Asbestos Roof Replacement Auckland

Asbestos was used in New Zealand construction right up until 2000, so any house built or renovated before then could contain it. On roofs it most often turns up in corrugated fibre cement sheeting, commonly called Super Six, and in the bitumen coatings of some older decramastic tiles. WorkSafe describes Super Six as a product that has reached the end of its economic life.

Left alone and in good condition, asbestos roofing is generally low risk. The danger comes when it is broken, cut, drilled, water blasted or removed carelessly. Replacing one of these roofs is a job with legal requirements at every step, and this page explains them. If your roof is decramastic, our decramastic roof replacement page covers that product in detail.

Pricing: every roof gets a free on-site measure and an itemised written quote, with a fixed price agreed before any work starts.

How to tell if your roof may contain asbestos

You cannot confirm asbestos by looking. The only way to know is to have a sample tested by an accredited laboratory. Until then, the safe approach is to treat older fibre cement and bitumen-coated roofing as if it does contain asbestos.

Signs that a roof is worth testing include grey or white corrugated sheets that are hard and brittle, often with a slightly dimpled surface, a house built or reroofed before 2000, and older decramastic tiles. Fibre cement sheets made later without asbestos can look very similar, which is another reason testing matters.

• Do not water blast, scrub or walk on the roof
• Do not drill, cut or screw into the sheets
• Do not try to remove broken pieces yourself
• Do book a test before any roofing or ceiling work begins

What WorkSafe requires for removal

Asbestos removal in New Zealand is regulated under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016. WorkSafe issues two types of removal licence. A Class A licence covers any type and amount of asbestos, including friable asbestos. A Class B licence covers non-friable asbestos, which is what most intact roofing sheets are.

Removing up to and including 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos, counted across the whole job, does not need a licence, although it must still be done safely. A full roof is far larger than that, so it must be removed by a licensed removalist. The licence holder must notify WorkSafe in writing at least five days before the removal work starts.

We arrange the removal through WorkSafe-licensed removalists who handle testing, notification, removal, disposal and clearance, and we coordinate the timing so the new roof goes on straight after.

How It Works

How an asbestos re-roof runs

The job happens in two stages with a clear handover between them. First the licensed removalist sets up the work area, wets the sheets down at low pressure to keep fibres down, removes the sheets whole wherever possible, wraps them and takes them to an approved disposal site. Waste is never broken up or left loose on site.

Once removal is complete and the area has been cleared, our roofing team takes over. We check the purlins and rafters, which on older homes sometimes need replacing, lay new underlay and install the new COLORSTEEL roof. Because asbestos sheets and steel are fixed differently, purlin spacing is often adjusted. The full re-roofing process from that point is on our re-roofing page.

Cost factors for asbestos roof replacement

An asbestos re-roof costs more than a standard steel re-roof because removal, disposal and clearance are specialist work. The main factors are roof area, the condition of the sheets, access, how much of the roof can be removed in whole sheets, disposal costs and how much timber needs replacing underneath.

We give you one itemised quote that shows the removal and the re-roof as separate lines, so you can see exactly what each part costs. Our re-roofing cost guide explains the roofing side in more detail.

Consent and paperwork

Asbestos removal itself is controlled by WorkSafe rather than by building consent. The re-roof is assessed separately: replacing a roof with a comparable one in the same position is often exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act, but a change of material or structural work can mean consent is needed. We confirm what applies to your house before quoting.

Keep every document from the job: the test results, the removalist's details, the clearance and our records of the new roof. Buyers, insurers and building inspectors may ask for them, and they show the roof was dealt with properly.

Why Choose Cheeky's Roofers for Asbestos Roof Replacement

Asbestos Roof Replacement FAQs

Asbestos Roof Replacement by Area

Local asbestos roof replacement information for your part of Auckland:

Related Roofing Services

• Re-Roofing
• Roof Replacement
• Tile to Metal Re-Roofing
• Decramastic Roof Replacement
• Roof Repairs
• Roof Painting

Asbestos Roof Replacement Guides

• Asbestos Roofs in NZ: How to Tell, the Rules and Removal Cost
• How Much Does a New Roof Cost in NZ? (2026 Price Guide)

See the re-roofing cost guide or every service we offer.