Asbestos Soil Remediation Brisbane

The usual sign is grey, flat, brittle fragments of fibro (asbestos cement sheeting) turning up in fill, garden beds or excavated spoil, often with a faint dimpled surface. Properties built before 1990, sites with an old shed or fence, and land that has had demolition waste dumped on it are the common sources. Fragments can only be confirmed by laboratory testing, and an occupational hygienist can sample the soil itself to determine how far the contamination extends.

A licensed asbestos removalist. Bonded fibro fragments in soil can be removed under a Class B licence, but weathered material in soil is often classed as friable by the hygienist, which requires a Class A licence. Total Asbestos holds a Class A licence, which covers both. Pool builders, landscapers, excavation contractors and demolition crews without a licence cannot legally handle it, which is why they refer the work to us.

Cost is driven by tonnage, access and disposal. Licensed facilities charge per tonne for asbestos-contaminated soil, so the volume is the biggest factor; a tight backyard that needs a Bobcat relay to the street costs more per tonne than a site a truck can drive onto. A hygienist’s sampling and clearance are separate line items. We give a fixed quote after a free site visit rather than a guess over the phone. See our asbestos removal cost guide for general pricing factors.

A residential stockpile is usually a one-day job: at Moorooka we removed 30.9 tonnes from a restricted-access backyard in a single day, with the hygienist’s clearance at 6 am the next morning. A Wakerley construction site took three days for about 1,000 tonnes. The 3,100-tonne Marsden clean-up ran about two weeks, mostly because heavy rain stopped the disposal facility receiving loads on several days.

To a facility licensed to receive asbestos waste. Our recent jobs went to BMI at Stapylton and Remondis at Swanbank. Every load is lined, wrapped and sealed before it leaves, and you receive the waste tracking certificates that record exactly what was removed and where it went, which councils, hygienists and head contractors ask for.

For anything beyond a few bagged fragments, yes. An independent occupational hygienist samples the material, writes the remediation scope, runs air monitoring if needed and issues the clearance certificate that proves the ground is clear. We engage and coordinate the hygienist for you and work strictly to their written plan. At Wakerley this step turned a "20-tonne" estimate into a properly scoped 1,000-tonne removal before anyone started digging.

Usually yes. We fence and tape the work zone, keep the material wet and control who enters. At Marsden the tenants stayed in the house at the front while we cleared the rear of the block; at Wakerley other site personnel kept working outside the asbestos area throughout. We will tell you at the site visit if your layout needs anything different.

Stop disturbing the material, keep it damp, keep people and pets away, and call us. This is the most common way we get a residential soil job: the pool goes in, the spoil is stockpiled, and we remove it afterwards. We can usually inspect within days and clear a typical stockpile in a day, then the hygienist signs off and your landscaper can return.

Yes. Our trucks and excavators run daily from Acacia Ridge across the whole city, including Brisbane’s northside from Chermside and Aspley up through Strathpine and North Lakes to Redcliffe and Caboolture, as well as the southside, Logan, Ipswich and Moreton Bay.