Spokane's Survey-First Rule: What Has to Happen Before Any Renovation or Demolition

Spokane has one asbestos rule that every other rule hangs on. Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency puts it in one sentence: if the work contains anything other than bare wood, metal or glass, then an AHERA asbestos survey must be performed, and posted on the job site. Everything else -- the Notice of Intent, the fee ladder, the 3-day and 10-day waiting periods, the City's demolition permit, the county's fire-debris rules -- reads from that survey. This guide takes the rule in the order a project meets it, from the survey trigger to the post-fire rebuild sequence.

Spokane leans on this rule because of its housing. Adding up the published year-built rows, 68.3% of the city's 102,834 housing units were built before 1980, and the median construction year is 1961. EPA lists vinyl floor tile and sheet-flooring backing, textured paint and patching compounds, roofing and siding shingles, and pipes coated or wrapped with asbestos material among the places it was used. A survey is how an owner learns which are in the house before a remodel disturbs them. The by-the-numbers page has the full year-built tables.

The rule itself: anything other than bare wood, metal or glass

Spokane Clean Air's renovation and demolition page states the rule plainly: an asbestos survey must be conducted by an AHERA-certified Building Inspector prior to renovation or demolition activities. Its asbestos Q&A draws the line at materials: anything other than bare wood, metal or glass. That line is deliberately low. Drywall is not bare wood; floor tile is not bare metal; a textured ceiling is not glass. The guidesheet's renovation examples are ordinary Spokane projects: remodeling a residence or other building, inside or out; replacing, repairing or disturbing flooring, wall, ceiling, siding or roofing materials; and replacing, repairing or disturbing heating, plumbing or electrical systems.

Demolition is defined just as concretely: wrecking, leveling or dismantling a structure thereby making it permanently uninhabitable; wrecking or taking out any load-supporting structural member of a facility; or using a structure for fire training. Washington L&I frames the same requirement statewide: prior to any construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, repair or demolition project, homeowners, building owners and contractors must have a good faith inspection. Identifying and working safely with asbestos-containing material is Chapter 296-62 WAC, Part I-1; contractor, worker and supervisor certification is Chapter 296-65 WAC. A bathroom remodel in Hillyard and a teardown on the South Hill start at the same place, with a survey.

Who may do the survey, and what posted on site means

The survey is not a homeowner's walk-through with a flashlight. For all contractor work, Spokane Clean Air's guidesheet requires that it be performed by an accredited AHERA Building Inspector. The inspector identifies suspect materials, samples them, has the samples analyzed at a laboratory, and writes a report that says what is asbestos-containing, where it is and how much there is. That quantity is what the Notice of Intent is filed against, so a survey that skips a material leaves a hole in every piece of paperwork that follows. Asbestos testing and AHERA surveys explains how the survey is arranged.

Posting is the second half of the rule. Spokane Clean Air requires that a copy of the asbestos survey be posted in a readily accessible and visible area at the work site at all times, where an inspector, a subcontractor or a tenant can read it. Spokane Clean Air's compliance staff visited 43 asbestos-related project sites in 2025. The survey also unlocks the rest of the chain. The NOI is filed from its quantities, and the City of Spokane's demolition permit application requires the SRCAA NOI number before the permit is issued. Removal then goes to people L&I has certified, checkable with L&I's Verify a Contractor tool.

The Notice of Intent: thresholds, tiers, waiting periods and exemptions

A Notice of Intent (NOI) must be submitted to Spokane Clean Air before removal if the amount to be removed is 10 or more linear feet and/or 48 or more square feet, per structure, per calendar year. For demolition of any structure with a projected roof area greater than 120 square feet, the NOI must be submitted at least 10 days prior. The fee ladder for contractor work: under 10 linear feet or 48 square feet, no notification required; 10 to 259 linear feet or 48 to 159 square feet, 3-day notice, $250; 260 to 999 linear feet or 160 to 4,999 square feet, 10-day notice, $500; over 1,000 linear feet or 5,000 square feet, 10-day notice, $1,250+; any demolition, 10-day notice, $250.

The portal also lists when no NOI is needed: the project is outside Spokane County; you are doing the removal yourself and the project qualifies as an owner-occupied, single-family residence; the work removes only caulking, nonfriable window glazing and/or nonfriable roofing; the quantity is under the thresholds; the job is an underground storage tank with no asbestos; or the structure being demolished has a roof area of 120 square feet or less. A small job in a rental is not on that list; neither is a contractor with a tight schedule. Quantities from one building add up across the calendar year, and no scope can shorten the notice period.

Owner-occupied homes: what changes, and what does not

Spokane Clean Air carves out one exemption, and it is narrow. A homeowner renovating an owner-occupied single-family residence can do his/her own assessment for the presence of asbestos, and a Notice of Intent is not required for removal done by the resident owner. A survey is then recommended, though not required. Washington L&I says it the same way: if you are conducting work in your own residence, which is not used for commercial purposes, you are exempt from general survey requirements. Three conditions hold at once: you own it, you live in it, you do the work. And L&I adds that you must still provide relevant information to contractors and other workers you bring in.

The moment someone is hired, none of that applies. For all contractor work the survey must be performed by an accredited AHERA Building Inspector, and rental work goes to a certified abatement contractor. EPA's federal note explains why local rules exist: federal law does not require persons who inspect, repair or remove asbestos-containing materials in detached single-family homes to be trained and accredited; however, some states and localities do require this. EPA's advice to the resident owner stands: leave material in good condition that will not be disturbed alone; have removal and major repair done by people trained and qualified in handling asbestos; do not dust, sweep or vacuum debris that may contain asbestos; do not saw, sand, scrape or drill holes in it.

After the fires: the rebuild sequence for a fire-damaged structure

The Spokane Complex Fires -- the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires -- broke out on Saturday, 2 Aug 2026. By the night of 5 Aug they were burning a combined 10,436 acres, and fire officials estimated at least 846 structures had burned. The City of Spokane issued its first rebuild permit on 27 Aug 2026, for a single-family home originally built in 2023. The process the city described has four steps. Step one is hazardous material removal through EPA, at no cost to the owner. Step two is an asbestos survey and a Notice of Intent to Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency, required before demolition.

Step three is the demolition permit, at a reduced $35 fee with processing and technology fees waived. Step four is reconstruction using previous or new plans; homes built after 1 Feb 2021 may reuse their original approved plans. A burned house follows the same survey, then NOI, then permit order as any other demolition in the city. What is different is the fee, and the EPA step in front of it. The pre-demolition abatement page lays out the ordinary permit chain, including the sewer and water cap permits and the 10-day neighborhood review.

Where the debris goes is set by Spokane County. Hazardous waste, including asbestos-containing material and heavy metals like lead, can be present and requires special handling and proper disposal. The transfer stations cannot accept any demolition building materials from the fires without a clean asbestos test. The North County and Valley Transfer Stations accept recognizable fire debris that is not ash-coated; the Graham Road Landfill is the destination for ash and demolition debris; and the City's Waste to Energy Facility at 2900 S. Geiger Blvd. accepts fire-damaged materials that are recognizable and free of ash if accompanied by an asbestos survey. The county advises hiring a certified cleanup contractor before any cleanup.