Asbestos fence removal in Gippsland

Is my fence asbestos?

Flat grey cement sheets in a timber or steel frame, or corrugated super six sheets standing on their own, are the two common types. Modern fibre cement fencing looks similar but is stamped, usually on the back edge, and won't have the moss and chalking of a fifty-year-old sheet. If the fence is cracked, holed, or the paint has weathered back to bare cement, treat it as asbestos until a test says otherwise.

Do not cut, drill, sand or hit it. Angle-grinding a post out of it is exactly the disturbance the rules exist to stop.

How the job runs

• The removalist measures the length and height and notes the condition. A standard side fence is well past the limit for any tradie without a licence, and past the point where the state advises a licensed crew.
• WorkSafe is notified before the job starts: at least five days ahead for friable material or more than 10 square metres of bonded sheeting, at least 24 hours ahead for a smaller bonded job. A standard side fence is over 10 square metres, so it's five days.
• Sheets are wetted down, fixings removed, and each sheet lifted out whole and wrapped on the spot. Broken sheets are wrapped as they are, not snapped smaller.
• Posts and rails are either left for your fencer or removed with the sheets, depending on what's going back.
• The ground line is raked and checked for fragments; old fences shed chips into the soil over the years.
• Waste goes to an EPA-licensed facility. In Bass Coast, Grantville accepts homeowner loads Monday to Friday but not removalist loads; the removalist has that covered.

Who pays for a boundary fence

Under the Fences Act, pulling down the old fence is "fencing works", the same as building the new one, and neighbours contribute equally to a sufficient dividing fence. The contribution isn't automatic. You give the neighbour a written fencing notice first, and the Act says what goes in it:

• The date, your name and contact details, and a statement that it's a notice under section 13 of the Fences Act 1968.
• The boundary, and what's proposed: removal of the old fence and the type of fence going up.
• Who you intend to engage.
• The estimate, the basis for it, the proposed split and the amount you're asking the neighbour to pay.
• A line saying either of you can go to the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria.

The neighbour has 30 days to respond. Want a taller or dearer fence than a sufficient one and you pay the difference. Skip the notice and the neighbour isn't obliged to pay anything. No official source confirms the contribution covers licensed asbestos removal and disposal; if it's argued, the Dispute Settlement Centre is the place. A written quote from a licensed removalist with the disposal included makes the conversation easier; the removalist stays out of the dispute and quotes the job.

What a fence runs to

Length times height gives the area. A 1.8 metre fence is 1.8 square metres for every metre of run, so 20 metres is 36 square metres and 5 metres is 9. Work it from the metre rate on the cost guide, $50 to $150 a square metre bonded on the 2026 Melbourne guide figures, then add the minimum call-out of roughly $800 to $2,000 and travel; a short run hits the minimum rather than the metre rate. On top: sheets that crumble by hand priced at the friable rate, two to four times the bonded rate (cracked sheet that is still hard stays at the bonded rate), a frame you want gone, access, and the independent clearance. Corrugated super six fencing is quicker to remove than flat sheet in a frame. A new fence is a separate quote from a fencer.

Signs it's asbestos cement

Flat grey sheets in a timber frame, sometimes with a capping rail; or standalone corrugated sheets with the wide super six profile. Chalky surface, moss on the south side, edges that have gone soft. Modern fibre-cement fencing exists but is usually stamped on the back edge and doesn't weather the same way. Anything in a street of 1960s and 70s houses that hasn't been replaced is a fair bet.

Getting the fence line ready

Talk to the neighbour first, because the fence is half theirs, and agree what goes back. Move plants and anything leaning on the fence. Clear a run from the fence line to the road for the trailer. If the fence backs onto a laneway, check the crew can park there. The crew wraps each sheet as it comes out, so the job doesn't leave a stack of loose sheeting in your yard at any point.

After the fence is gone

Posts and rails if you asked for them, or a clean boundary line ready for the fencer. The ground along the line raked and checked for fragments. A clearance certificate from an independent person, because a standard fence is over 10 square metres. The new fence is a separate quote, and most fencers will schedule to follow the removal within a day or two.

Posts, rails, capping and footings

A fibro fence is sheets in a frame: posts, rails, and often a moulded capping along the top. The capping is usually the same material as the sheets and goes with them. Posts and rails aren't asbestos, but they've been fixed to it for fifty years, so the crew wipes them down or, if they're too weathered to clean, wraps them with the waste. Footings stay in the ground unless the fencer wants them out; that's fencing work, not asbestos work. Say at the quote whether you want the frame kept.

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