Facts about the Demolition Industry that May Surprise You
By: The Working Man
1. Demolition contractors don't just knock down buildings and
fill up landfills with waste; in fact they avoid landfills
whenever possible. Demolition contractors were recycling anything
they could resell long before recycling became popular. Sometimes
the materials in a building can be resold for millions, so the
demolition contractor who can do the best job of recycling and
reselling is the one who will get the contract from the
building's owners.
2. Demolition experts don't use a wrecking ball nearly as often
these days. More and more buildings are being "deconstructed" if
they must be taken down. Demolition Deconstruction
is the art of carefully
taking down a building while doing the least possible damage to
the materials so that many of the parts can be reused in other
buildings or projects.
3. Deconstruction rather than demolition can actually cost less
for the building owner initially, and the rescued parts may be
resold for even more savings. Deconstruction saves money and
helps to preserve history and the environment at the same time.
Demolition contractors now are using more and more sophisticated
tools that will do exactly what needs to be done in a safer and
more efficient method.
4. Demolition contractors are often also involved in the
preservation efforts for historic buildings, and many are skilled
enough able to completely gut the inside of a large building
without anything at all showing on the outside. And most often,
the wood floors and trimmings as well as much of the other
materials go on to become parts of new buildings or are used in
new ways in the redesign of the very building they came from.
5. Although they are often spectacular, "implosions," where
charges are set and set off in a building so that it falls in
upon itself, are less that one percent of all demolitions. When
they do happen they are usually done early on weekend mornings,
but are often shown on television repeatedly so people may think
they are more common.
6. Although a specialized education is not required for a
career
in the demolition industry, it is not an unsophisticated
business. A demolition contractor must have an extensive
knowledge of the construction industry and its methods. He must
understand the strengths and weaknesses of the many various types
of materials used in buildings over the past centuries, and he
much know the laws related to his industry as well.
7. Demolition is not necessarily a dangerous business. Because of
increasing education and knowledge of material properties and
stresses and increasing reliance on sophisticated tools rather
than manual labor, demolition has in fact become one of the safer
jobs in the construction industry.
8. Demolition contractors are often specialists. Some specialize
in demolishing houses, some in only interiors, some in
environmental work, and of course some do it all.
9. Demolition is not expensive. Experts in the industry say that
commercial demolition work usually costs less than two percent of
the replacement cost of the building. In fact, a building owner
may actually clear a sizable profit after reselling historical
and reusable materials from the building.
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