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Gabrael House Demolition
Yellow excavator working behind blue fencing on a residential street

Service region

House demolition North Shore

House demolition across the North Shore, from the free site assessment to a level, cleared block for your builder. Licensed asbestos removal, and a written quote that lists the work and any external fees.

House demolition from$15,000
Call 1300 329 600 4.7 from 99 Google reviews
  • Restricted demolitionDE2 · AD202697
  • Class B asbestosAD211249
  • Public liability$20M

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Local knockdowns

Knocking down a house on the North Shore

We demolish houses in all 69 suburbs on the North Shore, covering 9 council areas. The largest include Mosman, Chatswood and Hornsby.

  • Portrait view of an excavator working through timber roof and wall framing

    Complete house demolition

    Fibro cottages to double-storey brick, with the slab and footings removed where quoted.

    See the prices
  • Gabrael crew in protective suits beside Gabrael asbestos warning signs

    Asbestos checked first

    Bonded asbestos assessed and removed under our Class B licence before the excavator starts.

    Asbestos removal
  • Portrait view of an excavator and Gabrael signage behind blue mesh fencing

    Disconnections and neighbours

    Electricity, gas, water and nbn disconnected, and the neighbours told before work starts.

    Utility disconnections
  • View along cleared ground with machinery tracks and residential fences

    Ready for your builder

    The handover agreed in writing with your builder before demolition starts.

    Knockdown rebuilds

Published prices

House demolition costs on the North Shore

Full cost guide
What can affect your quote?
  • Floor area and storeysThe published bands step up with size; a double-storey house takes longer to bring down and produces more material.
  • Construction typeFibro and weatherboard come down faster than brick veneer, and full brick or concrete takes the longest to sort and remove.
  • AsbestosBonded asbestos removal is quoted from the assessment. Friable asbestos is removed by our Class A licensed partner.
  • Access and machineryNarrow frontages, battle-axe blocks and steep sites limit the machine we can bring in, which changes the time on site.
  • Pools, slabs and retaining wallsStructures beyond the house are priced as their own items so you can see what each one adds.
  • Council, certifier and utility feesApproval and disconnection fees are set by others. They are itemised separately in your written quote.

Indicative prices in Australian dollars. Council, certifier and utility fees are itemised in your written quote. Use the price calculator or ask us to assess the property.

Why Gabrael

Twice national champion. Over 1,000 homes since 1995.

Family-run by Zac and Janette for more than 30 years. Named national champion for Excavation & Demolition at the Australian Trades Small Business Champion Awards in 2023 and again in 2025.

The award record

  1. 2020WinnerBUILD Recycling & Waste Management AwardsBest Demolition Site Remediation Specialists – Sydney
  2. 2022WinnerAPAC Insider Australian Enterprise AwardsBest Demolition Contractor – Sydney
  3. 2023National championAustralian Trades Small Business Champion AwardsExcavation & Demolition
  4. 2023WinnerAPAC Insider Australian Enterprise AwardsDemolition Contractor of the Year – Sydney
  5. 2024APAC recognitionTop Asbestos Abatement Services ProviderEnvironmental Business Review
  6. 2024National finalistAustralian Trades Small Business Champion AwardsExcavation & Demolition
  7. 2025National championAustralian Trades Small Business Champion AwardsExcavation & Demolition
  8. 2026National finalistAustralian Trades Small Business Champion AwardsExcavation & Demolition
  9. 2026National finalistAustralian Small Business Champion AwardsTrade Services

Licensed and accredited

  • SafeWork NSW licensed
  • Master Builders NSW member
  • Conserve approved contractor 2026
All awards and recognition

Google reviews

What clients say

4.799 Google reviews, September 2026
Read all reviews on Google

  • Ready for the build

    ★★★★★
    “Zac and Janette were both amazing to deal with – professional, responsive, and always going above and beyond… The team completed the demolition with great care and efficiency, leaving the site spotless and perfectly prepared for the next stage.”
    Priscilla Samia · Google review, November 2024

  • Asbestos removal

    ★★★★★
    “Zack and team were extremely professional and displayed sound knowledge and understanding in the safe removal and disposal of asbestos…”
    G G · Google review, August 2023

  • Start to finish

    ★★★★★
    “From start to finish, the whole process was professional, well organised and completed to a very high standard. … Zac and the demolition team did an outstanding job on site, with great attention to detail and excellent workmanship.”
    Kenny · Google review, July 2026

Builders and councils we have worked for

  • Allcastle Homes
  • Ansa Homes
  • Bellriver Homes
  • Champion Homes
  • Clarendon Homes
  • Kurmond Homes
  • Lloyds Building
  • Metricon Homes
  • Rawson Homes
  • Wincrest Homes
  • Wisdom Homes
  • Canterbury Bankstown Council
Builders: send your plans and start date

What we do

Demolition services on the North Shore

All services

More services

See the work

Recent Gabrael jobs

Photos from Gabrael jobs across Sydney.

Full gallery
Two workers in orange protective clothing beside machinery and broken material
Crew in protective coveralls hand-sorting masonry beside the excavator
Wide residential site with machinery tracks across the cleared ground
Block cleared and levelled, ready for the builder
Open temporary gates with Gabrael signs leading into a work site
Access into the work site
Cleared residential site with an excavator, neighbouring homes and Gabrael signage
Cleared site behind Gabrael fencing

Council and approvals

Demolition approvals on the North Shore

We prepare and lodge the relevant demolition application. Council boundaries do not always follow our service areas, so we check the council, planning controls and any heritage requirements for your address.

If you already have approval for a new home, check whether it includes demolition. The council or certifier confirms the DA or CDC pathway and conditions. Your quote identifies responsibilities and external fees.

Check your property in the NSW Planning Portal Read the demolition permit guide

Our North Shore service area spans nine council areas: Hornsby Shire Council, Ku-ring-gai Council, Willoughby City Council, North Sydney Council, Lane Cove Council, Hunters Hill Council, City of Parramatta Council, City of Ryde and Mosman Municipal Council. Most of these councils publish heritage requirements that affect demolition and flood or bushfire mapping that can change the approval pathway. Hornsby Shire Council and Ku-ring-gai Council name specific conservation areas.

Hornsby Shire Council16 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
Hornsby Shire Council requires a Waste Management Plan for any development creating demolition or construction waste, aiming to reuse or recycle at least 76%. Demolishing a heritage item or a building in a heritage conservation area needs a Heritage Impact Assessment.
Heritage
Hornsby has six heritage conservation areas, with owners’ obligations set out in the council’s development control plan. Demolishing a heritage item or a building in a conservation area needs a Heritage Impact Assessment. Named conservation areas include Beecroft/Cheltenham, Hornsby West Side, The Crescent (Pennant Hills), Wahroonga, Wahroonga (North), Barker College.
Flood and bushfire
The NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner certifies Hornsby’s bushfire prone land map. Complying development there needs a Bush Fire Attack Level certificate, and DAs need a bushfire risk assessment or detailed bushfire report.
Our summary of Hornsby Shire Council’s demolition rules
Ku-ring-gai Council16 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
Ku-ring-gai Council requires a DA where work isn’t exempt or complying, usually with a Waste Management Plan, plus a Bushfire Risk Assessment Certificate on bushfire prone land. The infrastructure bond must be paid before any demolition starts.
Heritage
Heritage conservation areas protect whole areas from inappropriate development. A section 10.7 planning certificate or the council’s online map confirms whether a property is in one, and the council lists the areas by suburb. Named conservation areas include Mahratta, Heydon Avenue Warrawee Woodville Avenue Wahroonga, Wahroonga, Warrawee C3, Laurel Avenue King Street, Bobbin Head Road and others.
Trees
Ku-ring-gai treats a plant 5 metres or taller, or with a trunk 150 mm or wider at ground level, as a tree. Work on non-exempt trees needs an application, including every tree on a heritage property or in a conservation area, and dead trees aren’t automatically exempt.
Flood and bushfire
Most vegetated areas of Ku-ring-gai, and land within a set distance of them, are bushfire prone, and development there must meet Planning for Bushfire Protection 2019 and AS 3959-2018. The map can be checked online, through the RFS tool or on a section 10.7 certificate.
Our summary of Ku-ring-gai Council’s demolition rules
Willoughby City Council14 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
Willoughby City Council normally requires demolition to be lodged with a DA for the replacement building, with exceptions such as complying development or unsafe, unauthorised or non-residential buildings. Its checklist includes demolition plans, a Waste Management Plan and a Heritage Impact Statement for heritage properties.
Heritage
Willoughby has twelve heritage conservation areas. Most changes and new development in them need consent and a Heritage Impact Statement, but general maintenance and repairs that introduce no new materials don’t need a DA.
Trees
A permit is needed for a tree over 4 metres high, with a trunk girth over 600 mm at 1.4 metres or a crown over 3 metres wide, and for locally native or habitat trees. Approved removals must be replaced 3:1, and fees apply.
Flood and bushfire
The council publishes a bushfire prone land map, points residents to the NSW RFS address search, and offers flood information certificates for properties in its mapped flood area.
Our summary of Willoughby City Council’s demolition rules
North Sydney Council14 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
North Sydney Council’s DA checklist requires a demolition plan for any development that includes demolition, with every building and structure to be demolished clouded or outlined in red. Every DA also needs a waste management plan explaining how waste is handled during demolition, construction and occupancy.
Heritage
North Sydney Council says heritage items and buildings in conservation areas can’t be demolished, additions must sit at the rear and be smaller in scale than the original building, and extra storeys are generally not supported. Development around heritage items is also regulated under the heritage controls, even where neighbouring properties aren’t listed.
Trees
North Sydney Council requires a permit to prune or remove trees on private land that are more than 5 metres high, have a crown more than 5 metres wide or a trunk circumference over 500 mm at ground level, with a $90 application fee from 1 July 2026. Building or excavation within 5 metres of a tree needs a DA, and fines for unauthorised tree work can reach $1.1 million.
Flood and bushfire
North Sydney Council treats land in the orange, yellow or red areas of its bushfire prone land map as bushfire prone, with yellow buffer zones 100 or 30 metres wide. DAs on that land need a Bush Fire Assessment Report, and extra setbacks, landscaping or construction materials may be required.
Our summary of North Sydney Council’s demolition rules
Lane Cove Council9 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
If work isn’t exempt or complying, Lane Cove Council requires a DA through the NSW Planning Portal that meets zoning and planning controls, and issues a Notice of Determination once it’s decided.
Trees
Lane Cove Council requires a permit to prune or remove a tree over 4 metres high, with a canopy spread over 5 metres, a trunk over 150 mm in diameter at 1 metre above ground or roots 40 mm or more across. Removing a tree on a heritage item or in a heritage conservation area needs a DA, though minor pruning may still be approved by permit.
Flood and bushfire
Lane Cove Council points owners to the NSW Planning Portal’s ePlanning Spatial Viewer for bushfire prone land, Lane Cove Local Environmental Plan 2009 maps and other planning layers.
Our summary of Lane Cove Council’s demolition rules
Hunters Hill Council4 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
All DAs go through the NSW Planning Portal.
Heritage
Hunters Hill Council sends any DA to demolish a heritage item to its Local Planning Panel for decision.
Our summary of Hunters Hill Council’s demolition rules
City of Parramatta Council2 of our suburbs in this region
Approvals
City of Parramatta Council’s demolition page describes the Development Application (DA) pathway through the NSW Planning Portal; a Complying Development Certificate may still be available under the state Demolition Code where the property qualifies. Demolishing something originally built as exempt development may itself be exempt if it meets the state criteria, which rule out heritage-listed properties and heritage conservation areas.
Heritage
Work on heritage items and properties in heritage conservation areas needs a DA, and the council says it is highly unlikely to allow their demolition. Some minor works can go ahead through a heritage minor works application.
Trees
You need the council’s permission to remove any tree or palm five metres or taller, planted trees three metres or taller, and trees on heritage items or in heritage conservation areas. Removal can’t be approved because of a planned development, only on the tree’s own merits.
Flood and bushfire
Parramatta maps high, medium and low flood risk precincts. A DA in a flood risk area needs a flood enquiry application as well as a section 10.7 planning certificate, and redevelopment in medium or high risk precincts needs a flood study and modelling.
Our summary of City of Parramatta Council’s demolition rules
City of RydeOne suburb in this region
Approvals
The City of Ryde says most demolition needs approval. A CDC is available through the council or a private certifier, except for heritage items, with separate CDCs for demolition and new building; a demolition DA needs a site plan, work method statement, waste management plan and photos.
Heritage
Properties with State Heritage Register items, listed local heritage items or draft heritage items can’t use complying development for demolition. The council also has a minor works exemption form for heritage work.
Trees
Trees under 4 metres and/or with a trunk under 150 mm, trees within 3 metres of a house, invasive species and pruning under 10% are exempt. Exemptions don’t apply to heritage items or conservation areas, significant register trees, threatened species or trees a consent requires to be kept.
Flood and bushfire
Every DA on bushfire prone land needs a Bushfire Assessment Report, and some must also be referred to the NSW Rural Fire Service, with extra fees.
Our summary of City of Ryde’s demolition rules
Mosman Municipal CouncilOne suburb in this region
Approvals
Mosman Municipal Council says demolition may be approved as complying development if the standards are met; otherwise it needs development consent.
Heritage
Any application to demolish all or part of a heritage item is decided by the Mosman Local Planning Panel, not council staff.
Our summary of Mosman Municipal Council’s demolition rules

Before you start

North Shore demolition FAQs

Before a knockdown on the North Shore: cost, coverage, councils and asbestos.

More demolition FAQs

How much does house demolition cost on the North Shore?

House demolition on the North Shore starts from $15,000 for a small house (under 150 m², single-storey fibro or weatherboard) and runs to $45,000 or more for a very large or complex home. Access, suspected asbestos, additional structures and the handover you need shape the quote. Our demolition cost guide lists each category’s inclusions and what is quoted separately.

Which suburbs do you cover on the North Shore?

Every suburb listed on this page, including Mosman, Chatswood, Hornsby and St Ives. Send us the property address so we can assess access, the structures to be removed and your builder’s handover requirements.

Which councils approve demolition on the North Shore?

Our North Shore suburbs fall in Hornsby Shire Council (16 suburbs), Ku-ring-gai Council (16 suburbs), Willoughby City Council (14 suburbs), North Sydney Council (14 suburbs), Lane Cove Council (9 suburbs) and Hunters Hill Council (4 suburbs) and others. Each council sets its own requirements, so we check the planning controls for your address and prepare and lodge the application.

Do you remove asbestos on the North Shore?

Yes. Gabrael holds Class B licence AD211249 and removes non-friable asbestos, such as bonded fibro sheeting, before demolition, with approved disposal and clearance documentation. Friable asbestos is removed by our Class A licensed partner. Our asbestos guide explains the steps.

Do you handle partial demolition and strip-outs?

Yes. As well as full knockdowns, we remove part of a house for an extension and strip out interiors, protecting the structure that stays. Tell us what is staying at the free site assessment. See house demolition for the options.

Are you licensed and insured?

Gabrael holds restricted demolition licence AD202697 (DE2), Class B non-friable asbestos removal licence AD211249, and $20M public liability insurance. We have served Sydney since 1995 and won the Australian Trades Small Business Champion award in 2023 and 2025. Certificates are available on request.

Suburbs we cover

Our North Shore service area

See all service areas

We cover every suburb listed here. Choose your suburb for its local council rules, or send us the property address.

Largest suburbs on the North Shore

Start with your property

Ready to clear the block?

Tell us your property address on the North Shore, what you need removed and anything you need to keep. We’ll arrange a free site assessment and written quote.

1300 329 600

7am to 7pm, seven days.

Call 1300 329 600