Demolition, clearing and killing weeds properly
Getting rid of what the audit condemned, sorting waste so you are not paying mixed-waste tip rates, and dealing with perennial weeds like couch and kikuyu before you build over them — because they will come back through.
Demolition is the first day the block actually changes, and the stage where a renovation budget quietly doubles. Three mistakes do it: putting everything in one bin, starting the herbicide programme too late, and disturbing something that contains asbestos.
The first costs you money. The second costs you the job twelve months later, when kikuyu comes up through the joints of your new paving. The third can kill you, slowly, decades from now. This lesson is the order of operations for removing what your garden audit condemned.
Asbestos: assume it is there until a laboratory says otherwise
Read this before you touch anything on a Perth block built before about 1990.
Asbestos cement is everywhere in older Perth back gardens: super six corrugated fencing, fibro shed and garage walls, patio and carport roofing, eaves sheeting, the flat sheet lining an old laundry, buried AC stormwater and sewer pipe, and offcuts a previous owner used as packing under paving or as bed edging. That last one catches people constantly, because it is not a structure and nobody looks for it.
Non-friable asbestos is bound in cement or resin and only releases fibres when that bond is damaged — exactly what a grinder, demolition saw, hammer or pressure washer does. Friable asbestos crushes to powder in the hand and is far more dangerous. The only way to know which you have is a sample tested by a NATA accredited laboratory. Guessing from the look of a sheet is not identification.
The legal position, from the regulator: a Class A or Class B licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos-containing material at a workplace, and a Class A licence for any amount of friable material. Anyone you pay to work on your block is at a workplace, so a landscaper, handyman or bin company cannot legally take that fence out unless they hold the licence. Ask to see it and check it against the WorkSafe register.
Doing it unpaid on your own home puts you in a different legal box but the same physical one. If you proceed, follow the health department’s method exactly: mist the sheet with water or PVA first, hand tools only, never a power tool, never a high-pressure hose, never break sheets to make them fit, P2 respirator and disposable coveralls, and double-bag in polyethylene at least 0.2 mm thick labelled DANGER ASBESTOS WASTE. It then goes to a landfill licensed by DWER — Red Hill wants bundles of no more than three sheets if you unload by hand, labelled CAUTION ASBESTOS in letters at least 50 mm high, and council tip passes are not valid for asbestos.
For a full super six fence or a fibro shed, pay a licensed removalist. Removal, wrapping, transport and disposal come as one price with a paper trail, and the paper trail matters when you sell.
The other hazards, briefly and seriously
- Silica dust. Cutting or breaking concrete, pavers, bricks, tiles or limestone releases respirable crystalline silica — concrete is under 30 per cent silica, brick 5 to 15 per cent. Wet-cut or use on-tool extraction, and treat a P2 mask as the last layer, not the first. Silicosis does not get better.
- Trenches and undermining. Never work in an unsupported excavation deeper than you are, and never undercut a wall or a fence footing to get a machine past.
- Old power. Unpermitted circuits to sheds, pool pumps and garden lights are common on older blocks and appear on no plan. See locating services and lodge a free BYDA request before machinery arrives.
- Heat. Demolition in a Perth January is a genuine hazard. Start at first light, finish by lunch, do not work alone.
Demolishing a building rather than a garden also needs approval: a BA5 demolition permit from your local government, listed at $121.00 for a Class 1 or Class 10 structure plus the Building Services Levy. Confirm the requirement and the current fee with your council’s building surveyor, and see structures and building permits.
Separate the streams before the first thing moves
Mixed waste is charged at the highest rate in the load. One wheelbarrow of soil in a clean brick bin reclassifies the whole bin. That is the entire economics of demolition, and why professionals sort at the source rather than later.
Run six physically separated piles from the first hour: clean fill (sand and soil, no roots or rubbish), green waste, inert rubble (brick, concrete, limestone, no timber or plastic), metal, general waste, and asbestos, isolated and wrapped. Then choose a destination per stream, because gate rates vary enormously between Perth facilities:
| Stream | Red Hill (EMRC), 2026/27 | Tamala Park (MRC), 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| General / mixed waste | $236.00 per tonne | $291.50 per tonne |
| Clean garden organics | $65.00 per tonne member resident, $98.00 commercial | no separate rate — $291.50 per tonne |
| Wrapped asbestos | $126.00 per tonne member resident, $330.00 commercial | $450.00 per tonne |
Green waste is roughly three and a half times cheaper per tonne at Red Hill than at Tamala Park, which for a northern suburbs job usually means sending clean organics to a commercial composter instead. Check your own regional council’s schedule; these change every 1 July.
Before anything leaves site, decide what stays. Clean limestone rubble crushes into base material. Sound bricks and pavers are worth real money and are often the exact match you will need for a repair later. Clean sand is fill you would otherwise buy back. Stockpile it clear of the works and carry the volumes into your quantity take-off.
Killing kikuyu and couch — and how long it really takes
This is the section people skip and then pay for.
Kikuyu and couch both spread by stolons above ground and rhizomes below it, with every node capable of producing a new plant. That single fact drives everything: a rotary hoe or a bobcat bucket does not remove the grass, it multiplies it and spreads the pieces evenly across your site. The UC IPM notes put it plainly — cultivation chops the stems into segments, some of those segments root and become new plants, and hoeing transplants rhizomes, especially if watering follows.
So the sequence is the reverse of what feels natural. Kill it first. Dig second.
- Get it growing. Drought-stressed grass barely takes up herbicide. Water it, mow it, let it come back to full soft leaf. Two to three weeks.
- Spray while it is actively growing, at the label rate for the product you bought. Do not mow, dig or cultivate for at least seven days after.
- Wait for the browning, then wait longer. Two to three weeks; deeper rhizomes will push new shoots.
- Spray the regrowth. Assume two applications, plan for three. UC IPM’s figure for kikuyu is three to four, timed to whenever new growth appears.
- Verify before you build. Turn over a spade of soil in three places and look for white rhizomes with live green nodes. One live node under a paving base is a future repair.
Realistically that is six to ten weeks minimum, and on established kikuyu it can be a full season. In Perth the effective window is roughly October to April, when the soil is warm and the grass is genuinely growing. Winter spraying is slow because the plant is barely moving, and from 1 June to 31 August the sprinkler switch-off means you cannot run retic to push growth — hand watering is your only lever, and the $100 fine applies to bore users too.
If you will not use herbicide, solarisation under clear plastic needs four to six weeks of peak heat, December to February here, sealed at the edges and extended well past the visible edge of the grass. Smothering under light-proof material takes six to twelve months. Neither is a weekend.
Two things that never work: weed mat over live kikuyu, and paving over live couch. Both come through.
What a professional does at this stage
Three things, none of them physical.
They price the demolition by stream and by tonne before a tool is picked up. Skip volumes, tip runs, salvage credits and the asbestos line are quoted separately, because that is the only way a variation can later be argued.
They start the herbicide programme weeks before the machinery is booked. Spraying is the longest-lead item in the whole build and costs almost nothing. Sequencing it late is the most common failure in a Perth renovation, and it stays invisible until the new lawn or paving is already down.
They do not clear first and set out afterwards. Demolition destroys your reference points, so levels, boundary offsets and datum are established and protected before anything is removed. Nothing recovers a datum peg a bobcat has buried. Photograph the site before, during and after — an exposed subgrade or a service run you uncovered is worth far more as a photograph than as a note, and you will want it for your as-built drawings.
What happens next
You should now have a stripped site, sorted and costed waste, a stockpile of salvage, and a perennial grass either dead or on a documented spray programme with a date it will be clear.
The next lesson takes that cleared block and establishes the levels, falls and set-out lines that everything built from here is measured against.
Checklist
- Separate waste streams — clean fill, green waste, brick and concrete, general
- Kill perennial grasses and weeds well before covering the ground
- Retain and stockpile anything worth reusing
- Check for asbestos in older structures before disturbing anything
Where to go deeper
Every link below was fetched and checked before it shipped. Nothing here is a guess.
- Freegovernment20 minPerth / WA
Asbestos law and guidance
WorkSafe WA
Why this oneThe regulator's own statement of the removal thresholds under the Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022, which is the number that decides whether a fibro shed is a weekend job or a licensed contractor line item. A Class A or Class B licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos-containing material at a workplace, and any amount of friable material requires a Class A licence. It also covers the clearance certificate that must be issued by an independent competent person before the area is re-occupied, and links the searchable register of licensed removalists so you can check anyone you hire.
Change this for PerthThese thresholds bite at a workplace, which includes any job someone is paid to do on your block. A homeowner working unpaid on their own home is in a different legal position but still has disposal duties and the same lungs.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment15 minPerth / WA
Asbestos removal (householder method)
HealthyWA, WA Department of Health
Why this oneThe WA health department's step-by-step method for small intact amounts, and the only page here that publishes the actual numbers you need on the day. P2 disposable respirator, Type 3 disposable coveralls, laceless boots, eye protection and nitrile gloves; mist with water or PVA solution first; hand tools only, never power tools; never a high-pressure hose; double-bag in polyethylene at least 0.2 mm thick and label it DANGER ASBESTOS WASTE. It also states plainly that all asbestos must go to a landfill licensed by DWER.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment10 minPerth / WA
Asbestos safety basics
WorkSafe WA
Why this oneThe short page that defines friable versus non-friable in the regulator's own words — friable is easily crushed to powder, non-friable is bound in cement or resin and only releases fibres when the bonding agent is damaged. That distinction decides the licence class, the method and the price. It also confirms the only way to actually know is a sample tested by a NATA accredited laboratory, and that fees and turnaround vary between labs.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment5 minPerth / WA
Asbestos and asbestos cement disposal
Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (Red Hill Waste Management Facility)
Why this oneThe receiving end of the job, written by a DWER-licensed facility that actually takes the material. Double wrapped in heavy duty plastic and sealed with tape, no more than three sheets per bundle if it is being unloaded by hand, labelled CAUTION ASBESTOS in letters not less than 50 mm high. Two details save you a wasted trip: council-issued tip passes are not valid for asbestos, and you must tell the weighbridge attendant you have asbestos before you drive in.
Change this for PerthRed Hill serves the eastern metropolitan councils. Other Perth facilities have their own rules and some require a booking or a waste acceptance certificate for asbestos-contaminated soil — ring before you load the trailer.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment5 minPerth / WA
Red Hill and Hazelmere fees and charges
Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council
Why this onePublished per-tonne gate fees, updated each financial year, and the single clearest argument for separating your waste at the source. For 2026/27 general waste is $236.00 per tonne while clean garden organics from a member council are $65.00 per tonne ($98.00 commercial), and wrapped asbestos is $126.00 per tonne for member council residents against $330.00 commercial. Price your demolition off this page rather than off a skip bin advertisement.
Change this for PerthMember council rates apply to residents of the EMRC member councils. If you are outside that catchment you pay the commercial rate, which changes the arithmetic — check the equivalent page for your own regional council.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment5 minPerth / WA
Tamala Park fees and charges
Mindarie Regional Council
Why this oneThe northern suburbs equivalent, and worth reading beside the Red Hill page because it proves the point that where you take a stream matters as much as how you sort it. For 2026/27 Tamala Park charges $291.50 per tonne for general waste and the same $291.50 per tonne for green waste, with asbestos at $450.00 per tonne and a minimum entry fee of $29.15 for up to 100 kg. Charging is weigh in, weigh out, cash or EFTPOS only.
Change this for PerthBecause green waste attracts no discount here, a northern suburbs job is usually better off sending clean garden organics to a commercial composter or mulcher and keeping the tip run for the streams that have nowhere else to go.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment25 minPerth / WA
Managing crystalline silica dust in the workplace
WorkSafe WA
Why this oneThe reason you never dry-cut a paver. It publishes the silica content of the materials you will be breaking up — concrete under 30 per cent, brick 5 to 15 per cent, granite 25 to 60 per cent, engineered stone up to 97 per cent — and sets out the control hierarchy in order: wet cutting and water sprays during earthworks first, then fixed or on-tool extraction, with respiratory protection as the last layer rather than the first. Silicosis is irreversible and there is no treatment.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freearticle20 minOverseas — adapt it
Bermudagrass (couch): UC IPM Pest Notes
University of California Statewide IPM Program
Why this oneThe best free technical explanation of why couch survives everything you do to it. It covers the two creeping shoot systems — aboveground stolons and belowground rhizomes — and states the mechanism most people learn the hard way: cultivation chops the stems into segments and some of those segments root and become new plants. It gives solarisation as 4 to 6 weeks under clear plastic extended well beyond the visible edge of the infestation, and warns to wait at least 7 days after a glyphosate application before mowing or cultivating.
Change this for PerthCalifornian, so invert the calendar. Its advice to spray in late summer when the plant is moving carbohydrate to the roots means roughly February to April in Perth, not August. Ignore the US product names and read the label of whatever you buy here; Perth soil temperatures also mean the solarisation window is realistically December to February.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freearticle20 minOverseas — adapt it
Kikuyugrass: UC IPM Pest Notes
University of California Statewide IPM Program
Why this oneThe equivalent page for the grass that causes more Perth renovation failures than any other plant. It describes the thick fleshy stems rooting at the nodes, running as stolons above ground and as rhizomes 25 to 100 mm below it, with every section capable of producing new shoots and roots. It is explicit that hoeing and cultivation are usually counterproductive because they break rhizomes and transplant them, especially if watering follows, and that three to four applications a year may be needed, timed to whenever you see new growth.
Change this for PerthNorthern hemisphere timing again. The biology and the number of repeat applications transfer exactly; the months do not. Kikuyu is a common and useful lawn grass in Perth, so treat this as a removal manual, not a verdict on the species.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment15 minPerth / WA
Building approvals — demolition permits and fees
Building and Energy, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety
Why this oneWhere the BA5 application for a demolition permit lives, with the current fee schedule. Demolishing a building — as opposed to pulling up paving or a garden bed — is assessed by your local government, and the page lists $121.00 for a Class 1 or Class 10 structure plus the Building Services Levy of 0.137 per cent of the value of the work or $61.65, whichever is greater. Read it before you assume that old brick garage or fibro shed is just a skip bin.
Change this for PerthThe permit is issued by your local government, and whether a particular structure needs one is a question for their building surveyor. Confirm the current fee and the requirement with your council before you budget it.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- FreetoolAustralian
Before You Dig Australia
Before You Dig Australia
Why this oneFree, national, and the thing that stops a demolition day becoming a gas or fibre-optic incident. You register, mark your dig area on a map, and the relevant asset owners are notified and send plans to your inbox — one request instead of chasing Western Power, ATCO, Water Corporation and NBN separately. Lodge it before the machine arrives, not the morning it does, because plans take time to come back.
Change this for PerthBYDA returns asset owner plans up to the property boundary. Everything past the meter — the retic mainline, the pool pump feed, the unpermitted power run to the shed — is private and is not on any plan. That is your problem to locate.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
The rules, with sources
WA regulation changes. Each point below names its primary source and the date it was last checked — always confirm with your own council before you build.
A Class A or Class B licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos-containing material at a workplace, and a Class A licence is required to remove any amount of friable asbestos-containing material. A clearance certificate from an independent competent person is required before the removal area is re-occupied.
WorkSafe WA, Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
All asbestos material must be disposed of at a landfill or waste disposal site licensed by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation. Waste must be double-bagged or wrapped in heavy-duty polyethylene at least 0.2 mm thick and labelled DANGER ASBESTOS WASTE. Power tools and high-pressure water must not be used on asbestos material.
HealthyWA, WA Department of Health ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Asbestos delivered to Red Hill Waste Management Facility must be double wrapped and sealed with tape, in bundles of no more than three sheets if unloaded by hand, and labelled CAUTION ASBESTOS in letters not less than 50 mm high. Council-issued tip passes are not valid for asbestos disposal.
Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Demolition of a building in WA is approved by the local government on a BA5 application for a demolition permit. The published fee is $121.00 for a Class 1 or Class 10 structure, plus a Building Services Levy of 0.137 per cent of the value of the work or $61.65, whichever is greater.
Building and Energy, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Demolition work on a load-bearing structure is high risk construction work requiring a safe work method statement, and Class 1 or Class 2 demolition work must be notified to WorkSafe at least 5 working days before it starts.
WorkSafe WA, Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Crystalline silica content of common demolition materials is up to 97 per cent for engineered stone, 25 to 60 per cent for granite, less than 30 per cent for concrete and 5 to 15 per cent for brick. Exposure must be controlled by wet methods and local or on-tool extraction ventilation before respiratory protective equipment is relied on.
WorkSafe WA ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Sprinklers cannot be used in Perth, Mandurah and parts of the South West and Great Southern between 1 June and 31 August. The switch-off applies to bore users as well as scheme water users and the standard fine is $100.
Water Corporation ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026