Is demolishing old buildings really that expensive?

Hi,

A lot has already been written here, but I also want to briefly share my experiences.

So here in North Hesse, we are currently calculating around €25 per m³ of enclosed space. Of course, disposal costs for the resulting construction materials are added.

In general, material can remain on the property, but the rule applies that the soil must not be deteriorated. Currently, a permit is required for the use of RC material. At least 1 m of clayey soil up to the groundwater. Only material up to LAGA Z1.2 may be used.

It should be noted that from August the EVB [Ersatzbaustoffverordnung] will largely replace the LAGA and impose different requirements on analytics. This should be taken into account depending on the time frame.

If the material from the demolition is to be reused, investigations (contaminants) are absolutely necessary, especially if it is to be certified for reuse (soil mechanics). The effort is really only worthwhile in the case of larger demolition projects.

In November, we had 140m² including basement + 60 m² extension (already gutted) demolished and disposed of. We received 7 offers from local companies and also from MyHammer. The price range was between 21,000 euros and 72,000 euros! I would definitely recommend intensive comparison. There are obviously many scammers in this industry. The cheapest was a local earthmoving and demolition contractor with their own fleet and own recycling.

Was also partly basemented with about 100m² bungalow back then. From 20-60 TEUR. From janitor service to gardening and landscaping to general civil and structural engineering, everything was included. We then took the construction service mediated by the realtor, it was the second cheapest and seemed quite good at first, but then could not adhere to agreements and also did not call. He wanted to charge extra for corrections and almost did not make any corrections. But the flat rate was really a flat rate, so there was no extra bill for the landfill afterwards.

Strong talk about rip-off. We are also much more expensive than the sausage stand next door... so we make the customer an offer in advance and they can decide. If we're fully booked, then we just give the customer a moon price. Not giving any offer at all usually goes over very, very badly. If they then take the moon price, that's their problem.

You can buy yogurt from Gut&Günstig or from Biosowieso-Premium for five times the price. What's rip-off about that?

Oh, the demolition contractor who was awarded the contract is a reputable and not exactly small company from the area. The most expensive one was a shoddy outfit. We didn’t even specify a time window because we were under no time pressure. So he could have comfortably slotted us further back. In the meantime, we have been completely relaxed with the gutting and were totally flexible schedule-wise. Everyone involved knew that!

Where on earth are 50,000 euros price difference for the same service supposed to come from? Especially since the most expensive one asked twice afterwards what our decision was. He couldn’t have been that disinterested. As I said, the other five were well distributed between lowest and highest price. Quite a thing, huh?

For me, it was also the smallest (1-man janitorial service) that was the most expensive. No idea how the calculations are done there. I would say that the small ones rather take fewer risks and the large ones plan in big safety buffers. And then, of course, they have fewer economies of scale.
If you demolish 100 houses a year, it might be worth acquiring your own 10-ton excavator and corresponding personnel.
With 10 houses a year, you rent the machines and only order helpers when you absolutely need them.