Asbestos in Illawarra Homes

Why the Illawarra specifically

Wollongong grew fastest through the post-war decades, driven by the steelworks and the industry around it. That growth happened during exactly the period when asbestos cement — fibro — was the cheap, durable, fire-resistant cladding of choice.

The result is a housing stock with an unusually high concentration of it. Walk the streets of Warrawong, Cringila, Berkeley, Unanderra, Port Kembla or the older escarpment suburbs from Corrimal north, and a great deal of what you are looking at is fibro, still standing, still doing its job.

That is not a scare story. It is a planning fact, and it means asbestos is the single largest variable in the cost and program of demolition in this region.

The date trap

A house built in 1928 predates common asbestos use. But if it was re-clad, extended or had a bathroom done in 1968, that work is squarely from the asbestos era.

The relevant date is the date of the material, not the date of the house. Older houses have usually been altered at least once, and the alterations are frequently the problem.

Where it turns up

• External wall cladding — the classic fibro sheet.
• Eaves and soffits, very common and often overlooked.
• Internal wall and ceiling linings, particularly in wet areas.
• Roof sheeting, including corrugated asbestos cement.
• Behind bathroom and laundry tiles, from mid-century refits.
• Under vinyl flooring, in the backing or the adhesive.
• Fencing, in back yards across the region.
• Sheds, garages and lean-tos — see garage and shed removal.

You cannot identify it by eye

This deserves to be stated flatly because a great deal of bad advice exists online.

Asbestos cement looks very much like the fibre-cement sheeting that replaced it. Colour, texture, thickness and the presence of a printed backing are all unreliable indicators. Photo comparisons on the internet are not a test.

The answer is a hazardous materials survey: a competent assessor inspects the property, takes samples, and produces a report identifying what is present, where, and in what condition. That report is what the removalist prices from, what the demolition contractor sequences around, and what the council may want to see.

On a pre-1990 property, get the survey before finalising the quote. Not after demolition day.

Who may lawfully remove it

Asbestos removal is licensed work in NSW, and it is a separate licence from a demolition licence.

NSW has distinct classes covering friable and non-friable asbestos, and thresholds above which licensed removal is required. Which class applies depends on the material at your property and how much of it there is.

The distinction matters here specifically. The demolition contractor on jobs arranged through this site holds NSW demolition licence AD214819 — a demolition licence. It does not authorise asbestos removal, and we do not claim that it does. Asbestos work goes to a separately licensed asbestos removalist, every time. The asbestos service page sets out the separation, and Class A versus Class B explains the licence classes.

Ask any removalist which licence class they hold and confirm it covers your material. A legitimate operator answers immediately.

The correct sequence

1. Survey — sampling and a written report.
2. Removal plan — priced by a licensed removalist from that report.
3. Removal, under controlled conditions.
4. Clearance, where the work requires it.
5. General demolition — and only now.
6. Disposal to a facility licensed to receive asbestos waste, with documentation tracking the material.

Skipping or reordering any of the first four is where problems begin.

What it costs, and why it is quoted separately

Cost depends on quantity, whether the material is friable or non-friable, its condition, access, and the disposal pathway. It is quoted by the licensed removalist from the survey rather than estimated by the demolition contractor — which is the correct way round.

Folding a guess for asbestos into a headline demolition price before anyone has tested anything produces a number that means nothing, and it is exactly the practice that makes demolition quotes untrustworthy. The cost page shows it as its own variable for that reason.

The warning worth taking seriously

If someone offers to knock the house down and "deal with the fibro", or suggests the sheeting can go out with the mixed load, or quotes a pre-1990 fibro house without mentioning asbestos at all — that is not a competitive price.

It is an unlicensed operator exposing you, as the property owner, to a regulatory problem, and exposing everyone downwind to a health one. The waste trail leads back to your address.

This is the one area of demolition where the cheapest quote is most reliably the most expensive decision.

If you are buying in the Illawarra

Assume it, price it, and do not let it stop you.

A pre-1990 house here very likely contains asbestos somewhere, and that is true of an enormous share of the region's housing. It is a known, regulated, priced process rather than an open-ended risk — but it is a real line in a renovation or demolition budget, and it should be in your numbers before you exchange rather than after.

Practical steps: ask the agent when the house was last altered, look at the era of the cladding and the wet areas rather than the paint, and treat any pre-purchase inspection note about "possible asbestos-containing materials" as a prompt to investigate rather than a diagnosis.

If you already own one and are not demolishing yet

Undisturbed, sealed, non-friable material in sound condition is generally considered low risk, and the standard advice is that it can be left in place and managed rather than removed for its own sake.

What that means practically: do not drill it, cut it, sand it, water-blast it or break it. Keep it painted and sealed, because intact coating is what holds the fibres in. Watch for deterioration — cracking, flaking, crumbling edges — because condition is what turns a manageable material into a problem one.

And when you do come to renovate or demolish, start with the survey rather than the sledgehammer.

What to keep afterwards

The survey report. The removal documentation. Any clearance certificate. The disposal records.

Together these describe what was on your property, who removed it, under which licence, and where it went. If you build, sell, or are ever asked a question about the site, that file is the answer. Ask for copies at completion rather than assuming they will arrive.

Call 02 4214 4202 or send the property details through — and tell us roughly when it was built.