01The local market
Greater Perth is a varied service market, not one building type or one approval authority. The 2021 Census recorded 778,620 occupied private dwellings across Greater Perth: 77.8% were separate houses, 14.2% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses or townhouses, and 7.6% were flats or apartments. It also recorded 26.6% as rented.
Those figures do not establish demolition demand, but they show why a form should distinguish a detached dwelling from an attached or strata property and ask whether the enquirer is an owner, authorised representative, builder, strata decision-maker, tenant or person still assessing a purchase. The retained structure, adjoining property and authority to proceed matter as much as the suburb. Joondalup, Fremantle, Rockingham and Armadale are separate local-government areas outside the City of Perth.
They can be genuine service zones for a metro contractor, but each relevant local government assesses applications and applies its own local requirements. Western Australia publishes the BA5 application for a demolition permit and recommends contacting the responsible local government. City of Perth requirements below are useful for sites inside that municipality only; they should not be copied into an ad for every Greater Perth address.
Within the City of Perth, a demolition permit is required for complete or partial demolition, dismantling or removal of a building or incidental structure. The City says a demolition management plan is required as part of its demolition-permit approval process and must be approved before the permit can be issued. It also identifies separate processes where work affects another property, a road reserve or council property.
A lead form can ask whether a BA5 application, management plan, surveyor or adjoining-land discussion has started, but it cannot determine that a project is approved from a postcode, image or customer answer. Heritage status requires another conditional check. The Western Australian Government says proposed development or change to a State Registered place is referred by the responsible local government or decision-making authority to the Heritage Council for advice.
Local heritage lists and planning controls may add a separate consideration. Campaign copy should therefore avoid “permit-free”, “ready to demolish” or “approval included” until the responsible authority and property controls have been checked. Demolition licence scope is also specific to the structure and method.
WorkSafe WA has Class 1 and Class 2 demolition licences and says a licence is required for demolition or dismantling of a structure two metres or higher that is not a single-storey dwelling, or a fence or wall 1.8 metres or higher.
02The campaign setup
Class 1 includes defined higher-risk work such as total or partial demolition at 10 metres or more, work affecting structural integrity, particular structural systems, collapse by removing key members, explosives and specified crane use. Class 2 covers defined work below 10 metres but excludes a single-storey dwelling and the listed Class 1 categories.
The single-storey exclusion should not be shortened into “no rules apply”: demolition remains construction work, and removal of a load-bearing or integrity-related element is high-risk construction work requiring a safe work method statement.
WorkSafe must be notified at least five working days before Class 1 or Class 2 work carried out in accordance with AS 2601. Work not in accordance with AS 2601 requires an approval application at least 10 working days before the intended start, while explosives involve a separate 15-working-day notice and approval requirement.
An ad should state only the contractor’s current licence and actual work scope, then collect approximate height, storeys, structure, retained elements and proposed method for review. Possible asbestos needs its own qualification path before machinery, timing or disposal promises. Current WA guidance says licensed asbestos removal work includes any quantity of friable asbestos or more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos, with notification to WorkSafe at least five days before licensed removal starts.
Government guidance for paid trades, contractors and recyclers says asbestos must be identified before work, more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos or any friable asbestos must be handled by the appropriate licensed removalist, and asbestos waste must be contained, labelled and taken to a licensed facility.
It also says work should stop and material should be tested by a NATA-accredited laboratory where there is uncertainty. A Meta form can ask the building age, whether a register, survey or laboratory report exists and whether any material is known or suspected.
03Claims and hand-off
It must not diagnose asbestos from an uploaded photo, describe a site as asbestos-free, or imply a demolition licence alone authorises every asbestos removal and disposal activity. Access can decide whether an apparently suitable project is practical. Inside the City of Perth, equipment, works, road closures or skip bins and sea containers affecting public use of an on-street parking bay require an Obstruction Permit.
The City may require a traffic management plan, pedestrian management plan, noise management plan, affected-premises notification and parking diagram depending on the activity. Mall access has further controls. Those are not universal metro rules, but they illustrate why the campaign should ask about driveway width, laneways, verges, parking bays, footpaths, overhead constraints, pedestrian traffic, neighbouring buildings and proposed plant or container placement before anyone offers a start date.
Working hours also need a property-specific hand-off. City of Perth guidance treats 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays, as normal hours for construction work. Out-of-hours work needs a Noise Management Plan and notification to affected premises within 100 metres under its obstruction-permit guidance, while its noise page says Regulation 13 approval is required.
Other councils can apply different processes. The ad should collect preferred timing and occupied-neighbour considerations, not promise weekend or out-of-hours demolition. Finally, the quote and handover have to define what “cleared” means.
A customer may expect service disconnections, asbestos assessment or removal, demolition, bins, salvage, transport, licensed disposal, imported fill, pool backfill, compaction, retaining work, vegetation removal or a builder-ready level. Those are separate inclusions until confirmed in writing.
ACCC guidance says advertising claims must be accurate, truthful and based on reasonable grounds. Claims such as “all permits included”, “fixed price for every house”, “100% recycled”, “asbestos-free” or “ready to build” should be used only where the contractor can substantiate the approval assistance, material pathway and finished-site standard for that project.