Process
Slab left or slab out on a knockdown
Concrete slab removal in Melton is one of the first questions on a knockdown, and it is the one most often left vague. Slab left and slab out are not two ways of saying the same thing. One keeps the old floor for the next trade to work from. The other takes that floor out with the house and leaves ground. The price, the cartage and the programme all change with that choice, so it belongs in the quote, not in a conversation on the morning the machine arrives.
Slab left
Slab left means the house floor stays. We take the walls, the roof and the rest of the structure, and we leave the concrete the house was standing on. That suits a builder who wants to use the old slab, or who has not yet decided to break it. It is usually the quicker finish, because we are not breaking concrete and carting it. It is only the right finish if the next trade actually wants that slab. A cracked, stepped or undersized floor is not a gift just because it is still there.
Tell us about other concrete on the block at the same time. A garage slab, a driveway, a path and a shed floor are separate decisions. People say slab left and then are surprised that the driveway is still there. If the driveway goes, say so. If the garage slab goes and the house slab stays, say that too. We mark what stays before the machine starts, because once the rubble is moving it is a poor moment to renegotiate the floor.
Slab out
Slab out means the floor goes. The excavator breaks the concrete after the house is down, or as the house comes down, depending on how the building is sitting. The concrete is loaded out with the rest of the job. You are left with ground, not with a pad. That is what most new slabs need when the old floor is in the way of the new set-out, the new levels, or the new footings.
Breaking a slab is slower and heavier than leaving it. The concrete has to be sized so it loads cleanly, and it has to be kept apart from soil if the streams are going to different places. A thin verandah slab is a different job from a thickened house raft. If we cannot see the edges, we will say so. If we find a second slab, a strip footing or a pit once the first floor is gone, we stop and call before the price moves. Edges, thickness and whatever is sitting on the slab all belong in the photos, because they change how the concrete is broken and how the truck is loaded.
How to choose
The builder or the engineer chooses, not the demolition crew. Ask them one question: does the new house sit on the old floor, or does the old floor have to be gone before they can set out? If they shrug, you are not ready to lock the finish. We can still quote both ways so you can see the difference, and you can confirm the finish before we book the day. Quoting both is useful. Starting without a choice is not.
Levels matter once the slab is out. Taking the floor away does not leave a building platform at the height the new house needs. If the clay has to be cut or filled to a drawing, that is excavation and it needs to be in the same conversation. We can do that cut. We need the levels, and we need them before the day, not as a sketch on the back of the knockdown paperwork. A note that says level it off is not a level.
What changes on the day
Services are isolated either way. The house is emptied of anything you still want, either way. Fencing, neighbours and the crossover are the same conversation. What changes is the end of the day. Slab left ends when the structure is gone and the floor is clean enough to walk. Slab out ends when that floor is gone and the ground is tidy. Neither finish includes a new slab, plumbing, or a certificate. We leave the block we were asked to leave.
Access changes the method more than the choice does. A wide Melton frontage with the machine in the driveway is a different day from a block where the excavator has to work over a fence line or from a narrow side. Tell us about power lines, a pool, a significant tree, and anything the neighbour is nervous about. Concrete removal needs room to load. If the only way out is a single width drive, the bins and the machine have to take turns, and the day gets longer.
Waste from the slab
Waste is sorted on site and taken to licensed recycling and disposal facilities in Melbourne's west, with concrete, brick, metal and timber separated for recycling wherever possible.
Soil is not part of that sentence. If we are only taking concrete, brick and the house, the load is demolition waste. If we are also cutting clay, that spoil is a different material and it should not be mixed through the concrete just because both are leaving the site on the same morning. Keeping them apart is how the concrete can actually be recycled. It is also how a quote stays honest, because a bin of mixed clay and rubble is a worse load than either stream on its own.
Quick answers
The short version, if you skipped the scan.
Should I leave the old slab or remove it?
Ask the builder whether the new house needs that floor. Slab left keeps it. Slab out takes it away and leaves ground. We can price both. The choice should be made before the knockdown day.
Does concrete slab removal include the driveway and garage?
Only if you say so. The house slab, a garage slab and a driveway are separate items. List each one as stay or go.
Will the ground be ready for a new slab the same day?
Slab out leaves ground, not a prepared building platform. If the clay has to be cut to engineer’s levels, that is a further job and it needs those levels in the quote.
What if you find another slab under the house?
We stop and call. A hidden pad, pit or footing is not assumed in the price. You decide whether it goes before we keep breaking concrete.
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