Replies

1. 
   stinger | Nov 19, 2005 11:48pm | #1

   I priced a couple teardowns in SW FL a few years ago, and the houses were late 50s early 60s 3BR simple rambler ranches, built on slabs.  The price then to take them down and leave only a clean patch of sand was about $9,000.

   It would probably be closer to $15K today.  Add in some size, and a foundation, and you're probably up to $30K, maybe more.

   Any good excavation contractor can quote you what you need.

1. 
   cjinpa | Nov 20, 2005 12:01am | #2

   This place is a rancher w/a partial basement, maybe 1/3 the size of the whole foundation, remainder of which is a crawlspace.  And thanks for the reply.

1. 
   experienced | Nov 20, 2005 01:24am | #3

   While I was doing contract work for insurance companies a couple of years ago, I had to include a demolition cost in case of a major fire leading to complete replacement. It was simply 5% of the house replacement cost added on.

   Hope this may help you!

1. 
   timkline | Nov 22, 2005 07:09am | #17

   your statement is a little confusing and somewhat misleading.

   i think what you meant to say is that many insurance companies pay additional monies above and beyond the policy limit for demolition costs in the case of a serious loss.  typically, the insurance companies will pay up to an additional 5% of the policy limit for this. 

   the demolition costs are not limited to razing the building.  the monies can be used for general demolition during the repair of a structure after a loss.

   for instance, let's say a typical home carries a limit of $200,000 on the structure and suffers a major fire which leaves a salvageable portion of the building standing. then a repair estimate is written for $250,000 to fix the building.  in many cases, the homeowner may be able to obtain an additional 5% of the $200,000 limit, giving them $210,000 to work with.   in some cases, this number can be higher than 5%.  some policies even carry code upgrade insurance which can provide up to another 10%.

    

   i doubt that burning the structure down will save anyone a ton of money.

    carpenter in transition

1. 
   experienced | Nov 22, 2005 03:27pm | #19

   My post:   "While I was doing contract work for insurance companies a couple of years ago, I had to include a demolition cost in case of a major fire leading to complete replacement. It was simply 5% of the house replacement cost added on."

   Your quote: "your statement is a little confusing and somewhat misleading"

   This is a guideline used by insurance companies after having to pay this cost thousands of times after major fires, tornados, hurricanes. How they arrived at it I don't know but it must have some basis in fact. I offered only as a general guideline also. If you'er underinsured and you don't have a "replacement cost" policy, the number may be off.

   As always on this forum, the best numbers are quotes by your local service providers. This is what it will really cost.

    

   Your quote: " i doubt that burning the structure down will save anyone a ton of money."

   What do you mean by this? I don't think I suggested burning the structure down.

2. 
   timkline | Nov 23, 2005 10:53pm | #21

   ex

   this is purely semantics.  i just wanted to clarify for others what i knew you were trying to say, but others might find confusing.

   as far as the burn the house down to save on demo costs comment, that was directed at another post, but i was too lazy to start a new one.

   tk

    carpenter in transition

3. 
   Piffin | Nov 24, 2005 01:41am | #24

   There is still a mess to clean up that can be buried in some locations, but the main cost savings is in dump fees for less volumn, possibly some saving in cost of transport to the dump 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   Piffin | Nov 20, 2005 01:44am | #4

   the two big variables are:

   Location and local restrictions/rules

   Local dump fees and distance from same

   using an excavatoir is far cheaper than hand labour and sassalls.

   Anywhere from five to fifteen thousand dollars

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   gvriskbusiness | Nov 22, 2005 06:33am | #15

   Hey Piffin, I'm not trying to hijack this thread from 'CJinPA', but our problem is kind of similar, so...

   The remodelling we have planned will keep about 40% of the existing house and about 85% of the old foundation (adding a 2 storey/full basement "L" to a 50 year old full basement ranch).

   I saw your comment about sawsall's and hand labor being a more costly method than demo'ing with an excavator, but I'm concerned that we will damage the existing foundation if we use/misuse the excavator.

   Having no experience with this level of demo work, mind you, I was "thinking" of temporarily shoring on the inside of the 'keeper' side of the house and then sawzalling the structure like cutting a cake and then using an excavator with an opposing thumb and ripping the roof off and working my way down.

   Waddya think about this 'idea'?  I appreciate any pointers you (or others) might have...Looks good from my house....

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 24, 2005 01:32am | #23

   i've done that. Just be sure EVERYTHING is disconnected, especialy water and power between the two, and be sure the remaining is structurally supported. 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   gvriskbusiness | Nov 24, 2005 02:55am | #26

   Thanks Piffin - no one will be living in the house (or the to be saved side of the house), so no worries there either....Looks good from my house....

3. 
   grndtton | Nov 20, 2005 01:45am | #5

   5 gallons of diesel and a match - about 20 bucks.

   Seriously, though.  Have you thought about donating the house to your local fire dept.  Around here they burn them for training and then an excavator cleans the little bit that falls into the hole.  I haven't done this myself, but it seems to me that this method would save a bunch on disposal and hauling costs.

   I think you can also get a tax writeoff on the value of the structure.

    

1. 
   RW | Nov 20, 2005 01:54am | #6

   that's not a bad idea if you're really going to just pitch it. I have a sis in law who did that. The local volunteer FD was all to willing to burn it, put it out, burn it again for training, and the remainder did fit in a pretty small hole in the yard. I think they even did the dirt work. Probably b/c they're all farm hands and everyone owns tractors and such."If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

1. 
   brownbagg | Nov 20, 2005 02:25am | #7

   $300 to rent a dozer, 10 minute to learn to operate, rest of afternoon to........ priceless2+3=7

2. 
   cjinpa | Nov 20, 2005 02:27am | #8

   I keep encouraging my preteen to play w/matches, but w/no success so far.  Seriously, however, having the FD burn it is a really good idea that we hadn't thought of, thanks.

3. 
   gbcw | Nov 20, 2005 02:55am | #9

   You can absolutely get a tax deduction for letting the fire department burn it down.  You'll need to get an appraisal done beforehand to establish the FMV that you will deduct on your tax return.  Your accountant should be able to get you set with all of the details.

    

    

4. 
   Wango1 | Nov 20, 2005 03:11am | #10

   While I don't advocate this, I did hear of someone who did have the fire dept come and did the whole light it/put it out thing. Then they went to their insurance agent to put in a claim.

   Yes, there wasn't any clause that said you couldn't intentionally burn it down.

   ( I'll bet there is now!)

5. 
   JimmyTheGeek | Nov 20, 2005 05:36am | #11

   Two other possibilities to reduce the cost:
   Here in Raleigh NC I have heard of a local company that will demo a structure for free the the extracted materials have enough value. I have heard that is is also a job training program so their labor costs are very low.

   I have also heard similar stories about Habitat sending crews to extract what they can reuse or resell, at least reducing the amount that you pay to landfill and you get a tax break as well.

   One last thought, I remember reading in the last couple of months about a group on Martha's Vineyard that has many people wanting to donate home for moving rather than just scrape off, but the donated homes cost the charity more to move than rebuild. They started getting the donor to kick in part of their tax break along with the house, and some number of people were willing to go along with that. It may still be cheaper to pay a charity to take it than send it to the dump, plus somebody gets a house.

   -j

1. 
   wrudiger | Nov 20, 2005 08:27am | #12

   Have Habitat or the like come in and salvage anything of value, THEN let the fire department practice on what's left.  Two writeoff's!

6. 
   Norse | Nov 20, 2005 04:27pm | #13

   I like the salvage idea much better than the fire dept just for the sake of the junk you'd be putting into the air. And, there's a lot of reusable materials in the house.
   Norse

7. 
   JohnSprung | Nov 22, 2005 02:40am | #14

   When the place I lived when I was in college was torn down, they hired a Mexican contractor.  They came up with their crew and trucks, took it apart stick by stick, and hauled the salvaged materials back to Mexico.  Very thorough recycling job, they didn't waste anything. 

    

    

   -- J.S.

    

8. 
   timkline | Nov 22, 2005 06:55am | #16

   where are you   ?

   this is a tough question because the answer depends on several things.

   for a general ballpark though  $15K is a good place to start.

    

   carpenter in transition

9. 
   McFish | Nov 22, 2005 07:33am | #18

    Friend of mine got a bid to remove a similar size structure, fire damaged. 

   $ 18,000. 

10. 
    DDay | Nov 22, 2005 04:22pm | #20

    I'm outside boston and had a relatives house suffer medium fire damage.  I was a 20x45 2 floor split level ranch.  We tried to get the fire dept to burn the rest of the house down as training and they said that they would only use it for training in small area's, no way would they burn the majority of the house.  They should have been a bit more helpful considering those gorillas cause much more damage than necessary.  They get a dozen full house fires a years, so when they get a chance they run in there like some punk teenagers and break every windown, knock holes in everything, etc just to test out their training.

    Away, if your in a normal part of the country and not massachusetts then they'll probably burn it for you.  We had a site development contractor take it down and truck away for $8800, top price was $12,500.  The machine hours won't be much, it the cost to dispose that is the majority of the price.

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 24, 2005 01:53am | #25

   I don't know if you have a bean's worth of knowledge what you are talking about when it comes to fighting fires. It's true that adrenaline can iminge juedgement, but those holes are there for a reason, much of it to save firemen's lives. If you don't like the way it's done, put up a 4x8 sign at your house saying, "Let'er burn to the ground!" 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   DDay | Nov 24, 2005 07:05pm | #28

   I know you need the vent holes, etc.  These guys were jerks though.  They were laughing about do all that damage.  The fire was confined to the back portion of the house and only on one end they they were breaking everything in sight in ever portion of the house.  These guys certainly did not follow their own guildlines, they just acted like a bunch of yahoo's.

   They cut the vent in the roof, pull down all the drywall in the fire area to chase it in the wall cavities, etc. which is all fine but if you had seen them in action, you certainly would not approved of their actions.  Their attitudes were terrible too.  My grandmother was stand there with her house smoldering and you had firefighters laughing, making jokes and giving each other high fives like they were in a high school basketball game.

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 25, 2005 02:44am | #29

   OK
   Sorry 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   DDay | Nov 25, 2005 05:32am | #30

   What for, you didn't have the ax.

    

2. 
   Piffin | Nov 25, 2005 05:49am | #31

   for going off half cocked on you 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

11. 
    CapnMac | Nov 24, 2005 01:19am | #22

    You have several good answers here (and some other answers, too <g>, but that's just BT at its normal self . . . )

    Now, I'll second the vote for salvage, then FD burn as an overall strategy.

    Now, there is a word that has not yet creeped into this discussion, "remediation."  There are those AHJ which may not let you (or the FD, for that matter) burn the house down if there's remedation checks-er- permits that want issuing.  Before letting HfH or the FD in, you want to get an ok that they can (and sccept risk, etc.)  What you really don't want is to have them come back as "do" you for burning lead-based paint, or freeing fibres or spores into the air.

    Another thing will come back to how much of the foundation are you wanting or planning on keeping.  As old as the house is, you may be better off with an all-modern foundation, especially considering the advances in drainage & waterproofing available today.  Getting the foundation out will need some heavier equipment and some stout dump trucks, but you get a clean slate to work from (even if it will look like a big muddy hole in the ground . . . <G>)

    Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
12. 
    Rockford | Nov 24, 2005 02:58am | #27

    Regarding some of the replies that suggested the fire departent: My nieghbor is a fireman and said that many times they will come out and chain-saw holes in the roof for training, but I never heard of setting the whole structure on fire.

    I did have them saw cut an opening in one of the existing foundation walls, after the demo.  They did this for training purposes.

    My demo. on a 1000 sf house, not including the foundation, was $5,000.

    Good luck!