carpet cleaning, hourly | $40 to $60 | per hour | hipages |
| Carpet cleaning, per room | $20 to $40 | per room | hipages |
One figure from the same publisher is deliberately not in that table. hipages also publishes state-by-state hourly rates for mould removal in the low thirties of dollars an hour, which cannot describe the same labour market as its own $40 to $60 carpet cleaning rate. Where a publisher’s own figures contradict each other we do not pick the convenient one. The methodology page lists every such omission.
Who actually pays this
Where a claim is accepted, the insurer. Water damage is unusual among home repairs in that an insurer decides whether it gets paid for, and the household’s exposure is then the excess.
Which reorders the whole question. If the cause is a listed event under Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 (Cth) reg 19(1)(a)(vi) and the claim is accepted, the numbers on this page are mostly the insurer’s problem. If it is not, they are entirely yours. That is worth five minutes of reading before it is worth any amount of price comparison:
- The cover check — six questions, in your browser, names the provision that governs.
- Eighteen scenarios against the regulations.
- Excess — including why one water event can produce two of them.
Why this site has nothing to gain from your answer. The only payment we accept for an enquiry is a fixed amount, agreed before it is sent. It does not move with the size of the job, with whether you go ahead, or with which company you pick. There is no version of this page where steering you is worth anything to us — which is also why the page tells you when the answer is that you do not need anybody.
How to make quotes comparable
The reason restoration quotes in Australia are so hard to compare is that most of them are a single number. Ask every company for the same six things and they become comparable immediately:
- The water category. 1, 2 or 3. It decides what is dried and what is thrown away.
- The equipment count and the day count. How many air movers, how many dehumidifiers, how many days. This is the arithmetic and you can check it against the rates above.
- What is being removed, itemised: underlay, plasterboard to what height, insulation, skirtings.
- Whether daily moisture monitoring and a final moisture report are included. Without the report you cannot prove the building was dry when the gear left.
- Whether it is inclusive or exclusive of GST. The two published Australian rate cards on this page differ on this, which tells you how common the ambiguity is.
- What happens if it takes longer. Per-day extension rates, in writing, before anyone starts.
Request quotes with all six items
Two steps. We pass on what happened and how urgent it is, so the companies calling you already know what they are quoting.
Your enquiry is ready to send
Here is what happens after you submit:
- Your answers go only to restoration companies covering your postcode, and only when they are taking enquiries.
- No more than three of them may contact you, using the details you gave.
- You decide who, if anyone, you use. You are committed to nothing, and this does not lodge, alter or affect an insurance claim.
We are not a restoration company and we do not attend, assess or repair anything.
Common questions
How much does it cost to dry out after a burst pipe?
On the published Australian rates this page reproduces, a burst pipe found the same day and affecting two rooms, dried over four days, comes to $1,913 excluding GST. That is drying only -- the plumber and the failed part are separate invoices.
How much does flood damage restoration cost?
Flood water is Category 3, which means porous materials are removed rather than dried. The drying component alone, for around half the floor area of a house over seven days with HEPA filtration, is $6,213 excluding GST on published rates; flood cuts, disposal and reinstatement are on top and no Australian company was found publishing rates for them.
How much does water damage restoration cost in Australia?
There is no published Australian average worth repeating, and this page does not invent one. What it publishes is a rate card from named companies: a call-out from $149, carpet water extraction from $250 for the first hour and $90 an hour after, carpet dryers from $69 per unit per day, dehumidifiers from $149 per unit per day and HEPA filtration from $80 per unit per day, the last three with a three-day minimum, all excluding GST.
How much does water damage cleanup cost?
The cleanup is the extraction and drying this page prices: on the published rates, one room over the three-day minimum is $1,260 and two rooms over four days $1,913, excluding GST. Repairing what the water damaged afterwards is a separate bill; the repair cost guide on this site has published prices for plasterboard, floors, bathrooms and kitchens.
What does it cost to dry one room?
On those published rates, one room of wet carpet dried over the three-day minimum comes to $1,260 excluding GST: call-out, an hour of extraction, two carpet dryers and one dehumidifier. The calculator on this page shows the line items.
Why is equipment charged per unit per day?
Because that is how structural drying works. A room needs a certain number of air movers to keep air moving across every wet surface and enough dehumidification to take the moisture back out of the air, and it needs them for as long as the material takes to dry. Two of the three published hire rates carry a minimum of three days.
Does the insurer pay the restoration company directly?
It depends who appointed the restorer. Where the insurer appoints one, the arrangement is between the insurer and that company, and you pay the excess. Where you appoint your own, you are the customer and you claim the cost back. Either way the drying starts before anyone has decided anything.
Is GST included in these figures?
Not in the QLD Flood Restoration rates -- that company publishes them excluding GST and says so. The Reztor Restoration call-out figure is published without stating either way, and it is reproduced here with that noted rather than assumed.
What is not in the calculator?
Making the building safe, the plumber or roofer who stops the water, anything that has to be thrown out and replaced, antimicrobial treatment, contents handling, mould remediation, demolition, waste disposal and reinstatement. The calculator does drying, because drying is what was published.
Sources cited on this page
- QLD Flood Restoration, published equipment hire and extraction rates
- Reztor Restoration, published call-out fee
- hipages, plumber cost guide (last updated 24 July 2026)
- hipages, mould removal cost guide
- hipages, carpet cleaning cost guide
- Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 (Cth)
- General Insurance Code of Practice (2020 Code, October 2023 update)
- Victorian Department of Health, Asbestos in the home
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.