Demolition and Abolishment...

Metricon require you present them with a clean slate. They don't want to know about the demolition process, the asbestos, the abolishment of services, nothing. Just give them the blank piece of land.

Ok, so I'll ring a demolition crew, and they'll bowl it over in a couple of days? Wrong.

Before you can ring a demolition crew, who take their own sweet time to go out and quote the job, you need to apply for your gas and electricity to be abolished. Not removed, abolished. This means that they remove the meters, disconnect the wires, and cap the pipes going into the property.

So, I fill out the required paperwork with AGL and lodge it with them. Interesting side note, not once did AGL ask for proof that I actually owned the property. I wasn't just changing gas companies, or getting the electricity turned off. I was having all services to the property ABOLISHED. And not once did they say, hold on, do you actually own the property??? I didn't even have an account with them! They made one up for me just to put in this request!!! Scary!

AGL inform me that it will take 21 business days to have them both abolished, no one will notify me once it has been done, and I'll just have to cruise past and check it out. Fantastic customer service.

A week later, I haven't heard from AGL, even though their automated email system has told me that someone will get back to me within 3 business days. So... I call them.

The gas job has been noted, and is all ok. The electricity job is sitting here waiting on some confirmation, but now since I've phoned in, they'll push it through. WHAT? What the hell would have happened if I had just left it and did as the email said and assumed it had gone through? Bastards!

I applied for the gas disconnection on the 19 August, and today, the 9 September, 15 business days later, it has been removed. Electricity... still waiting.