Working on things like asbestos containing artex, asbestos cement sheets, even asbestos insulating board can be done quite safely if you follow the guidance from the HSE and get yourself on a non-licensed works course, very informative.
I've done a rewire in a house with asbestos in artex on every wall and every ceiling.
Cost about ÂŁ300 to get rid of the asbestos waste (6 bags if I recall correctly - mainly materials used during works, but also included vacuum cleaner left in the house that appeared to have been used to clean up artex), about ÂŁ20 in disposable overalls, good quality facemask with FP3 filters and a FaceFit test was about ÂŁ60. I hired in a class H vacuum cleaner (for cleanup of possible waste - already there - and dust extraction when drilling the walls).
Took me about 3-4 days to cut all the holes in the ceiling and drill all the screw holes for fixing the trunking. I would go about it this way as if you stick it to asbestos containing materials there is a chance it will damage the material if it's bumped. PVA adhesive to paint on/around any holes you cut drill, to seal the edges. That sounds like a long time, but in a disposable overall with a respirator on it's hard going especially when you think about what you have to do (basically, setup a clean working environment, do the cutting/drilling and then cleanup everything before moving on). If you're cutting bigger holes, include some bog standard wall paper paste in the price and possibly some new hole saws/arbors (the paste gets everywhere).
So those are the costs associated with working with it. Materials, there is the obvious cost of trunking. I used countersunk screws with cup washers to help spread the load when fixing the trunking.
Insurance may be an issue... I found insurance to do even non-licensed works prohibitively expensive, so suffice to say I had a chat with the client and we came to an understanding.
In terms of the survey, I think the bill was somewhere in the region of ÂŁ400. The guy doing the survey met me on site and we had a chat about why it was needed and he sampled everywhere I was planning on cutting a chase. I think it was the demolition/construction survey. Obviously it came back as positive everywhere.
Would I do another one? I would consider it because if you set yourself up with the right gear, it's fairly easy and straightforward. There are companies that will hire you the gear you need and I found they were very helpful. They'll also supply waste bags and disposable overalls, with the later being much cheaper than buying from say ScrewFix.
