What Does It Cost to Demolish a House?
There's no flat rate, and here's exactly what decides yours.
- THE SHORT ANSWER
- There's no flat rate. Two houses the same size on the same street can differ by thousands
- MOSTLY DECIDED BY
- Floor area, what the house sits on, what's inside it, and how a machine reaches it
- MEASURED IN
- Square feet of structure, not rooms and not bedrooms
- BIGGEST SWING
- Asbestos. A pre-1980 house needs a survey before anything is touched
- SECOND BIGGEST
- Access. A machine that can't reach the house changes the method
- USUALLY INCLUDED
- Permit, demolition, loading, hauling, dump fees and grading
- USUALLY EXTRA
- Asbestos abatement, septic tank removal, tree work, and fill dirt
- TIME ON SITE
- Two to five days for most single-family houses
- BEFORE ANY OF IT
- Every utility disconnected and signed off by the provider
- HOW YOU GET ONE
- Somebody comes out and looks, then you get a written quote. No charge
Every one of these jobs is priced from the property itself, so there is no figure on this page to mislead you.
251-415-4545Call and we will come and look at it. The estimate is free and you get it in writing.
Why nobody honest gives you a figure on a website
Search this question and you'll find plenty of pages with a number on them. Almost all of them are national averages built from thousands of jobs in other places, on other houses, and nobody can tell you whether yours would come in higher or lower.
Two 1,500 square foot houses on the same street can be thousands apart. One is on a slab with a driveway wide enough for a track hoe and nothing in it. The other is on piers, has a mature oak between it and the road, a septic tank in the side yard and asbestos siding under two coats of paint. The second is a different job. The square footage is the only thing they have in common. The square footage is the thing that varies least.
So instead of a number, here's everything that moves it, in the order it usually matters. If you can answer these about your house, you'll know before you call whether yours is a straightforward job or an awkward one.
The square footage is the thing that varies least.
What actually moves the number
Floor area, meaning the whole structure
Demolition is priced on the size of what's being removed, and that means the whole structure footprint, not just the heated living space a real estate agent lists. An attached garage, a carport, a screened porch and a shed all count. People are often surprised when the listing says 1,400 square feet and the demolition is priced on 2,000.
What the house sits on
When a slab-on-grade house comes down, the slab is broken out and hauled, which is heavy but simple. A house on piers, which is common here and everywhere near the water, has a crawl space, a brick or block skirt and footings under it, and all of that has to come out too. Raised houses along the bay and in the flood-prone parts of the county are a bigger job than their floor area suggests.
Asbestos, and why it's required
This is the single biggest swing on an older house. If it was built before about 1980, there's a real chance of asbestos in the siding, the floor tile, the mastic under it, the pipe insulation or the popcorn ceiling, and a survey has to happen before demolition starts. If the survey is clean, you've paid for a survey. If it isn't, licensed abatement happens first, on its own schedule, and the demolition waits. Nobody can price that before somebody looks.
How a machine gets to it
An excavator needs a way in, room to work, and a place to put the debris while it's being loaded. A house with a wide driveway and a clear side yard goes quickly. A house behind another house, on a narrow lot, with power lines over the driveway or a tree that has to stay, takes longer and sometimes takes different equipment. Access is the thing people never think about, and it's the one that most often changes the quote.
What's still inside
A house that's been emptied to the walls is just a demolition. A house with forty years of furniture, carpet, appliances and a full attic is a demolition plus disposal, and disposal is charged by weight. Clearing out the contents yourself before we arrive is the one thing that reliably lowers what you pay, and it's a job you can do with a roll-off dumpster and a few weekends.
Where the debris goes, and how far
Everything that comes off the lot goes somewhere and gets weighed on the way in. Distance to the disposal site is real money on a job that takes many loads, which is why a demolition in the middle of the county and one out at the edge of it aren't the same price for the same house.
What's left behind
A septic tank has to be pumped, crushed or removed, and the hole filled. A pool in the backyard is its own job, and we cover it on our pool removal page. A well needs to be capped to code. A driveway may or may not be coming out with the house. These aren't hidden extras. Some properties have them and some don't.
What's normally included, and what isn't
Quotes differ on this more than they differ on price, and comparing two that include different things is how people end up picking the more expensive one by accident.
Included as standard
- Pulling the demolition permit
- Taking the structure down
- Loading and hauling every bit of it away
- Dump fees at the disposal site
- Breaking out and removing the slab or the foundation
- Grading the lot flat and clean when we leave
Quoted separately
- Asbestos survey and, if it finds something, licensed abatement
- Septic tank removal or crushing, and well capping
- Tree removal and stump grinding
- Fill dirt brought in, if the lot needs building back up
- Utility disconnection fees, which the providers charge, not us
When you compare quotes, compare those two lists first. A lower number that stops at "take the house down" isn't really cheaper.
What you can do before you call
Four things, in the order they help:
- Start the utility disconnects. Power, gas, water and sewer all have to be disconnected and signed off before anything happens, and the providers work on their own schedule. This is the step that most often delays a demolition, and you can start it today.
- Find out roughly when it was built. That decides whether an asbestos survey comes into it, and the survey is the largest single unknown.
- Clear out what you want to keep. Anything still in the house leaves in a truck and is charged by weight.
- Take an honest look at the access. Can a large machine and a string of trucks get in and turn around? If not, tell us. Better to have it in the quote than find out the morning of the job.
How we figure out yours
Somebody comes out and looks at the house. There's no charge, and it isn't a sales visit. It's the only way to see the foundation, the access, the age, the contents and whatever else is on the lot, which are the five things that decide the number.
You get a written quote covering the work listed above, and anything conditional is spelled out as conditional instead of buried. If an asbestos survey is needed, we tell you before it's ordered and we tell you what it costs. If we find something once the work starts, which occasionally happens on an old house, you hear about it that day, not on the invoice.
Call 251-415-4545 and we'll set up a time to come out and look.
Questions we get asked
Do you charge for the estimate?
No. Somebody comes out and looks at the property, and you get a written quote.
How long does a house demolition take?
Two to five days on site for most single-family houses. Getting to the start date usually takes longer than the demolition does, because the utility disconnects and the permit run on their own schedule.
Who pulls the permit?
We do, as part of the job. What we can't do for you is the utility disconnects. Those have to be requested by the account holder.
Is the foundation included?
Yes. Breaking out and hauling the slab or the footings is part of the standard job, and the lot is graded flat before we leave.
What about asbestos?
A house built before about 1980 needs a survey before demolition. If it comes back clean, the job goes ahead. If it doesn't, licensed abatement has to happen first. It's the largest single variable on an older house, and nobody can price it without the survey.
Can I take some of it down myself first?
Yes, and clearing out the contents is well worth doing because disposal is charged by weight. Tearing into the structure is a different matter and usually isn't worth the risk or the time.
Do you demolish just part of a house?
Yes. Taking off an addition, a garage or a porch while the rest stays standing is a normal job. It's priced differently from a full teardown because the careful part is protecting what stays.
What's left when you finish?
A clear, graded lot with the debris and the foundation gone. If it needs building back up with fill dirt brought in, that's quoted separately.
Why won't you put a price on this page?
Because any figure honest enough to be useful would have to describe your house, and we haven't seen it. The national averages you'll find elsewhere are built from jobs in other places on other houses. We'd rather tell you what decides the number and then come out and figure out yours.
Where we do this
We take this work anywhere in Mobile County, AL and Jackson County, MS, and the yard is in Theodore, so most of the territory is inside an hour.
Older housing around Prichard, Chickasaw and the older parts of Mobile raises the asbestos question more often than newer building out toward Semmes and Grand Bay does.
Service area
Mobile Theodore Tillman's Corner Grand Bay Saraland Satsuma Creola Chickasaw Prichard Semmes Wilmer Eight Mile Moss Point Pascagoula Gautier