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Barwon Asbestos Co covers asbestos testing, removal and disposal for homeowners across Geelong and the Barwon region. Most enquiries are one of four things: a fibro fence that is falling apart, a garage or Super Six roof that has been damaged, sheeting found part way through a renovation, or a building and pest inspection that has flagged asbestos before a sale. The first job is always the same, which is to find out what the material actually is. Testing costs $88 to $160 per sample, and a standard house needs three to eight samples, because a fence, an eaves lining and a bathroom wall sheet are three separate materials.
We are not a licensed removalist and we do not claim to be. Removal is carried out by licensed asbestos removalists we work with, their WorkSafe Victoria licence number appears on every quote, and you contract with them directly. Whatever comes after the removal, a new fence or a new roof, is separate building work you take up with a registered builder. What this site does is point you at the right service, whether that is fence removal, roof and shed removal or disposal, and show you the price ranges before you pick up the phone.
The old grey boundary fence is the most common asbestos job in Geelong's post war suburbs, and a weathered or cracked one matters more than an intact one. Published Victorian rates put a whole fence at $1,000 to $3,500, and a licensed removalist prices yours after seeing it.
Learn More →Super Six roofing, garage and shed cladding and eaves linings, taken down without water blasting, drilling, dry sweeping or walking on the sheets. Victorian rates run $40 to $120 per square metre, with a house roof at $4,000 to $15,000 and a single garage at $2,500 to $5,000.
Learn More →Nobody can tell asbestos from ordinary fibre cement by eye, and under Victoria's OHS Regulations only a laboratory approved by NATA can identify it. Analysis runs $88 to $160 per sample with a written result in 1 to 5 business days.
Learn More →Asbestos waste is reportable priority waste under Victoria's Environment Protection Regulations, so it can only go to a landfill authorised to receive it. It never goes in a general skip or a council hard waste collection, and every package has to be wrapped in 200 micron polythene and carry the warning mark.
Learn More →Testing before anything else
A sample analysed by a NATA accredited laboratory costs $88 to $160 and comes back in 1 to 5 business days. A negative result means you get on with the job, and it is the cheapest way to settle the question.
The licence number is on the quote
Removal is carried out by licensed asbestos removalists we work with, and their WorkSafe Victoria licence number appears on every quote. We hold no removal licence ourselves and we never quote on their behalf.
Real price ranges, published up front
A whole fibro fence is $1,000 to $3,500 and a house roof $4,000 to $15,000 in published Victorian rates. Those are Melbourne metro benchmarks rather than Geelong quotes, because no Geelong rate is published anywhere.
Built around this region's housing
Asbestos cement was standard in Australian houses from the mid 1940s to the late 1980s. Norlane's Housing Commission program peaked between 1951 and 1957 and reached 2,464 houses by 1976, and Corio gained five estates and 2,500 houses from the late 1950s.
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Tell us what the material is, where it sits, roughly how much of it there is, and whether anything has already been broken or disturbed. That is usually enough to work out whether your first step is a lab test or a removal quote.
If the material has never been identified, a sample goes to a NATA accredited laboratory and you get a written result in 1 to 5 business days. If it is plainly a removal job, a licensed removalist inspects the material on site and sets the scope.
The removalist gives you a written quote carrying their own WorkSafe Victoria licence number, and you engage them directly. We are not a party to that contract and we do not price the work.
We cover the whole Barwon region. That means Geelong itself and the northern corridor through Lara and Corio, where the region's heaviest concentration of 1950s and 1960s asbestos cement housing sits, the Bellarine through Drysdale and Clifton Springs and Ocean Grove, the Surf Coast at Torquay, and west to Colac and the Golden Plains, where older town housing and farm outbuildings throw up the same problem with far fewer local specialists.
You cannot tell by looking. Asbestos cement was used in Australian houses from the mid 1940s until the late 1980s, and a house built or extended before 1990 may well contain it, but the sheet itself looks like ordinary fibre cement. Under Victoria's OHS Regulations, only a laboratory approved by NATA can identify asbestos in a sample, which is why a test is the honest first step. Analysis runs $88 to $160 per sample and most houses need three to eight samples.
Every quote comes from the licensed removalist after they have seen the material, not from us. Published Victorian rates give you a sense of the size of the job: a whole fibro fence $1,000 to $3,500, a house roof $4,000 to $15,000 or $40 to $120 per square metre, a single garage $2,500 to $5,000, a full set of eaves $1,500 to $2,500. Small jobs are governed by the minimum call out charge of $800 to $1,500, which is why a four sheet repair does not cost four times the $20 to $50 per sheet rate. Those are Melbourne metro benchmarks, since no Geelong pricing is published anywhere, and GST treatment varies between providers, so ask each removalist whether their quote includes GST.
Testing is the fast part. Standard laboratory turnaround is 1 to 5 business days from the day the sample arrives, and labs commonly add 25% to 50% for a result inside 24 to 48 hours. Removal takes longer to start than people expect, because a licensed removalist has to notify WorkSafe Victoria at least 24 hours before a job covering 10 square metres or less of non friable material, and at least five days before anything larger. If something has been broken and you are worried about it, call now and keep everyone away from the area in the meantime.
The figure you will see quoted is 10 square metres of non friable material and no more than one hour of removal work in any seven day period. Both caps have to hold, and the hour is cumulative across jobs. Those regulations bind people doing this as work at a workplace, and WorkSafe's compliance code says they do not apply to someone removing asbestos at their own home, because a home is not a workplace. WorkSafe still recommends homeowners follow the same code, and the caps become law the moment a tradesperson, a tenant, a rental property or a paid helper is involved. A full fence line, a garage or a house roof is far past both caps, and friable material always needs a Class A licensed removalist.
Only to a landfill authorised to receive it. EPA Victoria pre classifies asbestos waste as reportable priority waste, and not all landfills are authorised, so the rule is to ring ahead: an authorised site can still decline a load or require a booking. It cannot go in a general skip or a council hard waste collection. Sheets have to be wrapped in polythene around 200 microns thick, sealed with tape and marked with the asbestos warning label before they move. Gate fees at other Victorian councils run $100 to $376 per tonne, which gives you a sense of scale, though none of those is Geelong. There is more on disposal in the Barwon region.
Not if the work was only non friable material not exceeding 10 square metres in total. Above that, Class A and Class B work needs a clearance certificate, and where the job is at a home and the owner engaged the removalist, the duty to obtain it sits on the licence holder rather than on you. It has to come from an independent person, who cannot be the removalist or anyone with a financial interest in the job, and published Victorian rates put a visual clearance certificate at $165 to $250. Air monitoring is a Class A requirement at $250 to $600 per day, not a routine part of a fence or roof job.
Tell us what you have found and where it is, and we will point you to the right first step and put you in touch with a licensed asbestos removalist who works in your town. They inspect the material on site, set the scope, and give you a written quote in their own name with their WorkSafe Victoria licence number on it.
Call 0480 XXX XXXAround-the-clock line — a person answers, not a machine.
