Asbestos shed removal and asbestos garage removal in Gippsland

What's usually in an old fibro shed or asbestos garage

Corrugated asbestos cement roofing, flat fibro wall sheets outside and sometimes inside, fibro eaves, and in sleepouts a fibro ceiling. Older sheds also turn up asbestos in the backing of vinyl floor tiles and in the lagging on any old hot water pipe. A garage built in the 1960s or 1970s can be entirely asbestos cement apart from the frame and the door.

The good news is that a shed comes down in a predictable order and the sheets are mostly intact, so the per-square-metre rate is at the lower end. The bad news is that the ground around an old shed usually has fifty years of chips and dust, and a proper job includes dealing with that.

How the job runs

• Inspection and quote. The removalist counts roof and wall area, checks for floor coverings and lagging, and asks whether you want the frame and slab left.
• 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 whole shed is well over 10 square metres.
• Roof first, then walls, sheets removed whole and wet, wrapped on site. Fixings out, not sheets snapped.
• Frame down if you want it gone; timber that's been in contact with sheeting is wiped, and any that's contaminated with dust goes with the waste.
• Slab and surrounding ground checked and cleaned. Visible fragments are picked up; contaminated topsoil is a separate conversation, and a good removalist will tell you straight if the soil needs attention.
• Waste to an EPA-licensed facility. A whole shed is a trailer load or more, and well past what the domestic tips accept from a homeowner.

What a shed runs to

A 6 by 4 metre shed with a cement roof and fibro walls has roughly 24 square metres of roof and 40 to 50 square metres of wall, so 65 to 75 square metres of bonded material at $50 to $150 a square metre on the 2026 Melbourne guide figures. Work it from the metre rate on the cost guide, then add the minimum and travel. Add for pipe lagging or vinyl floor backing (friable, two to four times the bonded rate and a Class A licence), a fibro ceiling lining, a frame that needs to go, a collapsed shed, a cracked slab, tight access, and the drive to an EPA-licensed facility. Disposal fees run to a few hundred dollars in the published guides. A rural machinery shed is a different scale; see farm and commercial.

Leaving the frame, or not

If the steel or timber frame is sound and you're putting a new shed skin on it, say so at the quote. A removalist strips to frame and cleans it. Most people building new go to slab, because a modern kit shed on the old slab is cheaper than reskinning, and the frame can usually go in the same job.

Emptying the shed first

Empty the shed the day before. Anything still inside once the crew starts is treated as contaminated unless it's sealed. Clear a path to the road, move the car, and keep animals away. If the shed has power, have an electrician disconnect it first; the removalist won't work around live wiring. Say whether you want the frame and the slab kept.

Old sheds have layers

Sleepouts and converted garages from the 60s and 70s often have a fibro ceiling under the roof, fibro walls inside and out, vinyl on the floor, and lagging on a pipe to an old sink. Each of those is a material to quote, and the friable ones (vinyl backing, lagging) need Class A. A quote that only counts the roof will grow on the day. Ask whoever you engage to list every material they found and the class each needs.

After the shed is gone

A clean slab or a cleared frame, the ground raked and checked, and a clearance certificate from an independent person, because a shed is over 10 square metres. Ask for the four documents a licensed job produces; they're listed on the friable asbestos page. If the ground around the shed shows decades of fragments, a removalist will say so; contaminated topsoil is handled and priced separately, and honest advice about it is worth more than a low quote that ignores it.

A single garage in square metres

A garage carries more sheet than it looks. A 6 by 3 metre single garage has a roof of about 20 square metres once the pitch is counted, and walls of 2.4 metres high around an 18 metre perimeter, about 43 square metres less the door. Call it 55 to 60 square metres of bonded sheet before any ceiling lining: five or six times the 10 square metre limit on unlicensed removal work by a tradie, so the handyman can't legally do it, and for the licensed crew it's the five-day WorkSafe notice and an independent clearance. A shed that has fallen in or been through a fire is a different job: burnt sheet that now crumbles by hand is what the regulations call friable, and that needs a Class A licence; smashed sheet that is still hard is bonded unless it crumbles. If the material is broken, burnt or storm-damaged and you need someone today, WorkSafe Victoria's directory lists licensed removalists who can help straight away. Find one.

Do you need a permit to pull a shed down?

Demolishing the whole building is building work under the Building Act, which normally needs a building permit. There's an exemption for a freestanding Class 10 building (a shed, garage or carport) that isn't masonry, has a floor area of 40 square metres or less, won't affect public safety, and isn't on the Heritage Register. Most backyard fibro sheds fit. A brick garage, a bigger shed, or one attached to the house: ask the council's building department first.

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