Wolf - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

jmic · 08-14-2007, 05:02 AM

I vote that you make Wolf a moderator for this demo section.

nitrox2595 · 08-14-2007, 10:14 AM

Any one do any demo, where the addons such as abatement, more than the demo itself?

Glasshousebltr · 08-14-2007, 11:01 AM

Yea ......thats what we need .......the wolf leading the sheep .....my kinda world.

tgeb · 08-14-2007, 04:09 PM

I think Wolf would be perfect for this job.

No one and I mean, NO ONE is more enthusiastic about demolition than Wolf.

Wolf · 08-14-2007, 06:59 PM

Gee, guys, I am really flattered that you would think of me for the demolition forum.

I would like to be moderator and happy to do it.

As you know, I do love demo--it's one of my favorite sports.

Why don't we kick off the forum by telling each other any kind of cool demo projects that we got going this summer.

MC Excavating · 08-14-2007, 11:34 PM

Most of my stuff is just the typical house or hardscape demo. Most of the demo I do is with our bobcats. We just rent when we nead bigger toys, I mean tools.

Nothing to special but I could post photos if anyone is interested. Im just realy busy right now between work and 2 young kids (2 year old and 2 month old). I barely have time to scan this site every couple of days.

Trencher · 08-17-2007, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf

Why don't we kick off the forum by telling each other any kind of cool demo projects that we got going this summer.

I demo'ed a mailbox with 5 M-80s when I was a kid. Does that count?

Milhaus · 08-22-2007, 12:00 AM

Demo on the mailbox counts.

How do you begin to bid demo work? I assume as any other job, how long is it going to take you to do the work? Are there any particulars? You probably still need subs, yeah?

For quite a while now, I've thought about running a used construction materials shop, get into the antique stuff, real 2x4s, maybe some green stuff etc, etc. Running the demo crew would keep the money in the loop.

Wolf · 08-22-2007, 05:31 PM

Hey, Milhaus:

Saving stuff is cool, but sometimes it costs more than the stuff is actually worth. Doors and things--you can get nice new ones so cheap at Home Depot, and you don't have to deal with the lead paint issues. What kind of crew are you going to run for demo and what kind or equipment, or are you thinking of laborers doing hand demo work?

JustaFramer · 08-22-2007, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf

Hey, Milhaus:

Saving stuff is cool, but sometimes it costs more than the stuff is actually worth. Doors and things--you can get nice new ones so cheap at Home Depot, and you don't have to deal with the lead paint issues. What kind of crew are you going to run for demo and what kind or equipment, or are you thinking of laborers doing hand demo work?

On the contrary the is a gold mine in used hardware. Residental stuff not so much that has been used in the last 30-40 years. Most is pretty much crap though newer stuff will sell. Now used commercial hardware is worth resale about 60-80% of new product.

Milhaus · 08-22-2007, 09:36 PM

RECYCLING stuff is cool. Sure you need to keep costs down, but if you can salvage and make it profitable, why not? The trick is all in making it cost effective when the bulldozer and the landfill are right around the corner. Seems to me there's a market there for folks looking for 'style' rather than the door from HD that everyone else has. Recycling building materials is part of LEED certification for commercial buildings. It makes sense to me.

I was thinking of laborers getting after it. I don't know how you can save a 2x4 with a bulldozer?

Or can you?

**framerman** · 08-22-2007, 09:52 PM

Couple places around here sell people on the barn board flooring. I GC'd a home where the HO hired a well known installer. He has been in many big name trade magazines.

He showed up with dry rot pine boards that really have no authentic value to it at all. Nailed it to the floor, poly'd it and charged $25/sf. Hammered the crap out of the surface, heights were varying 1/2", a nightmare for baseboard.

He's gotten repeat referrals from it.

tinner666 · 08-24-2007, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by framerman

Couple places around here sell people on the barn board flooring. I GC'd a home where the HO hired a well known installer. He has been in many big name trade magazines.

He showed up with dry rot pine boards that really have no authentic value to it at all. Nailed it to the floor, poly'd it and charged $25/sf. Hammered the crap out of the surface, heights were varying 1/2", a nightmare for baseboard.

He's gotten repeat referrals from it.

He wasn't hammering the crap out of the surface. He was antiquing it!

I was once putting stockade fence up. The owner was at my shoulder ALL day, every minute. I said he could help if he wanted. He said no, he was worried about messing something up. I finally missed a nail and dinged it! He started fussing, so I said it wasn't damaged, it was antiqued. After explaining that phrase, he grabbed a hammer and helped antique a lot of fence sections! One of my happiest customers, EVER!

Got many referrals from him too.

IHateJoeCool · 08-26-2007, 09:19 PM

The co. I work for does all municipal stuff, NYSDOT bridges, and emergency demo stuff in NYC, there's always someting collapsing, burning down, or falling over in Gotham City....
Be Safe,
JAY

Wolf · 08-26-2007, 11:20 PM

What kind of emergency demo do you get to do in NYC? That sounds really cool, even though you hate Joe Cool. Tell us about that emergency demo--what kind of structures, what kind of equipment and you must have had some crazy experiences. Thanks in advance for the info.

IHateJoeCool · 08-27-2007, 10:15 PM

Hello Wolf,
A few years ago we broke into the city and did work on the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway), the Bruckner, and Cross Bronx Xpressway, doing bridge demo, we had alot of our equipment staged in the boroughs, and the boys bid on a few "when & where emergency" contracts. We did some emergency fire wrecks, a bunch of tenement building collapses, we hauled out the debris when the 15 story retaining wall collapsed on the Henry Hudson parkway in 05, and even got in on the mix last year when some tanker trailers crashed & exploded and warped and collapsed 2 overpasses in Bklyn and the Bronx. We don't have anything special for machines, just a bunch of Kobelcos, Cats, High Reaches, American Crane, loaders, ect, ect, and a big bunch of demo dumps and tri-axles.
I got to load a bunch of Sanitation dump trucks (huge Macks) last summer clearing up after the doctor blew up his brownstone in Manhattan~that was fun, load em up they said, no one cares about an overloaded city dump truck when the big money in midtown need their high class street cleared out asap!
I don't know how long the contract was for, or if we've won anything else in the City lately, I tend not to hang out in the front office after work, if you know what I mean.....
Thats all I got Bro!
Be safe,
JAY

Wolf · 08-28-2007, 01:18 AM

Jay,

Yeah I remember when that doctor blew himself up in that townhouse. What a mess. A rich friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood showed me the site. That must have been a blast to overload the big city dumps. That is so true and pretty funny--nobody cares how overloaded it is if it is a city truck.

The Henry Hudson mess must have been quite a challenge too. You get all the cool jobs. That looked like a huge mess of rock on the Henry Hudson--did you dig out any of the pancakes--I mean cars---that were caught in the downpour. How did they look. Amazing that nobody got hurt in that one.

It sounds like your bidding for the city has been a huge success and you get called in for all the big news stories. Sounds like fun, man. You must be having a great time. Did you ever get on the news for any of the work that you are doing on those disaster sites?

Later, man. Thanks for the cool reply.

IHateJoeCool · 08-29-2007, 08:44 PM

Hello Wolf,
I think there were like a half dozen parked cars that got creamed. I remember watching it on TV from the hotel room (we were doing night work over in Queens), and then our foreman got us on the horn and moblized us, we worked overnight, and into the next day till we got at least the lanes cleared off, some of the retaining wall blocks just barely fit into a tri-axle. The best (un)qualified union(strong arm) contractor in city hall tradition did the rest. I'd love to know how the bidding process works in the city, it's a tough market to break into, that's for damn sure. What do i know, I couldn't bid a job to save my wife. Up, down, back & forth, how deep, to & from, and I didn't get that last hand signal, that's all I know.....
There was alot of local coverage of some of the jobs we did, I never saw my ugly mug come across the screen. Some of those NY1 girls though........Whhoo-Hoo!
Be safe,
JAY