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Old Communications Tower Tear Down

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PatsGoTheDist92

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi All,

I have potentially landed myself the most profitable job to date, so long as I do not go too far with overhead.

The job is tearing down an old communications tower and its base, removing any waste and scrapping the metal. The tower is 100' tall. According to the land owner/customer, it used to be a testing facility for primates back in the 70's, and has since been shut down.

I was hoping to go on here to clarify whether I am going about this project in the most cost effective and efficient way for the customer and myself.

I plan to take down the metal parts of the tower using a high reach excavator (somewhere between 80-100') and a shear/grabber attachment. I am thinking a 36" hydraulic bucket with the proper thumb would be ideal to remove the base area materials to drop into dumpster. I will use what ever the proper breaker attachment is for breaking the foundation slab.

The machine and all attachments will need to be round trip delivered.

I will use a dumpster for the waste, but wondering how large it should be (or multiple if necessary). The materials are mainly siding and wood with some metal, which is about 30'x20'x20'.

I am scrapping the metal, but I am only working with my base cab Toyota Tacoma, which is 4'x6' bed and my 4'x8' open trailer. If worst comes to worst, I do not mind going back and forth with full loads to the scrap yard. However, I believe I should push a larger dump truck rental as an option to get the scrapping done in a much shorter time. Just not sure customer would approve, as it is not a necessary cost of the job.

The job is in Harvard, MA, which I live 15 minutes from. The closest rental place I found so far which rents out specialty heavy demo equipment is all the way in Florida, NY (New Millenium Rentals, Inc). I should be hearing back from them about prices tomorrow or some time this week, so will give feedback once I have a response.

Ideally, I will get the customer to get his tree contractor to rid of the necessary trees and brush in front of the tower. I hope he understands this is a drawn out process in order to do it right.

I have attached a photo of the tower from the back side. I will see to it that I capture a better photo soon.

Please send any advice about the job or critique if I can be more effective/efficient with my plan. Also, if anyone has leads on other, closer and affordable rental facilities who speciliaze in heavy demolition equipment and high reach excavators and attachments that can deliver, please send the info my way.



Thank you and I look forward to the suggestions

Patrick Sullivan
(978) 549-0853
 

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#2 ·
i think you are in way over your head.

you had better find out how big the footings are for that.

may need to be blasted.

towers i have seen dismantled are done by using a jlg/genie skytrack stick and brought down slowly in a very controlled sequence.

your idea of munching with an excavator sounds extremely unsafe. how are you going to control loose/broken pieces that will come crashing down.

get an estimate on that excavator yet??...$$$$..if they will rent it to you.

hauling the metal in a little truck & trailer.... what is your time worth??

may want to see about dump trucks to transfer waste instead of dumpsters.
 
#3 ·
Your plan sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

Recently a local company that specializes in tower work lost an employee when a tower collapsed after they removed a bolt they were approved to remove. Trying to knock that one over with an excavator [emoji15] , is this going to be profitable because of the life insurance payout?

If you do manage to get it in the ground without killing your self I would call the metal recycling company and have them drop off and pick up the bins, you should still get a check at the end
 
#5 ·
take em down same way they went up...get a tower company to come in with a gin pole.

not meaning to pop your balloon, but your plan of attack with falling pieces...will kill or hurt somebody, or beat up/ding the rentals. you are aware most rental companies you're responsible for any repairs over normal wear and tear.

sheet metal and paint for excavators is like paying to get a mercedes fixed.
 
#6 ·
A 100' tower, an excavator with a 80' reach that you don't know how much it will cost, and a 4' x 8' open trailer. The list of things that can go wrong is just about endless.

The best next step for you is to sub it out to someone who is experienced in removing towers and be thankful it does not cost much more than you get paid
 
#7 ·
On a job like this... making sure it doesn't cost the owner too much, should be your last priority. Safety is your first. Efficiency is your second.

Are you a large construction salvage outfit? You don't even have any heavy equipment. A 4x8 trailer is something you might consider using to take a large roofing job to the dump, not a job if this size.

Do you have cutting torches and related metal working gear? These things aren't made to just pull apart with an excavator. They are made to withstand earthquakes and hurricane force winds. I see you munching a part out and then it pivots on the remaining part and you have a 2 ton piece of steel falling 100 feet and impaling you through the cab.

I've talked to guys who have pulled down 40 foot HAM towers and it was a biggish deal. This is in a whole different ballgame.

Then again, it's only 100 feet tall. What could go wrong?

With all that said, I applaud your ambition. However, in this case ambition could get you or someone else killed.



Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
Warren said:
I think you just save the money on equipment, and start at the bottom. I would bet that if you unbolted a leg, you could probably get a long chain (110' at least), tie it to your truck and gun it. After it is down, the rest is just unbolting, cutting, and loading.
Click to expand...
only 10 ft of insurance? :blink:
 
#16 ·
Wanted to sign on and make a couple of easy jokes about this bat sh!t crazy plan, but it occurs to me that someone could be easily killed so I'll skip 'em for now.

The potential energy (dig into your high school physics book for a refresher on that one) contained in that tower is nearly incalculable. And you're gonna just start pulling the pins that hold it all back..... Bad call.

And you were planning to haul all of this with a Tacoma and a trailer the size of a piece of drywall?



www.phdmaintenance.com


www.contractorsupply.com
 
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