Just lost a full day's labor on a demo job because I didn't check for asbestos first

We started tearing out the old drop ceiling tiles in a 1970s office building downtown last week. The owner said everything was clean, so I took his word for it and sent my crew in. Big mistake. We were about two hours in when one of my guys, who's been around, pointed out the mastic on the tiles looked suspect. We stopped, got a test kit, and sure enough, it came back hot. Had to shut the whole site down, send the crew home, and now we're waiting on an abatement crew before we can even touch it again. That's eight guys for a full day, plus the delay on the schedule. Probably looking at over $3,500 just in lost labor, not counting the hit to our timeline. Always, always test first, even if the client swears it's fine. Anyone else gotten burned by skipping that initial check?

3 comments

3 Comments

lopez.karen12d ago

Man, that's rough. It reminds me of the time we found a whole beehive in a wall we were about to knock out (we had to call a specialist and everything).

lucaslee6h ago

I mean, bees aren't that bad, right?

patw8512d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way on a 1978 apartment renovation. The popcorn ceiling tested clean, but the glue under the vinyl flooring did not. Had to eat the cost for a full abatement crew before we could even start the real work. Now it's line one in the contract: test results in hand before tools come out.