Clearing a Block Before the Builder Arrives

Between demolition and construction

Site clearing is the stage that decides whether a builder's first week is spent building or tidying. Once the structures are down, a block usually still has vegetation, stumps, a driveway, paths, fencing, garden beds, retaining, buried rubble and a surprising quantity of general rubbish. All of it has to be off the site before setting out.

It is also the cheapest stage to get right. Clearing done properly by a demolition crew with trucks already on site costs a fraction of what a builder charges to deal with the same material once the job is running.

What comes off a Perth block

• Trees, shrubs, palms and hedging, including stumps and root plates
• Lawn, garden beds, reticulation and shade structures
• Dividing fences, chain mesh, retaining sleepers and limestone retaining
• Driveways, paths, crossover remnants, patio and shed slabs
• Buried rubble, old footings, tank bases, septic leach drains and soak wells
• Dumped rubbish, green waste and abandoned vehicles

The last group matters more than people expect. Old soak wells and leach drains are common on Perth blocks that predate mains sewer connection, they are often not on any plan, and a machine finding one is a site meeting rather than a shrug.

Soil changes the job across the metro

Most of the Perth metropolitan area sits on the deep sands of the Swan Coastal Plain, which makes clearing quick and grading predictable. Machines move freely, sand does not rut badly, and the ground dries out fast after rain.

That changes at the edges. On the Armadale side, the ground transitions to the clay and laterite of the Darling Scarp and holds water through winter, which affects when machines can safely work. Around Midland and the Swan Valley there is heavier alluvial ground rather than clean sand. And on the coastal strip through Fremantle and Scarborough, Tamala limestone sits close to the surface, so a stump or footing excavation can hit rock a metre down.

None of that stops a clearing job. It changes the machine, the time and the truck loads, which is why it belongs in the quote rather than in a variation.

Bare sand does not stay where you put it

A cleared Perth block in summer is loose sand, and loose sand blows onto the neighbours and down the street. Councils take dust and sand drift seriously and neighbours take it personally. Stabilising a block that is going to sit for weeks — with a wetting agent, a cover crop, or a layer of bulk mulch — is cheap insurance against a complaint.

Where clearing fits with the rest

On a knockdown rebuild, clearing usually runs straight off the back of the house demolition with the same machines still on site, together with garage and shed demolition and any pool removal. Hard surfaces are dealt with under concrete removal, the general waste stream through rubbish removal, and anything requiring bulk earthworks or level changes on the civil contracting page.

If there is any asbestos fencing or sheeting on the block, the asbestos process runs before general clearing, not alongside it.

Call (08) 9516 0951 with the block size and what is still standing on it, and we will price the clear.