How to use this page
Every answer below gives you the direct answer in its first sentence, then the context that stops the answer misleading you. The dollar figures are Perth metro guide bands current at August 2026 and are explained properly, with the full price table, on the pricing page. The permit and asbestos answers summarise WA rules covered in depth — with links to the legislation and WorkSafe WA — on the permits and approvals page.
Costs
How much does a bathroom strip out cost in Perth? $950 to $2,400 for a standard bathroom, complete with waste removal. Screed-bedded tiles, upper-floor apartments and larger rooms push toward the top of the band; small ground-floor ensuites with glued tiles sit at the bottom.
How much per square metre for a full strip out? $40 to $90 per m² of floor area for residential, $35 to $130 per m² for commercial make-goods. Kitchens as a standalone job run $700 to $1,900, and tile or floor covering removal alone $25 to $70 per m².
Is waste included? Usually yes, and always worth confirming in writing — bins and tip fees are where cheap quotes hide their gaps.
Permits and rules
Internal wall removal: a building permit is needed when the wall is loadbearing — common in Perth's double-brick stock — and generally not when it is a partition. Confirm which one you have before quoting, not after.
Demolition permits: internal non-structural strip outs generally proceed without a BA5; whole buildings and incidental structures need one. Your local government has the final word on your property.
Asbestos: pre-1990 home means assume it is present until tested. Ten square metres or more of bonded material, or any friable material, is a licensed removalist's job under WA law — no exceptions worth discussing.
Still unanswered?
If your question is not here, it is probably specific to your property — which is exactly the kind of question that needs eyes on the job rather than a webpage. Call (08) 6171 2654, describe the rooms, the access and the building age, and the enquiry goes to an independent Perth contractor who can give you a real answer and a fixed written price. You can also see which suburbs are covered on the areas page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a bathroom strip out cost in Perth?
A standard bathroom strip out in Perth costs $950 to $2,400 as at August 2026 — everything out, including tiles, bath, vanity, toilet and screens, with waste removed and the floor swept. A small ground-floor ensuite with glued tiles sits at the bottom of that band; a larger bathroom with sand-and-cement screed-bedded tiles, or one in an upper-floor apartment with lift access, sits at the top. If suspected asbestos is found in wall sheeting, licensed removal is a separate cost on top.
How much does a full internal strip out cost per square metre?
Whole-unit and whole-house internal strip outs in Perth run $40 to $90 per square metre of floor area as at August 2026, and commercial office strip outs $35 to $130 per square metre depending on the make-good scope. A 75 square metre unit stripped to the shell therefore lands roughly between $3,000 and $6,750. Access, wall construction (double brick versus stud) and how the floor finishes were fixed decide where in the band a job falls.
Do I need a permit to remove an internal wall in WA?
Only if the wall is loadbearing or the removal affects the building's structure — that is building work under the Building Act 2011 (WA) and needs a building permit from your local government, usually with an engineer's design for the new support. Non-loadbearing partitions generally come out without a permit. The catch is that in Perth's double-brick homes plenty of internal walls do carry load, and it is not always obvious which — have a builder or structural engineer confirm before committing to a quote.
Do I need a demolition permit for a strip out in Perth?
For a genuinely internal, non-structural strip out — fixtures, cabinetry, tiles, floor coverings, non-loadbearing partitions — generally no, because a demolition permit (form BA5) applies to demolishing a building or incidental structure, not to gutting the inside of one you are keeping. Demolishing a garage, patio or the building itself does need a BA5 from your local government. Councils vary at the edges, so confirm your scope with your council's building services team first.
Who is responsible if asbestos is found during a strip out?
The property owner is ultimately responsible for asbestos in their building, and the contractor on site is responsible for stopping work in the affected area the moment suspect material is identified. From there the sequence is fixed: samples go to an accredited lab, and confirmed asbestos of 10 square metres or more (or any friable asbestos) must be removed by a WorkSafe WA licensed removalist engaged for that job, with clearance before the strip out resumes. No reputable contractor will quietly keep cutting through suspect sheeting, and you should not want them to.
How long does a bathroom or kitchen strip out take?
Most Perth bathroom strip outs take one day, and kitchens half a day to one day, assuming reasonable access and no asbestos. A whole-unit strip out typically runs two to five days and a whole house three days to two weeks depending on size and construction. Screed-bedded tiles, double-brick partition removal, apartment lift access and asbestos holds are the things that stretch a program — not the fixtures themselves.
What is included in an office strip out or make-good?
A typical Perth office strip out removes partitions, workstations, joinery, floor coverings, and — where the lease requires it — suspended ceilings and redundant services, returning the tenancy to the base-building condition described in your lease. That last part is the key: make-good obligations are defined by the lease, not by convention, so the scope should be agreed against the lease wording and the landlord's requirements in writing before anyone prices it. Building rules on hours, lifts and protection also shape the program in multi-tenancy buildings.
Can I do the strip out myself to save money?
You can legally do much of a non-structural strip out yourself, but the savings are usually smaller than they look once you price skip bins, tip fees, tool hire and your own weekends — and two risks are genuinely not worth carrying: cutting into loadbearing structure, and disturbing unidentified asbestos in a pre-1990 home. If you do any part yourself, stop at anything structural and anything you cannot positively identify. Never cut, drill, break or drop suspected asbestos sheeting — testing costs $60 to $150 a sample and settles it.
Is waste disposal included in a strip out quote?
In most Perth strip out quotes, yes — loading, bins and tipping are built into the price, and they are a big slice of it, with a 6 cubic metre mixed-waste skip running about $420 to $650 in the metro area. It is also the line item most often trimmed to make a cheap quote look cheap. Before comparing quotes, confirm in writing that waste cartage, tip fees and a swept-floor handover are included, and that dense waste like brick and screed has not been quietly excluded.
Does this website carry out the demolition work itself?
No. This site is a referral service: it connects your enquiry with independent demolition contractors who service the Perth metro area, and those contractors quote and carry out the work under their own businesses. The site's operator does not perform demolition and does not verify any contractor's licence or insurance — before engaging anyone, check their licence with WorkSafe WA and ask for evidence of current insurance. The disclaimer page sets this out in full.