GOODELMAN DEMOLITION LLC

Demolition contractors take down houses, garages, commercial buildings and foundations, then sort and haul what is left. The teardown itself is the fast part; most of the schedule is the paperwork that has to happen first. Gas, electric and water are disconnected and capped at the main, an asbestos survey is completed by a licensed inspector and any friable material is abated before the excavator swings, and the demolition permit is posted. A residential house typically comes down in one to two days with a 30 to 40 ton excavator; hauling and backfilling the hole can take a few more. Selective demolition, such as removing a wing or gutting an interior for a remodel, is priced by labor hours because it is done with hand tools and small machines around what stays.

Site preparation is the package of work that turns a lot into a place a builder can start. On a typical job that means clearing vegetation, stripping and stockpiling topsoil, cutting or filling to the pad elevation, compacting fill in lifts, cutting in a temporary driveway, and installing the silt fence and gravel entrance the stormwater inspector expects to see. The scope shifts with the ground: a flat suburban infill lot may take two days, while a sloped wooded parcel with poor soil can run weeks and involve undercutting and replacing unsuitable material. Site prep contractors typically coordinate with the surveyor who sets the corners and the geotechnical engineer who signs off on compaction.

Hauling contractors move bulk material to and from job sites: delivering gravel, sand, topsoil and fill, and removing excavated spoil, concrete and demolition debris. Pricing is built around truck size and cycle time. A tandem dump truck carries roughly 10 to 14 cubic yards, a tri-axle 15 to 18, and a belly dump or end dump trailer over 20; the driver's rate covers loading, travel, dumping and any wait time at either end. Distance to the pit or landfill is often the biggest variable, and tipping fees for debris are usually passed through separately. Contractors who also run a loader or excavator can load their own trucks, which matters when nothing on site is available to fill them.

Driveway contractors build the surface between the road and the house, from a gravel farm lane to a poured concrete approach, and the base under the surface decides how long any of them last. A typical driveway is excavated to remove topsoil, graded with a crown or cross slope so water runs off, and built up with four to eight inches of compacted crushed stone before the top layer goes on. Where the driveway crosses a roadside ditch it needs a culvert sized by the county, and the connection to a public road is regulated by the road authority. Gravel is the least expensive and needs regrading every year or two; asphalt costs more and needs sealing; concrete costs the most up front and lasts longest if the base and joints are done right.

Concrete cutting and removal contractors saw, drill, break and haul concrete on everything from a cracked patio to a doorway through a foundation wall. The tools are specialized: walk-behind slab saws with diamond blades for flat cuts, track-mounted wall saws for straight openings, core drills for round penetrations for pipe and conduit, and hydraulic breakers or robotic demolition machines for bulk removal. Wet cutting controls silica dust, which OSHA regulates tightly, but produces slurry that has to be contained and disposed of rather than washed into a storm drain. Because a saw cannot see rebar, post-tension cables, conduit or radiant tubing inside the slab, a GPR scan before cutting is standard practice on any structural or unknown concrete, and cutting a post-tension slab without one can be dangerous.