Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 25, 2019 10:05 pm Hi, We are doing a knock down rebuild, with one of the bulk builders. We bought an old 2bedroom house which we demolished. I was made aware by the demolition company that there was lot's of asbestos buried under, which I paid a lot to clear asbestos and clearance certificate issues by demolition company. Now my issue started when builder OH&S person did an inspection and found asbestos. We have got the demolition company to scrap the soil twice and issue a new asbestos clearance certificate but OH&S person keeps finding visible asbestos. We are bit frustrated and not sure what to do to fix this problem. If I go to some other demolition company they may charge me arms and a leg to fix this and may end up in same situation. Current demolition company has already ignoring my calls. Now they saying if I scrap too much it will increase my building cost. Has any one got some advice or had similar experience. Thanks and regards Ruchi Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 3Jul 14, 2022 4:34 pm Before paying up ask the demolition company for the EPA Wastelocate system asbestos consignment tracking number, the asbestos photos they must submit to the Wastelocate app, (both these are a legal requirement) and the waste disposal weighbridge receipt for the asbestos or contaminated soil. Verify these with the EPA online AND waste facility yourself. If they cannot provide all these, or the documents are not consistent or are un verifiable don't pay up, and alert the EPA and the police. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 4Jul 14, 2022 7:04 pm jasperdmx May I know the end story of this. I also in same situation now. Thank you in advance. Do a site walk with gloves, overalls and a very good mask and pick up anything you can see, wrap it in black plastic, tape it up securely with duct tape and then take it too an approved disposal centre. 60kgs costs around $45 wrapped in 20kg bags. And then find a new builder who doesn't complain so much but who works with you to find a solution! EDIT: The other thing you can do is get it tested first to see if it is actually asbestos as sometimes we have found that when demo companies have told us they have found asbestos it is actually just FC sheeting and unless it has obvious dimples asbestos is often hard to differentiate from FC. Anyway, best of luck Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 6Jul 18, 2022 3:50 pm eguan88 How old is the house, and why do people bury asbestos in the soil back in the old days? It would have been cheaper to bury it then it would have been to remove it properly. Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 7Jul 18, 2022 5:14 pm Ashington Homes jasperdmx May I know the end story of this. I also in same situation now. Thank you in advance. Do a site walk with gloves, overalls and a very good mask and pick up anything you can see, wrap it in black plastic, tape it up securely with duct tape and then take it too an approved disposal centre. 60kgs costs around $45 wrapped in 20kg bags. And then find a new builder who doesn't complain so much but who works with you to find a solution! EDIT: The other thing you can do is get it tested first to see if it is actually asbestos as sometimes we have found that when demo companies have told us they have found asbestos it is actually just FC sheeting and unless it has obvious dimples asbestos is often hard to differentiate from FC. Anyway, best of luck Simeon That what we did, me and my neighbour Thurs and Friday with 1 hour each day. Sat and Sun, myself did with 2 hours each day. What we found less and less by day until none on Sun. And email to demolition asked them to provide me asbestos clearence certificate for SITE, not for house. What they provided me is a certificate for asbestos clearence when they removed asbestos from house. But when they knockdown the house, they asked my another $10k (nego to 7.5k) for asbestos found under house and slab. Regardless true or not (in different thread of this forum), after they clean up, they should give me another clearence certificate. And I got it and passed to my builder. Hope now all good unless they found buried 2m in ground and Im doomed Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 9Jul 22, 2022 1:16 pm Yes! Read the demolition contract carefully to understand what their process is when they find the 'hidden asbestos'. If it contains no protection for you then just budget an extra $10k based on a few 'proof' photos they will send you. Its a smooth confidence trick, don't confuse a companys good custoner service and 5 star reviews with basic ethics and honesty. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 10Jul 22, 2022 1:55 pm eguan88 It seems asbestos under the slab is a common excuse for the demolition company to jack up the price later on This part really annoys me as they know that 99% of old homes have asbestos under the bathroom and laundry slabs. It is a confidence trick. Nothing more nothing less. Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 11Jul 22, 2022 5:32 pm After finding your 'hidden asbestos' the nice people at the demolition company will first quote a massive extra disposal expense, then propose a way to reduce the costs, or just negotiate a bit. Relieved, you will gratefully thank them, urgently pay up to get your clearance certificate, and post a glowing 5 star review! Slippery as. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 12Jul 23, 2022 6:52 am Kippers01 After finding your 'hidden asbestos' the nice people at the demolition company will first quote a massive extra disposal expense, then propose a way to reduce the costs, or just negotiate a bit. Relieved, you will gratefully thank them, urgently pay up to get your clearance certificate, and post a glowing 5 star review! Slippery as. Kippers That is a fantastic synopsis of how the demolition process normally goes here in Sydney. I have a couple of new crews we are trialling and despite my previous bad review of Stanley, he turned out well in the end. He did find a rather large amount of buried asbestos in the rear yard on one of our builds but called us straight away so that the client and ourselves could come to site and witness the remainder of the excavation. That unfortunately was a legitimate find and to save costs he let us try and bring our own trucks in to dispose of the contaminated soil ( we have contacts). Unfortunately none were available so we used his, but it proved that it wasn't a money making exercise. My initial frustration was that he had not been completely forthright about the commencement date (especially the location of his excavator which was no where to be found) and it seems he was stuck on another job and wouldn't admit it. However, he did a great job in the end. So all forgiven! My partner now loves Stanley as he is the one contractor who hasn't smashed us with hidden bathroom asbestos ( there actually was some on this job but we hand picked with no variation). We have lost money on every single demo this year. Going forward we are telling our telling our clients that we need to allow a contingency and then we try and have one of our foreman onsite as much as possible to supervise. Anyhow off to work now to supervise a surveyor. Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 13Aug 09, 2022 3:58 pm We had a similar issue. The demolition company removed asbestos from the kitchen and demolished the house; when ready to start building the builder contacted me regarding the fibre cement that was scattered across the block (looked like pipework of some description - I'd seen it previously when mowing the grass), and his suspicions that it was asbestos. The company doing the earthworks was happy to accept the certificate from the demolition company and hope for the best, but my builder was afraid that if the council saw any of the material then they'd charge us for it all as asbestos contaminated waste (which is the biggest rort, from what I understand). He paid for a few pieces to be tested and some came back as asbestos, then he paid for all visible asbestos to be removed by a specialist asbestos removal company and another clearance certificate was issued, then all the cut material was removed without issues. This was not a bulk builder though, so I'm sure we were paying a premium for this level of service. TL;DR you may be able to pay a specialist asbestos removal company to pick up all visible asbestos from the site and issue a clearance certificate to appease their OH&S person. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 14Aug 10, 2022 6:11 pm Just another update, After hand picked and cleared the asbestos scattered, I asked the demolition to give me another asbestos clearence and he did. I passed that clearence to my builder. Now the builder has done the excavation without any issue and continue to the piering today. Re: Demolition issues with asbestos 15Aug 10, 2022 8:22 pm jasperdmx Just another update, After hand picked and cleared the asbestos scattered, I asked the demolition to give me another asbestos clearence and he did. I passed that clearence to my builder. Now the builder has done the excavation without any issue and continue to the piering today. well done! that is a great result Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. What you are looking at is fibrous plaster, true gypsum, it is cast on horizontal beds with fibers included to give strength. I has no Asbestos in it. Houses before 1985… 2 7113 4 1828 We had this happen to us last year and got charged a variation. Try and give away as much as you can that is usable to charity otherwise if you are in Sydney I have a… 1 4477 |