How to Save Money Demolishing A House

Our home demolition

Do you have to remove a building in order to build your dream home like we did? In our county, there is a recycling requirement that needs to be met in order to get your demolition permit. In our case it is 50% of the weight of the structure, which can be met by recycling our foundation and concrete roofing tiles. Here's how to demo your house and save/make the most money possible.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Phone Book

1. Look in your local phone book- There is a section of the phone book that can direct you to local recyclers in you area by types of material to be recycled. Most materials that you will be recyling will be a charge to you, so make sure you find the best deal per ton.

2. Put an ad on your local classifieds (like craigslist)- We offered everything from roofing tiles, windows, doors, broken concrete and more online. The trick is to practically give the items away but make the buyers tear out the items themsleves. It not only prevented us from paying to dump the items, but it saved us labor and made us a few bucks as well. We even had people interested in our old insulation and used carpet! We made well over $2000 from our home items that we couldn't use in the new structure.

3. Hold a yard sale- You will be able to reach buyers that aren't as computer savy and have ready cash in hand. Our yard sale made us another $800 to add to our savings!

4. Pull out all your electrical wire and copper piping- A local salvage yard will pay you for these items. Just make sure to seperate the materials before you go. We were able to make $500 for our old pipes and wires. For everything else you need to dump, just call your local garbage company to arrange a garbage bin to be delivered to your dumpsite. It helps make clean up easier, plus it will motivate you to fill it up!

5. Once you get your house down to a shell, consider hiring a professional grader to tear down and recyle the concrete and lumber from your project. Our grader was able to do this in 1 hour! It would have taken us weeks to do this ourselves and when you factor the costs of the recycling, it was an expense well spent.

Tips & Warnings

• For everything else you need to dump, just call your local garbage company to arrange a garbage bin to be delivered to your dumpsite. It helps make clean up easier, plus it will motivate you to fill it up!

• Always make sure to wear protective helmets, eyewear, shoes and gloves before beginning your demolishion project.

• Be careful if you go onto the roof to remove materials and attach a safety harness to prevent falling.

• Watch children carefully in the construction site.

Resources

• Our home project