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Demolition summary and costings…

G and J

Entry posted by G and J in Da Bungalow

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The trouble with allowing contingency is that when you don’t need it then it feels like time wasted.   I guess it’s a bit of a drawing of breath really, much needed, but one’s natural bent (in my case anyway) is to automatically reach for my spade and start work - thinking not required.  

 

Oddly, we aren’t in a rush, in fact, the faster we go the quicker we run out of money unless our house sells, which in this market is looking unlikely.   So taking time out is a good thing, it’s just that it feels like I should be making progress regardless.  

 

We had allocated this week to a week away, maybe going on a tour of timber cladding suppliers in our campervan (who needs airport security checks when you can be rained on in a muddy field) but other events kicked that into touch.  So doing nothing this week should have felt ok.  Twitch.

 

In the end I did just two half days to pull up the wooden floorboards.  We put them on Facebook as free to good home and after our standard allocation of time wasters a lovely chap turned up and worked hard with me to carefully lift them, remarkably preserving the tongues in the process.  The lesson is that I should have bought a pallet breaker as then we’d have done it in one afternoon, instead of two.   

 

We did discover a few wasp nests under the floors, one mummified rodent, and an uphill poo pipe - that’ll be fun taking out…. But no other surprises, thankfully.


IMG_8131.thumb.jpeg.1c894bec8924d262019d1eb6608702b3.jpeg

The flow direction is left to right….

 

But with that and some of the internal doors finding new homes we are pleased with the amount of reuse we have achieved for bits of da bungalow (RIP).

 

Anyway, I promised a demolition summary, so….

 

We got two quotes for demo companies to do it.  One definitely wanted protective scaffolding (we are extremely close to the neighbours) and the other wasn’t clear on that.  They were close in price and cheaper of the two was just over £11k and probably scaffolding (undefined).  The cheaper one wanted a welfare unit too.  The dearer one was willing to do a part demo - he pointed out that if I took the roof off then we wouldn’t need scaffolding and he’d knock £4k off. So despite agonising over which was better we ended up using neither.  

 

As part of getting quotes we were told we needed a demolition survey (AKA asbestos check).  This cost £350 (zero VAT) and fortunately returned very pleasing results.

 

Steve, our guardian angel, however, pointed out that a demolition company would do it quick but very dirty and with the big machines they’d use the probability of damage to neighbours was significant.  Plus about 98% likelihood of really pissing lots of peeps off too.  Not good.

 

After some negotiations it was agreed he’d work with me on a day rate and the rest, as they say, is either history or a trauma that therapy will reduce in time, but either way we got da bungalow (RIP) down.

 

To be fair, there remains a small amount of woodwork (floor joists) to pull up which will take me a short day, and there’s concrete to break up and cart away, but the ground worker includes that in his price (partly as there seems to be a local shortage of such stuff), and I’ve three catnic lintels to clean up and sell, but I call it done.  

 

IMG_8138.thumb.jpeg.8d4a618ad991e188c2ee604adbf3ed8c.jpeg
 

Costs:

 

Demolition survey:  £350.

 

Demolition notice: Can’t remember, it seems so long ago, but we don’t think there was a charge.

 

Man days:

  • Neighbour (to help get roof tiles off): 1 day at a cost of a lot of tiles (we were robbed!)
  • Steve: 16 days. Expert guidance; lots of hard work; wicked sense of humour but oh, the singing! 
  • Me: 25 days - General dogsbodying and everything no one else wanted to do.  Why did it always have to be me up the ladder?  At least my singing is tuneful.  I think. 

Total man days: 42.  The answer to the meaning of life - how appropriate. 

 

Materials:

  • Dust masks : ~£30
  • Gloves: ~£50
  • Makita reciprocating saw plus blades: £115.
  • Heras fencing: £120
  • Hard hats and hi vis waistcoats: £22
  • Angle grinder discs: ~£10
  • Diesel for umpteen tip runs: £?? - but there was so many it looks like I’m going to be invited to the tip staff meetings from now on.
  • Bath water, washing powder, lecky for washing machine, etc.  £??

Total known materials ~£347

 

6 yard Plasterboard Skip: £396 inc VAT

 

Stuff sold:

  • Scrap (so far, there’s still some copper lurking around) -£292
  • Roof tiles -£320
  • Odds and sods sold on faceache -£200

Total sold: -£812

 

 

So, if I ignore the cost of my time, it comes out less than £4k.

 

Rather pleased with that, and as the neighbours appear to be ok, it’s a good result all round.

Edited by G and J

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6 Comments

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TheMitchells

TheMitchells 205

Posted

Sounds excellent to me!  well done.  So lucky to have Steve to help. 😊

marshian

marshian 236

Posted

Excellent result and IMO bloody good value as long as the aches and pains go away with time ;)

Pendicle

Pendicle 21

Posted (edited)

Well done. We got some eye popping demo quotes most didn’t even come to site, like you, we found that all they were going to do is smash the house to pieces and go to land fill although they would do it very quickly it seemed the amount of skips required was an extra to most quotes.

We had asbestos in various places but removed ourselves with care and an asbestos skip. It was the kind your allowed to remove yourself with precautions. We found more asbestos than was listed on report we got, so got samples tested before removing but if a digger would have smashed through house this may have not been found.

We did the demo ourselves, pallet break x 2 was invaluable on everything from roof tiles to plaster off walls and floor boards. A reciprocating saw was our second most trusted friend along with ooffa and doofa our crow bars. Ooffa had got it self lost but recently sighted between the walls at the front of basement, silly sausage, how did it get there! We have been able to store lots of wood and hope to reuse including our floor boards which I plan to make into parquet at some point. Bricks are going into gabions to terrace the garden. It was harder work and longer than we imagined but lots of money saved and satisfaction and very little to land fill and only 2 skips of concrete roof tiles, (so far) although lots of weekly drop off at recycling centre and managed to make money on selling copper and such like. We are now left with an open shell of a basement and chimney but we are now waiting for our sheep farmer to finish lambing to finish the rest and do ground work. Not long now.

Edited by Pendicle
  • Like 2
G and J

G and J 320

Posted

19 hours ago, Pendicle said:

Well done. We got some eye popping demo quotes most didn’t even come to site, like you, we found that all they were going to do is smash the house to pieces and go to land fill although they would do it very quickly it seemed the amount of skips required was an extra to most quotes.

We had asbestos in various places but removed ourselves with care and an asbestos skip. It was the kind your allowed to remove yourself with precautions. We found more asbestos than was listed on report we got, so got samples tested before removing but if a digger would have smashed through house this may have not been found.

We did the demo ourselves, pallet break x 2 was invaluable on everything from roof tiles to plaster off walls and floor boards. A reciprocating saw was our second most trusted friend along with ooffa and doofa our crow bars. Ooffa had got it self lost but recently sighted between the walls at the front of basement, silly sausage, how did it get there! We have been able to store lots of wood and hope to reuse including our floor boards which I plan to make into parquet at some point. Bricks are going into gabions to terrace the garden. It was harder work and longer than we imagined but lots of money saved and satisfaction and very little to land fill and only 2 skips of concrete roof tiles, (so far) although lots of weekly drop off at recycling centre and managed to make money on selling copper and such like. We are now left with an open shell of a basement and chimney but we are now waiting for our sheep farmer to finish lambing to finish the rest and do ground work. Not long now.

Naming your tools!  Honestly - how daft is that.  As I go to site this morning in Skooby Skoda, (Trevor the trailer lives on site now so no longer commutes) I’ll have a chuckle about that, and again when I tell Sam Spade.

 

I share your satisfaction, it’s a nice start to our build.

  • Like 1
BotusBuild

BotusBuild 393

Posted

19 hours ago, Pendicle said:

Ooffa had got it self lost but recently sighted between the walls

The one bit of wall we had built "by others" was inspected afterwards for cleanliness of the cavity and I spied a saw lying at the bottom. It's still there as I couldn't be arsed to retrieve someone else's tool (oo err missus).

  • Like 1
Canski

Canski 326

Posted

1 hour ago, G and J said:

I’ll have a chuckle about that, and again when I tell Sam Spade.

 

You can’t do that these days. You have to call a spade a spade. 

  • Haha 2

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