How To Bid Demo

slinger

I'm new at this. Our county needed a demo man and somehow I qualified. Can anyone help me bid these jobs? Mostly old frame homes; many with railroad ties for foundations. Some have concrete footings. None over one story. Will use 580 Case/thumb and 743 Bobcat/grapple with dump truck/trailer. Landfill less than five miles away. Thanx guys.

MattCoops

Just throw some grenades in there and pay rent-a-drunk to clean it up.

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denick

sling,

You are going against most tried and true demolition methods with the machines you mention. The basic elements of frame dwelling demo are, dismantle, crush, load. The machines you mention can do the work but you will need to be a finesse type operator. If you don't have filled tires you will need to.

From your post I get the feeling your talking about a small dump truck and a tag-a-long dump trailer. This would precludes you being able to pack material into them.

I only started to list some of the questions I would have about this work. You wouldn't be able to post a picture of a typical building?

To help you figure how to bid you'd need to post a lot more on the actual dwelling information, and your experience as an operator.

35 years ago my boss would give 3 hours from the time you got off the trailer until the time you got back on the trailer for the size building you described. Building removed and lot leveled. Using an Allis Chalmers 46,000 lb. Track Loader and 75 cy dump trailer.

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Nick

"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving" Albert Einstein

aWorkaHolic

Or you can call the local Fire station and let them know there are dwellings they can light up and practice on.

NorthstarNC

Slinger,

I too am not feeling the backhoe, but hey, if you can load it on the truck with the backy with thumb, go for it. The skiddy is a no brainer, it should work find (I second the foam filled tires). As far as answering your question, I personally would go hourly on it. Figure your hours per home, plus dump fee's and truck travel.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find out about county demo work, and how was the whole process handled?

Pearce Services

You said that they "need" you for this work. Given that there is a need, you should not be bidding against anyone, so you call the shots.

Stick with the hourly for a few until you get the feel for the real value of the work. Then start bidding fixed price with a higher margin once you understand your real costs.

Before you figure out any of this, make sure you are properly insured for this kind of work, and the cost of insurance is factored into every job you do.

Wolf

How old are these houses that you're going to demo?

Is there anything decent to salvage from them, or is it all trash?

slinger

Thanx for the replies, guys! You've helped me alot.

JCL

How do you calculate the tonnage of waste in a demo like that. If the job is a contract bid, what is a good rule of thumb for the tonnage.That's were you can loose your shirt in these demo jobs, those tipping charges can get out of control sometimes. Someone on this forum, I think, used the volume of the house x .15 to get the yardage for trucking purposes. I figure there is about 500lbs per yard of demo debris. What do the rest of you think.

Dmax Consulting

Demo work is a lot more complicated than it sounds isn't it? It sounds so easy. "Go and break that."

Now I am seeing there is a whole lot more to think about than how you are gonna break stuff.

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