But former mayor Leigh Wilson is appealing for more help, over the long haul, particularly from the city's tradespeople.

"If there are any Bendigo tradies who want to spare a bit of time up in Rochester, there's so much work that can be done, for all trades, especially plasterers or painters," he says.

While 800 to 1000 houses are already getting a full renovation, with some workers doing a four-hour trip from Melbourne's northern suburbs every day, there is much more to be done, including direct jobs for uninsured or under-insured homeowners.

"Things are happening, it's a hive of activity for trades," Wilson says, suggesting someone in Bendigo could help organise a night to coordinate workers from the city.

Wilson has just been visiting a friend living in a caravan under another friend's house when he talks to the Advertiser.

He and his wife are sharing their home with his wife's aunt, who is undergoing chemotherapy.

The makeshift living arrangements and ongoing efforts to rebuild and repair will be "the norm for us for many, many months," he says.

"There's no-one who's unscathed."

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While many of the estimated 50 to 60 per cent of former residents who are now back in the town have experienced frustration and felt abandoned, a lot of people outside Rochester "need a pat on the back" for what they have been doing, Wilson says.

It is just that so much assistance is required.

In the new year, he says, the mood has been more positive.

"Since Christmas people are more buoyant. Now there's a little bit of relief."

Rochester's three schools will reopen at the start of the term, enabling parents to breathe easier and a degree of normalcy for kids.

That was thanks to "a s--t tonne of portables" being brought into the town, with education department contractors working through the recent heat to install them, Wilson says.

"Whoever they were, full credit to them; they've just powered on through it," he said.

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