- Asbestos removal
- Johannesburg & Gauteng
Asbestos roof removal in Johannesburg
Asbestos roof removal in Johannesburg costs R150 to R250 per m², done by a registered removal team and disposed of at the Holfontein landfill near Springs.
We cover all of Gauteng too: the East Rand from Germiston to Springs, Soweto, Pretoria, the West Rand and the Vaal. Every quote is itemised line by line. Outside Gauteng, see asbestos removal across South Africa.
- Registered contractorsDepartment of Employment and Labour, Type 2 and 3
- Certificate on every jobAir monitoring and clearance certificate
- Licensed disposalLicensed landfill, disposal certificate
- Itemised quoteEvery quote itemised line by line
- Prices you can seeR150–R250/m², our Gauteng rates, Sept 2026
Where the roofs are
Gauteng has more asbestos roofing than any other province, concentrated in the East Rand industrial belt and in the suburbs and townships built between 1945 and 1985. Here is how asbestos roof removal in Johannesburg works, from inspection to landfill.
East Rand
Factory stock from the 1950s to 1980s in Germiston, Wadeville and Alrode, with Big Six asbestos roofs and side-cladding, and older houses in Boksburg, Benoni and Springs. Closest to the landfill, so the lowest end of the band.
Johannesburg
Older houses in Kensington, Malvern and Rosettenville, the 1950s to 1970s houses of Soweto, and factory roofs in Booysens, City Deep and Denver. The city itself is still clearing asbestos: Johannesburg Water’s July 2026 tenders for disposing of old asbestos-cement pipes require a licensed landfill, the same rule every roof job follows. From Johannesburg the haul to Holfontein is longer than from the East Rand, so it shows as its own transport line on the quote.
Pretoria and Centurion
Pretoria West, Hercules, Daspoort, Silverton industrial, Rosslyn, older Centurion and Lyttelton. Longer drive to Holfontein shows up as a transport line, not a different rate.
West Rand and the Vaal
Krugersdorp, Randfontein and Roodepoort’s mining-era housing; Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg’s steel-era houses and factories. Same rate, same certificate.
Asbestos roof removal in Roodepoort and the West Rand
Roodepoort’s mining-era suburbs, Florida, Discovery, Horison, Roodepoort West, Maraisburg and Davidsonville, were built between the 1930s and the 1970s and carry asbestos-cement roofing, slates and gutters. The Robertville, Technikon and Stormill industrial areas hold factory roofs from the same decades.
The trip to Holfontein is longer from the West Rand, which shows up as a transport line rather than a different rate. Older double-storey homes in Florida and Discovery need scaffolding or a hoist.
Check the registration before you sign
A corrugated asbestos roof is Type 2 work, which only a contractor registered with the Department of Employment and Labour may do. Some contractors' registrations ran out on 23 August 2026, so check the expiry date before you sign. Every registered name and expiry date is on the list of registered asbestos contractors in Gauteng.
Where can you dispose of asbestos in Johannesburg?
Only at a landfill designated for asbestos waste, never at a municipal dump. Asbestos from a Johannesburg roof travels sealed and labelled, under a waste manifest, to a Class A hazardous-waste landfill, and the one the Gauteng trade uses is EnviroServ’s Holfontein site at Springs. The landfill gives a document for every load, and that document is your proof. The licensed sites in other provinces are in our guide to asbestos disposal sites across South Africa.
The rules come from three places. The Asbestos Abatement Regulations, 2020 allow disposal only at a site designated for asbestos and require a document from that site for all the waste removed (regulation 21(d)). Asbestos is listed as hazardous waste in Annexure 1 of the Waste Classification and Management Regulations, so every load needs a waste manifest, and the transporter and the landfill must refuse it without one (regulation 11). The national landfill norms send it to a Class A site, or to a Class B site with specific government approval since November 2024 (GN 5523).
Holfontein’s waste licence, issued in June 2026 for its Cell 13 expansion, describes it as a Class A facility on the farm Holfontein outside Springs in Ekurhuleni (licence documents). For a Johannesburg job that is the long leg of the trip, so it shows as a transport line on the asbestos roof removal cost breakdown, not as a higher rate per m².
Can you take asbestos sheets to a Pikitup dump?
No. Pikitup’s building-waste guideline sends asbestos to a hazardous-waste facility, and the City of Johannesburg’s 2021 waste by-law says the same for hazardous building waste (section 21(8)). Garden sites and municipal landfills do not take it.
What paperwork proves the asbestos was disposed of legally?
Two documents: the waste manifest, which the landfill signs to confirm it accepted the load, and the document from the disposal site for all the asbestos waste. Disposal records must be kept for 50 years (regulation 23). Keep your copies with the asbestos clearance certificate; together they show the roof came off and went where the law says.
Can asbestos be recycled in South Africa?
No. The regulations ban selling, donating, reusing, reinstalling or recycling asbestos (regulation 24(a)), so there is no asbestos recycling centre to take old sheets to. They go to a designated landfill.
What if old sheets are already lying in the yard?
Leave them where they are. Don’t move, break, wrap or bin them yourself: they are still asbestos waste, and a registered removal team seals, labels and collects them under a waste manifest for a designated landfill. Send a photo on WhatsApp for a quote to have them collected and disposed of.
What is the fine for dumping asbestos?
Disposing of waste anywhere other than an authorised site is an offence under the Waste Act (section 26), with a maximum penalty of R10 million, 10 years in prison, or both (section 68). A contractor who cannot name the landfill or hand over the paperwork is not disposing of it legally. To see how the whole job runs, read how a compliant asbestos roof removal works, or measure your roof from above for a quote that shows the disposal line.
Asbestos roof repairs in Johannesburg
A cracked or leaking sheet doesn’t always mean a new roof. If one sheet broke and the rest is sound, that sheet comes out and a matching fibre cement sheet goes in its place. If sheets are failing across the roof, patching buys months, not years, and stripping it is the better spend.
- One broken sheet, the rest sound: swap it for fibre cement (what a Big Six sheet costs). Even one sheet needs 7 days’ written notice to the Department before it comes off.
- Sheets failing in several places: strip and replace. Removal is R150 to R250 per m² and a new roof R500 to R1,000 per m², our Gauteng rates.
- Sealant, membranes and crack repair are Type 2 asbestos work for a registered team, whatever the tin says, and cleaning or pressure-washing the sheets first is banned outright.
What you may do about a leak in the meantime: asbestos roof repairs and leaks. Or send photos on WhatsApp and we tell you whether it’s one sheet or the whole roof.
Do prices differ by area?
The removal band is the same across Gauteng: R150 to R250 per m², VAT included, for straightforward single-storey sheeting. What moves a quote inside the band is access and height, the condition of the sheets, distance to Holfontein, and how much asbestos there is beyond the roof: gutters, cladding, ceilings. City stands with no room for a skip need scaffolding or a hoist. The cost page has the line-by-line for a house and a factory.
Do I need municipal permission?
The asbestos rules are national: the Asbestos Abatement Regulations, 2020 under the OHS Act, and the Waste Act for disposal. A like-for-like re-roof does not normally need building plans; changing the roof structure or pitch, or adding a solar array, may involve the municipality’s building control and, for solar, the electrical certificate of compliance. We tell you which applies at the site visit.
Questions people ask about asbestos removal in Gauteng
Do you cover the whole of Gauteng?
Yes. We cover the East Rand, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Centurion, the West Rand and the Vaal, and every quote is itemised line by line. The removal rate is the same across the province; distance to the landfill shows up as a transport line on longer trips.
Where is asbestos disposed of in Gauteng?
At a landfill designated for asbestos waste: a Class A hazardous-waste site, or a Class B site with specific government approval. The site the Gauteng trade uses is EnviroServ’s Holfontein hazardous-waste landfill at Springs. Each load travels under a waste manifest (regulation 11 of the Waste Classification and Management Regulations) and the landfill issues a document for it (regulation 21(d) of the Asbestos Abatement Regulations, 2020).
Can you take asbestos to a Pikitup dump?
No. Pikitup’s building-waste guideline sends asbestos to a hazardous-waste facility, and the City of Johannesburg’s 2021 waste by-law says the same for hazardous building waste. Municipal landfills and garden sites do not take it.
Can asbestos be recycled in South Africa?
No. Regulation 24(a) of the Asbestos Abatement Regulations, 2020 bans selling, donating, reusing, reinstalling or recycling asbestos, so old sheets go to a designated landfill.
Is asbestos removal cheaper on the East Rand?
It tends to sit at the lower end of the R150 to R250 per m² band, because Holfontein is close and most of the stock is single-storey factory sheeting with good access. Rates are otherwise province-wide.
Does Soweto have asbestos roofs?
Widely. Asbestos-cement was the standard roof on houses built from the 1950s into the 1970s. Intact roofs are not an immediate hazard; the rules on removal and on solar installation apply exactly as elsewhere.
Do I need council permission to remove an asbestos roof in Johannesburg?
The asbestos work itself is regulated nationally under the Asbestos Abatement Regulations, 2020, not by the municipality. A like-for-like re-roof does not normally need building plans; a change in structure or an added solar array may involve building control and the electrical certificate of compliance.
Why does a Roodepoort quote show a transport line?
Holfontein, the licensed landfill the Gauteng trade uses, is at Springs on the far side of the province. The longer trip from the West Rand appears as a separate transport line; the per-m² removal rate is the same.
What extra does a double-storey in Florida or Discovery need?
Scaffolding or a hoist, so the sheets can be lowered without breaking. Height access is priced after a site visit.
Are asbestos slates removed differently from corrugated sheets?
Yes. Some older Roodepoort houses have asbestos-cement slates rather than corrugated sheets. Slates come off one at a time, so the roof is looked at before the price is fixed. Both go to the same licensed landfill.
Asbestos removal across Johannesburg and Gauteng costs R150 to R250 per m², the same band province-wide. Waste goes to the Holfontein hazardous-waste landfill near Springs, so East Rand jobs carry the shortest haul and Johannesburg, Pretoria and West Rand quotes show transport as a separate line. Every quote is itemised line by line.
Tell us the suburb and we take it from there
Send the suburb, a rough size and a photo on WhatsApp. You get a fixed, compliant quote for your part of Gauteng.