Strategy for not-insanely-expensive demolition

[sansserif]

I need to demolish a 3 bed, 120sqm 2 storey detached house (so 60sqm footprint) in london borough of barnet.

The house is near one other house (alleyway in between), otherwise we're pretty far from any other structure.

 

I'm sorting out as much of the "pre work" as possible myself, e.g. fencing, utilities, asbestos.

 

I'm getting quotes that I think are pretty wild. So far 70K and 50K from small demolition firms.

At this rate I'll be doing it myself!

 

How would you go about trying to get this done for a more sensible budget?

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, sansserif said:

I need to demolish a 3 bed, 120sqm 2 storey detached house (so 60sqm footprint) in london borough of barnet.

The house is near one other house (alleyway in between), otherwise we're pretty far from any other structure.

 

I'm sorting out as much of the "pre work" as possible myself, e.g. fencing, utilities, asbestos.

 

I'm getting quotes that I think are pretty wild. So far 70K and 50K from small demolition firms.

At this rate I'll be doing it myself!

 

How would you go about trying to get this done for a more sensible budget?

It'll have to be hand picked-apart, so will be time-consuming and at the higher cost level for sure. Not sure about DIY as you'd need to be insured for all eventualities.

 

What's access like for grab trucks to stop and load? Typically these would need 15 mins on site to pick up a full load, possibly blocking the road and needing a few people on traffic management, and to reduce costs you would likely need to segregate waste / spoil / inert hardcore etc vs mixed loads. You can use skips, but you'd need parking space for 2 skips per 24hrs, and get them collected and swapped out for new ones at the end of each day, say 4-4:30pm to miss school and 5pm rush hour, and folk coming home from work etc.

 

You need a gang on site for 2 weeks, semi-skilled, probably a general builder and his skivvies, and drop it floor by floor; roof covering off and gone via a skip(s), then timberwork of roof down, same, then fold the gables in, same, then pull the 1st floor walls in on themselves, same, and so on. Damage to neighbouring properties is the biggy, so you'd need PWA's in place and scaffold with timber barriers to stop falling object debris from causing personal injury, the whole 9 yards. Whole site will need to be fully wrapped in scaff with sheeting, one guy on the hose pipe all day long to control dust, then also you need to prevent access by kids etc....list goes on. 

 

May be cheaper to get the same contractor doing the grounds and new founds to price you turnkey (demo and founds) same I am about to do for another new client (demo and new replacement dwelling), as value-engineering is difficult when piecemealing a project out and having multiples of contracts done in isolation; more meat on the bone, the lower the cost etc.

[-rick-]

I looked at a plot in Barnet. The council had all sorts of restrictions on using the street and co-ordination of works*, though it sounds like a more constrained plot than yours. Is this an issue for you? I'm sure it will add substantial cost if so.

 

* They wanted an off-site mustering point for workers (no parking on the street), restricted access times, advanced co-ordination of movements, regular communication with local residents.

[sansserif]

Access isn't terrible for London. It's suburban. ~9m no parking zone immediately outside the house and a off street parking space next to the house. Road could be wider though.

 

How big would you expect the crew to be? One quote breaks down costs and has labour at 30K (10-12 days on site). That's either a big crew or a lot of margin.

 

Would ideally get demo, groundworks and foundation done together, but we might have to book demolition in before groundworks/foundation plans are finalised.

 

6 minutes ago, -rick- said:

I looked at a plot in Barnet. The council had all sorts of restrictions on using the street and co-ordination of works*, though it sounds like a more constrained plot than yours. Is this an issue for you? I'm sure it will add substantial cost if so.

Great. Nothing specific has come up yet beyond the usual (ecology, tree protection etc). At what point did they inform you of additional restrictions? In response to section 80?

[-rick-]

30 minutes ago, sansserif said:

Great. Nothing specific has come up yet beyond the usual (ecology, tree protection etc). At what point did they inform you of additional restrictions? In response to section 80?

 

I didn't get to the point of talking to them. Just reading the planning permission that had already been granted. Was a while ago so can't really remember more than I've said already.

 

Edit to add: If you are subject to those restrictions be worth checking that your quotes haven't assumed you are (if the companies are used to working in Barnet they may have assumed).

Edited 4 hours ago by -rick-