Asbestos questions, answered

Ours is $249 including GST for a surveyor visit and one sample, plus $85 for each extra sample taken at the same visit. Checked on 15 September 2026, other providers charge $195–300 (Asbestos & Biological), $205 (Fibresafe) and from $220 plus GST (Asbestos Safe Consultancy) for a visit and first sample.

WorkSafe says asbestos sampling should only be done by a reputable contractor, and for PCBUs, only by a competent person. We do not sell DIY sampling kits. Taking a sample means disturbing the exact material you are worried about.

The published benchmarks in New Zealand are within 24 hours (Asbestos & Biological) and 1–2 working days (Fibresafe). We do not yet publish a turnaround of our own, because it depends on the laboratory account we sign. We will not promise one we cannot keep.

Where a PCBU arranges the analysis, yes — regulation 11 requires an accredited laboratory, which in New Zealand means IANZ accreditation. We use an IANZ-accredited laboratory for every sample regardless of who is arranging it.

That the sample submitted did not contain asbestos. It does not say the building is asbestos-free, and no honest report will: it speaks for the material sampled at the point it was sampled. Keep the report with the property file.

A test answers one material you are about to disturb. A survey covers a building, or the parts your work will affect, and is the right tool before buying, before a renovation of any size, before demolition, or for a landlord's management plan.

The asbestos regulations place their duties on PCBUs — businesses, landlords, anyone you hire — not on a homeowner-occupier working on their own home, and WorkSafe says its PCBU guidance is not intended for homeowner-occupiers or residential tenants. WorkSafe still says doing it yourself is extremely dangerous. Hire anyone and the licensing thresholds apply to them.

For removing any amount of friable asbestos, and for asbestos-contaminated dust or debris except as allowed by reg 55 (reg 54). Quantity is not the test for Class A — friability is.

For removing more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos or asbestos-containing material, counted cumulatively across the whole removal project at the site (reg 56). A Class A licence also covers this work.

No removal licence is required for 10 m² or less of non-friable asbestos (cumulative) or for minor contamination — but a PCBU commissioning that work must still use a competent person trained under reg 17 (reg 27).

Yes. A licensed remover must notify WorkSafe in writing at least five days before licensed removal work starts (reg 34). That applies to Class A and Class B alike, so no licensed job can begin sooner than five days after notification.

Someone independent of the remover: a licensed asbestos assessor for Class A work, an independent competent person otherwise (reg 41). The area must not be reoccupied until a clearance certificate has been issued for it (reg 42).

To a disposal site authorised to accept it. WorkSafe says never to burn it and never to put it in a council rubbish bin. Your council can tell you which local site takes it.

The only published New Zealand dataset we could source is CheckMyBuilder's, updated June 2026: a typical job at $7,000, a range of $1,000 to $40,000 and up, and $30–150 per square metre. Auckland's typical figure is $8,000. Where your job sits depends mostly on the licence class the material needs.

Because the price follows the licence class, and the licence class follows what the material is and how much of it there is. Only a laboratory can say what it is. Anyone quoting a fixed removal price on an untested material is guessing at the thing that moves the number most.

No sooner than five days after the licensed remover notifies WorkSafe (reg 34), plus the remover's own lead time and the testing beforehand.

The remover's name, licence class and licence number; the removal control plan and WorkSafe notification; disposal at an authorised site with dockets returned; the clearance inspection and certificate; air monitoring if it is Class A work; and what is excluded, such as reinstatement, re-roofing and relining.

Yes. The $249 comes off a removal we arrange within 90 days of the result.

No. NZ Asbestos Removal is not a WorkSafe asbestos licence holder. Removal we arrange is carried out by licensed partners, named with their licence class and number on your quote, checkable on the WorkSafe asbestos licence holder register.

We take the booking, publish the price, brief the surveyor, pass on the laboratory's report unedited, put the fixed removal quote together and stay your single contact through to the clearance certificate. Five parties touch the job; we are one of them.

No. Your details are not sold, shared with three tradies or passed to anyone for a fee. There is one contract and one price, with the licence holder named in it.

A margin on the $249 test and a margin inside the fixed removal quote. No referral fees, no lead sales, no commission from laboratories. The disclosure page sets it all out, including the conflict that creates and what limits it.

Only if your region is live. As at 15 September 2026 no region has a subcontracted surveyor yet, so the booking form joins a waitlist and no card is charged. The region pages say which list you would be on.

Because we only show details that are real. Anything that is not yet true about this business — reviews, job counts, accreditations, a physical branch — is simply absent rather than invented.