Asbestos before renovating in SA: what should you check first?

Published 28 October 2026

Which Adelaide homes to check for asbestos

asbestos.sa.gov.au is run jointly by SafeWork SA, EPA SA, SA Health and others. Its check covers houses built before the mid-1980s, and many Adelaide homes were: stone villas, 1920s bungalows and the 1950s–60s Housing Trust homes among them.

The Work Health and Safety Regulations that bind tradies use a later date: their demolition and refurbishment rules apply to structures built, or plant installed, before 31 December 2003 (r 447(1)).

What a carpenter must do before cutting into an older home

• Identify it first (r 457). A business that is to refurbish residential premises must make sure all asbestos likely to be disturbed is identified and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed before the work starts.
• Inspect, or assume (r 451). Without an asbestos register, a competent person inspects to see whether asbestos is fixed to or installed in the structure. Asbestos is assumed if they’re uncertain, or if a part is inaccessible and likely to be disturbed.
• The duty is the tradie’s. asbestos.sa.gov.au tells builders and tradies that the duty to identify asbestos isn’t owed by the homeowner or the people renting the home: it’s held by the business doing the work.

Mention the year the house was built when you describe the job, and ask how asbestos will be identified before walls, eaves or floors are cut into.

The 10 m² rule and licensed asbestos removal

• A business that commissions asbestos removal must use a licensed asbestos removalist (r 458(1)). The exception is 10 m² or less of non-friable asbestos, which must still be removed by a competent person trained under r 445 (r 458(2)–(3)).
• asbestos.sa.gov.au says builders and tradies may not remove more than 10 m² of non-friable material without an asbestos removal licence, and that the 10 m² is counted on the whole project: it can’t be broken down into 10 m² lots.
• More than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos needs a Class B (or Class A) licence (r 487). Friable asbestos needs a Class A licence (r 485).
• South Australia requires air monitoring for both Class A and Class B removal work, and licensed removalists notify SafeWork SA 5 days before starting.

Asbestos removal is specialist work outside the carpentry quoted here. Where it’s needed, a licensed removalist does it before the carpentry starts.

What homeowners can and can’t do

asbestos.sa.gov.au says there’s no legal requirement for homeowners to hold a licence to remove asbestos-containing material from their own property, though some jobs are best left to the experts, and that friable asbestos must be removed by a licensed asbestos removalist.

Its advice to homeowners includes never drilling holes through eaves, flues or vents, and never cutting into an asbestos cement sheet.

Wrapping, transport and disposal of asbestos waste

• Wrapping: EPA SA says asbestos can go to landfill only when it’s wrapped in manageable-sized packages of thick (200-micron) plastic, taped at the seams.
• Where it goes: asbestos waste must be taken to a licensed transfer station or waste depot (asbestos.sa.gov.au).
• Transport: anyone removing and transporting asbestos for a fee or reward needs a licence under the Environment Protection Act 1993 (EPA SA).

Carpentry in an older Adelaide home

New skirting and architraves, a door in an old frame, a deck against an old wall or a repaired verandah are quoted by a licensed South Australian building work contractor, who carries the duty to identify asbestos before the work disturbs it. If asbestos has to come out first, that’s a separate job for a licensed removalist. See how to check a builder’s licence in SA.

Asbestos removal licences are separate from building licences: sa.gov.au points to SafeWork SA’s website for the lists of asbestos removal licence holders.

Questions about asbestos before renovating