Service 05
Residential Demolition
Residential demolition around Boston means working on lots that were laid out before anyone imagined an excavator — houses a few feet from the neighbour, a shared driveway, utilities running overhead, and a street too narrow for a container and a truck at the same time. The demolition is routine. Getting the equipment in, protecting what stays, and satisfying the town is the job.
What the job covers
- Houses, two- and three-family buildings, garages, additions, porches and outbuildings
- Full teardown to grade, or partial demolition where an addition comes off and the house stays
- Utility disconnection coordinated and witnessed before the work starts
- Protection of the neighbouring property, shared walls, fences and landscaping
- Foundation and slab removal, backfilled and compacted
- Site graded and left clean and safe
- Debris hauled off, with recycling where the job allows
What affects the quote
- How close the structure is to the property line and to the house next door
- Access — whether a machine and a container can both reach the site, and whether the street needs a permit to stage on
- Age of the building, which drives the likelihood of asbestos and lead and therefore the survey and abatement in front of the job
- Whether the town requires a demolition delay review, which several Greater Boston municipalities apply to older buildings and which can add months
- Whether the foundation comes out or stays for the rebuild
- Tree protection and landscaping the owner wants kept
Every job is quoted after we understand the site. Photographs of what needs to come down, and of how a machine would reach it, get you an accurate number faster than a description will.
Common questions
Before you call
What is a demolition delay bylaw and does it affect me?
A number of Massachusetts municipalities have a bylaw that lets a historical commission review — and temporarily hold — the demolition of a building over a certain age, commonly anything built before a set year. It does not stop the work, but it can add weeks or months, and it catches people out because it applies to ordinary houses, not just landmarks. Check it with the town before you set a date. It is the single most common reason a residential demolition slips.
Do I need an asbestos survey on a house?
For anything built before the 1980s you should assume yes. Siding, floor tile and its mastic, pipe insulation, roofing and some plasters are all common sources in New England housing stock. The survey is inexpensive relative to the delay of finding it after the permit is issued.
How long does a house take?
The physical teardown of a typical single- or two-family house is usually a matter of days once the site is ready. What sets the actual date is everything in front of it: utility disconnections, the asbestos survey and any abatement, the permit, and a possible demolition delay review.
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