Demolition Services in the Catskills & Hudson Valley

How a Demolition Job Actually Goes

Before anything comes down, a few things have to happen. Power, gas, water and phone service to the building need to be shut off and disconnected by the companies that provide them. Older buildings may need an asbestos inspection first, since old siding, flooring and pipe insulation can contain it, and it can't just go in a dumpster. Most towns also want a demolition permit. Justin will talk through what your building likely needs on the site walk.

Then the machine goes to work, pulling the structure in on itself instead of out toward anything you want to keep. Debris gets sorted as it comes down: metal in one pile, wood in another, concrete and block in another. That matters because disposal is priced by material, and mixed debris is the most expensive kind to get rid of. Last comes the part people forget: getting the foundation and slab out, filling the hole, and grading the site.

Foundations, Slabs and What Hides Underground

The building is often the easy part. Old foundations are where the time goes. The fieldstone foundations under older Catskills houses and barns come apart stone by stone, and concrete walls and slabs have to be broken up. Clean concrete and stone can sometimes be reused as fill on site if it's placed properly, which cuts down on trucking.

Precision counts here. One customer had old foundation walls that had been neglected for 20 years, and Justin cleaned them out in less than a day.

Then there's what you can't see. Old farmsteads and camps can have buried oil tanks, abandoned wells, cisterns, dry wells and old septic tanks. An old septic tank should be pumped, then crushed or removed and filled, not left to collapse someday under a lawn mower. If the new house is going on sewer, see sewer and septic excavation.

What Does the Cost of Demolition Depend On?

Mostly size, materials and disposal. A wood shed with no foundation comes down quickly. A block garage with a slab, or a barn on a stone foundation, takes longer and produces heavier debris. Disposal fees, trucking distance, asbestos work if it's needed, and how close the building sits to things that must survive all move the price. Justin gives you a straight price after seeing it.

Access matters too. A barn in an open field is simple. A garage wedged between a house and a steep bank, or a camp at the end of a narrow wooded road, means smaller bites and more careful work.

Preparing for Demolition Services, and What Not to Do

Empty the building of anything you want to keep, plus household trash, paint, chemicals, tires and fuel, which all need separate disposal. Get the service disconnects scheduled, tell Justin where the septic and well are, and decide what comes next: new construction, a garden, a lawn. That decision sets how the hole gets filled and graded.

A few mistakes to avoid. Don't pull a building down yourself with a truck and a chain; walls fall in directions you didn't plan. Don't bury mixed demolition debris on site. Wood rots, voids collapse, and you're left with a sinkhole that can cause trouble when you sell. And don't leave a foundation hole open over a season, because it fills with water and becomes a hazard. Once the site is clear, grading and landscape prep or site excavation for the next build can start right away.