Asbestos survey questions, answered

If you manage a non-domestic building built before 2000, the law requires you to find out whether it contains asbestos and manage it. If you own a home built before 2000, there is no general legal duty to survey, but you should have the affected area surveyed before any building work.

A management survey finds materials that could be disturbed in normal use and is minimally intrusive. A refurbishment and demolition survey is fully intrusive and is required before building work or demolition in the area affected.

Because you cannot sensibly price or plan removal until you know what the material is, where it is and what condition it is in. Many materials are safer left in place. A survey tells you which.

No. Commercial Asbestos Survey is a referral service. We pass your enquiry to an independent partner surveyor and, if removal is needed, to licensed removal contractors. You contract directly with them and are free to get other quotes.

Any building built or refurbished before 2000. Asbestos was used in roofs, ceilings, floors, partitions, lagging and plant in homes, offices, schools, mills and industrial buildings.

A typical house takes a few hours. Larger commercial and industrial buildings take longer and may be surveyed in phases. Laboratory results usually follow within a few working days.

Yes. The enquiry form accepts up to five photographs. They help the surveyor judge the scope, but asbestos cannot be identified from a photograph and only laboratory analysis confirms it.

Stop work, keep people and pets away, close doors, do not sweep or vacuum, and take advice from a surveyor or licensed contractor before cleaning up.

The survey identifies what is there and what needs doing. If removal is needed, licensed contractors then quote for that scope. We never quote removal before a survey.

No. Blue and brown asbestos were banned in the 1980s and all asbestos, including white, was banned in 1999. The risk today comes from asbestos already in buildings.