Whole structures taken down, cleared away and the ground left level, from a single house to a complete industrial site. Survey, disconnections, method statement, the take-down itself and the muck away all sit with one contractor, and the material gets crushed and reused on site wherever it sensibly can.
Somebody comes and looks at the building. What it is built of, what is holding it up, what is attached to it, where the services run and whether an asbestos refurbishment and demolition survey has been done. A demolition price given down the phone is a guess, and guesses get corrected halfway through the job at your expense.
Gas, electric, water and telecoms disconnected and capped by the relevant utility, with the paperwork in hand, before a machine touches the structure. This is the single most common reason a demolition start date slips, so it gets chased from day one rather than the week before.
Structures come down top down, in an order worked out from how they were built. Machine and attachment picked to suit the frame, water suppression running on the dust, and the parts that are holding other parts up left until last. Nothing gets pulled and hoped.
Material segregated as it comes down, hardcore crushed on site rather than carted off and bought back in, metals away for recycling and the rest ticketed out under waste transfer notes. The site is left level and workable for whoever is building on it next.
It depends on what the building is made of, how easy it is to get a machine to it, what is next door and how much of the material can be reused on site. A detached house on an open plot and a steel framed unit in a yard are two different jobs. We come and look, then give you a written price that covers the take-down, the clearance and the disposal, so there are no extras invented later.
Usually you need prior notification to the council rather than full planning permission, and you almost always need a Section 80 notice under the Building Act served before work starts. Listed buildings, buildings in a conservation area and anything with a demolition condition attached are different and need consent. We will tell you which of those applies to your building and we handle the Section 80 as part of the job.
The utilities do, and it has to be them. We identify what is live, raise the disconnection requests and chase them, but the actual capping is done by the network operator and comes with a certificate. It is worth starting that early because disconnection lead times, not the demolition itself, are what usually set the start date.
As much as possible stays on site. Concrete, brick and block get crushed into a graded hardcore that can be reused as fill or piling mat, which is cheaper for you than paying to tip it and then paying again for imported stone. Metals go for recycling, timber and mixed waste go out under waste transfer notes.
A house is usually a few days to a week including the clearance. A commercial or industrial building is more often two to six weeks depending on size, asbestos removal and how much of the material is being processed on site. The survey is what turns that range into a date, which is why we do it before quoting.
Run from the yard at Poorsland Barn near Clitheroe, with machines out across Lancashire and into Yorkshire and Greater Manchester most weeks. Getting somebody out to look at a building is rarely more than a few days away.
Call for a free site visit and a written price that covers the take-down, the clearance and the disposal.