Rural demolitions, asbestos and making a site safe

/demolitions/ appeared in the old site navigation. This rebuild keeps the path as education for buyers and sellers who are really transacting land, with buildings that may be stripped, relocated or demolished.

We do not run a demolition crew, publish prices, or rank contractors.

Why rural buildings are a due-diligence topic

Homesteads and machinery sheds on Australian farms are often old enough to involve asbestos-containing materials, lead paint, undocumented electrical work, fuel bowsers, sheep dips and farm dumps. A “dozer the house” plan that skips those issues becomes an environmental and work-health problem for the new owner.

Ask your solicitor to treat demolition as a planning, WHS and contamination question:

• Does the local planning scheme require a permit to demolish?
• Is the building heritage listed or in a heritage overlay?
• Who holds a licence to remove asbestos in that state?
• Where will waste legally go?
• What remains in the soil when the slab is gone?

Safe Work Australia and the state work-health regulators publish asbestos codes. State EPAs publish waste rules. Council publishes the planning piece. We will not paraphrase a code of practice as if it were a how-to.

Contract hygiene

If you are buying to demolish, do not assume the contract lets you start works the day after settlement, and do not assume the vendor has disclosed every tank and dump. See the due diligence checklist and buying guide.

If you are selling a place whose value is the land, say what you know about the buildings. Silence plus a “renovator’s delight” headline is how disputes start. See selling.

Practical inspection of roofs and cladding sits on the historic Colorbond URL: rural roofs and sheds.