Victims of the summer bushfires in Victoria, desperate to rebuild, are concerned that construction giant Grocon is taking too long to clean up debris.

Key points: Grocon has cleared 41 of the 692 bushfire-affected properties

Grocon has cleared 41 of the 692 bushfire-affected properties Frustrated fire victims say they just want to move on and begin rebuilding

Frustrated fire victims say they just want to move on and begin rebuilding Strict asbestos-removal rules and a shortage of class A contractors are slowing progress

The company was awarded a $75 million state government contract in January to clean up 692 properties in towns including Sarsfield, Mallacoota, Bruthen and Wairewa.

Just 41 sites have been cleared, and residents fed up with the delay are risking asbestos exposure by attempting the work themselves.

Kim Snyder has seven acres on Duncan Road in Sarsfield and lost her home, fencing and sheds in the fires on December 30.

Grocon first held a public meeting to advise residents of the clean-up plans and Ms Snyder said "they were like our knight in shining armour".

Kim Snyder and her family are living in rental accommodation while they wait. ( Supplied )

"They were very good at the start, they gave us a lot of hope ... but now it's all ground to a halt," she said.

"We've driven past sites and you can go past a site at three o'clock in the afternoon and nobody's working and it's just taking so much longer than they said it would."

Ms Snyder said Grocon had stopped communicating and property owners had no idea whether it would be days, weeks or months before their properties would be cleared.

"We need Grocon to do the work and provide the certificate to say the site is no longer contaminated before we can submit a planning permit to rebuild."

She and her husband Dean and their eight-year-old son, Flinn, are living in a rental property at Lucknow with the expense covered by their insurer for 12 months.

"We're very, very thankful but it's not like being at home, and the longer it drags out, it just starts to destroy your soul ... we just want to go home."

Kim Snyder is desperate to rebuild on her seven-acre block at Sarsfield. ( Supplied )

'Going as fast as we can'

Bushfire Recovery Victoria said all 692 sites needed to be treated as if they were contaminated by friable asbestos powder and dust.

"It's not as simple as working on site and putting everything in the back of a ute," chief executive Lee Miezis said.

"In areas like East Gippsland they've had drought, bushfires and now COVID-19, and I understand people are frustrated and feel as though it may be going slow, but it has taken us time to make sure we do this as safely as possible."

Nationals MP Tim Bull said residents deserved a clearer timeframe of when the work would be completed.

"My concern is that if we continued at this current rate, it would take almost a year to get all these properties cleaned up," he said.

"The clock is quickly ticking and some people have a clause in their insurance that if they don't start the rebuild in 12 months, their policy is voided."

Asbestos contractors 'maxed out'



Under regulations, class A asbestos removal contractors must oversee the clean up of each burnt property, regardless of whether powdered or crumbled asbestos was present.

"We have maxed them out in the fire-affected areas; in fact, we've almost got every class A contractor in Victoria working for us, so there are some limitations," Mr Miezis said.

Some residents are risking asbestos exposure by clearing properties themselves. ( Supplied: Kim Snyder )

As of this week, 31 trained crews will be on deck to continue work on another 74 sites and Grocon remains hopeful of completing the contract by August.

"But timelines are difficult to predict, there are a lot of factors, weather and other things," Mr Miezis said.

Ms Snyder said some fed-up residents had resorted to cleaning up their properties themselves.

"I go out there and I look through the rubble of what's left and it's just a constant reminder," she said.

"We just couldn't stand always looking at our house flattened, all of our belongings destroyed."

"We just want to move on, we just want to build a new home and go home and the longer it drags on, the harder it is."

'It could be done in half the time'

Sale-based asbestos removalist Keith Bingham, who has a class B licence, has worked in the industry for more than 30 years and said the job could be done in a fraction of the time.

"Myself and the many other local class B guys could get up there and start tomorrow, but instead we're watching all of these Melbourne contractors going past."

He said it was highly unlikely that every burnt property contained asbestos and that more specific audits could easily discern which sites needed to be given class-A treatment.

"We could get WorkSafe OH&S consultants down to meet with all of us class B contractors, we could come on board to help Grocon speed things up.

"We could have air quality monitoring at each site and water tankers to wet any materials down.

"I know this could be done so much faster while keeping sites safe."

East Gippsland Shire Council is advising residents they do not need to submit demolition certificates to make a planning permit application.

The council said Worksafe required a certificate to prove all asbestos had been removed from each site, but the certificate was not needed to lodge a planning permit application.

"Council has requested that Grocon and other demolition companies provide these reports to council so that if a property changes ownership there is advice to show that the site has been cleaned of asbestos," a council spokesman said.