Knockdown rebuild timeline: demolition to slab

Before we are useful

Permit pathway clear. Services isolated — power, gas, water, comms. House emptied of anything you still want. Asbestos assessment done if the era requires it, and licensed removal complete if the report says so. Trees and fences that stay are marked. Neighbours have been told the week will be loud.

If any of that is still open, we can quote, we can visit, we cannot start. A slab date with an asbestos maybe in front of it is not a slab date.

The knockdown week

A straightforward house is often a day on the tools plus the cartage rhythm around it. Tight access stretches that. We leave the finish you asked for: slab in, slab out, or a grade for a new pad. “Ready for slab” means the concreter is not climbing a brick pile. It does not mean we poured their blinding.

Give the next trade a buffer. Same-afternoon slab after a knockdown is a fantasy except on the cleanest sites in good weather. A few days is adult. A week is comfortable.

What you should ask the builder

What finish do they want under the new slab. Who owns the crossover. Whether the new house needs a cut to a different level. We are a demolition and excavation company, so a site cut that is part of the job can stay with us, from the old house through to a clear, levelled block.