Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 16, 2011 10:24 pm I have had a look at the results I get when searching the Forum on demolishing a house and the little I could find was all part of blogs, looooong threads etc so I thought it might be an idea to start a thread specifically to pass on lessons we learnt in demolishing a house. It may never get read but it may also provide invaluable help. No idea if this thread has been started in the most ideal location so it might need consideration from a Mod. Some of this will likely be known to many already but may assist those researching the subject. Time frames that applied - I found that the fairly standard time frame that applied to much of anything was 6 weeks or 20 working days. If you use that for anything requiring assistance from an agency/council/service provider, you probably can't go too far wrong with those timeframes Services removal - gas, electricity, water, phone etc. Most services require you to fax/email off a form requesting the removal of the service. We got mucked around a little by one provider who, despite me faxing the form off to the number provided on the form I downloaded from their website, denied getting the fax, even though I had a transmission receipt. So I lost a few days there, having to fax it through a second time. It is worth making sure that you have arranged a final meter reading as most services providers will not contemplate removing the service until that has been arranged and the mandated period within which the service has to go does not start until the meter has been read. With the electricity company, I found it a complete waste of time getting a distribution company, Origin, TruEnergy, whoever to action the removal of the power supply. They don't seem to tell you this, they only distribute, they don't supply. The request to remove the meters and supply from the house had to be made to a supply company so all a distributor will do is forward the request on to the supplier. Again, we lost days here as the distributor will just send off the request once they bother getting off their proverbial, and the 20 working days does not start for the supplier until they get the form. Catch 22 starts to make complete sense after a little while. We should have saved the week and got a final meter reading and faxed the request off to the supplier in the first place. Water is a little different as you need water left on site for the rebuild, brickies need water. We moved our tap off the house back to the meter and clearly marked both with a star picket painted high visibility orange. The sewer waste pipe needs to be cut and capped. I used a plumber (a friend so friends rates applied) to do this, the demolition company said they would do it but I was not sure how or where they would do this. My mate said it was a good idea to make sure that you cut and cap it outside what will be the footprint of the new house, the plumber your builder uses will thank you for it. We marked the new end with a piece of yellow pipe stuck out of the ground but it didn't survive the demolition unfortunately. I will have to go back on site and mark it again. Telstra was one we forgot all about and to be honest, dealing with them made all other service providers seem like perfect models of service delivery without a doubt. Trying to get a sensible answer from anyone as to the relevant department was a nightmare. As best I can tell, Telstra will remove the phone cable off your house but there is a fee involved it seems. You have to arrange for Telstra to come out and quote the job, this will take up to 2 weeks, then another week to get that quote emailed to you, then once you accept that quote, they will come out and remove the line. Sadly, I am not making this up. The alternative is to get an electrician who has an Austel licence to cut the line at the fascia, coil the line up and tie it off to the pole out in the street. Council. Boy, talk about paying money hand over fist. You will need several things from Council. One is a tree removal permit (most likely). They will look at what trees you are seeking to remove, with us, they only concerned themselves with "canopy trees". What is deemed a canopy tree may differ from one local government to another. That permit required several copies of the demolition plan, the proposed building plans and lots of money. Took around 6 weeks to get the permit. As part of the tree removal permit, there will be a whole range of tasks you are obligated to do. We have to erect a "tree protection zone" or fence around trees that are remaining, that fence must be a certain height and so on and so forth. That has to stay in place for the duration of the build. One option we looked at is buying temporary fence panels that could be sold later but we decided to use a a couple of rolls of mesh and star pickets instead. We also had to get what is called a 29B Consent document. To obtain this, we submitted a 29A which goes to the Council Heritage Officer. They will come and view the buildings to be demolished and assess if they are worthy of heritage protection. Not so much of a concern in a 1960s suburb, but inner city areas might well be different. We also needed written advice on whether or not we needed a planning permit to demolish. If we needed the planning permit, then we would be told that verbally and we could skip this step. The 29B has to be provided to the demolition contractor as well as proof of ownership of the house and land. A planning permit is completely different to a building permit of course. We needed a building permit to demolish, our Council and I suspect all Councils, will not issue a building permit for a demolition to an owner builder. They will only issue one to a registered demolition contractor and it is issued to the company, not the address. What that meant in reality is simply this, unless time is no factor, you are a little trapped if you feel that you are better off going with another contractor rather than they one you decided to use first. You might well have to wait for the council to process the permit application a second time if you switch. But you still haven't escaped the clutches of your friendly local government. You need what is called and "Asset Protection Policy". This cost us $200.00 and the lodgement of a $1000.00 bond. It is required to provide protection to the kerb and gutter, any nature strip trees, crossovers and footpaths. Our Council by-laws prohibit the use of timber crossover protection so it is almost certain that the existing crossover is going to get destroyed in the demolition process. Ours did. Any damage that is apparent when seeking the return of the bond will be deducted presumably, we are yet to have that argument. I suspect that the fact that we have made an application to the Council to remove the existing crossover and install a new one will fall on deaf ears, we might well have to make good any damage that has been done. I took photos of every joint, crack and defect in the kerb, gutter and crossover with a camera that date-stamps the image file. I provided a copy to Council with the application and kept a copy for myself. But yes, there is still more. You will need to put up a temporary fence that covers the front of the block and also any side fences that are less than 5 feet in height. The COuncil demand it and it will be a condition of the demolition permit. Public liability would be a good reason to comply with this requirment I am sure. I rang many temporary fence suppliers and without fail, was told that the minimum hire period is 6 months. And the minimum length of fencing they will hire out is 30 metres. Happy to come out and install it for you, equally happy to come back 2 weeks later and remove it. That will still be 6 months rental please thank you very much. Not %$**^%$# likely mate. Not keen on giving you 6 months rental for 2 weeks use so that you can then re-rent it for another 6 months rental but 2 weeks usage to someone else. And so on. I am surprised that the ACCC have not taken a long look at this practice to be honest. A well known hire company will rent you precisely just the number of 2300mm long temporary panels that you need for just the length of time that you actually need it. For me, anything less than three weeks hire was going to be cheaper than a 6 month rental so it was cost effective to me, may not suit everyone. And after all this, you are now ready to get the demolition company on site. The actual demolition, once they actually start, does not take long at all. We demolished a single story brick veneer house with separate garage on a 17m x 33m block and the demolition, clearing, rubble removal and tree removal took 6 days. House, garage, trees, stumps, footings, decommissioned septic, concrete paths and driveway, all gone and nothing left to show what was once there but the occasional brick fragment, roof tile or other debris, none larger than a box of matches really. And for the brave souls who have persevered this far, thank you to you both for reading all this guff and it is now time to wake up! Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 4Sep 17, 2011 9:42 pm Great summary Ray. We went through it last year. When we went to our tender meeting in March, we were asked whether the sewer had been capped. Had no idea! The tender presenter said we should get it done, expect to pay $500.....got a local plumber to quote and it came back as $5000!!!! It was explained that it's a dangerous process with trenches and protection and so forth. At that stage, I thought to ring the demolition company and learnt that they had actually capped the sewer. Big relief. Dealing with Telstra was interesting but trying to get the neighbour's low crossing power line moved was indescribably frustrating. It happened eventually, and only in our timeframe because we pushed and paid an electrician to come and do it rather than wait for the power co. We needed to demolish in November, and in mid October the only time I could get the work done was 7 December. Oh, and the contact guy at the power co was only available by phone between 8 and 9am. Prior to issuing our building permit, the council sent us a letter saying we had to repair the crossover. They have a bond ond of $1800. Seemed a bit counterproductive to do repairs prior to building, finally got onto the asset protection people who agreed....they are still holding the bond, the builders told us we should get it back as they also pay a bond....council didn't seem able to cope with that. There will have to be a new crossover, but who gets their bond back? No one knows! So, many traps for young players. We never noticed the power line issue until the builder told us how much of a problem it was. Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 5Sep 19, 2011 8:27 pm Hi guys This info is so useful. Thank you so much. I am just getting a quote to have our house in Carlingford demolished. Didn't realise there were all these other things to worry about. Makes my head hurt ! Did anyone sell any of the bits of the house before demolition? Is this allowed once you engage the demolition co? I heard of a friend of a friend of a etc who sold all sorts of bits on ebay from the kitchen down to the skirting boards. KT KDRB Carlingford, NSW Building Garden Retreat with MDJH Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demolition 6Sep 19, 2011 11:45 pm KTKTKT Hi guys This info is so useful. Thank you so much. I am just getting a quote to have our house in Carlingford demolished. Didn't realise there were all these other things to worry about. Makes my head hurt ! Did anyone sell any of the bits of the house before demolition? Is this allowed once you engage the demolition co? I heard of a friend of a friend of a etc who sold all sorts of bits on ebay from the kitchen down to the skirting boards. KT We didn't sell any bits prior but did salvage a few bits for later use. Kitchen cabinets are going in my workshop, the hot water system and the roofspace central heating unit I took as they are both less than 2 years old. The demo company sold off the roof tiles and the floorboards and to be honest, good luck to them, by the time you get everything sorted and move out into your temporary residence, the last thing you will feel like doing is sorting this out as well I think, but good luck if you decide to do that. It might pay to be up front with your demo company that you are going to sell off bits prior to the demo, you will likely find that they quote with the knowledge that they will sell off some of the stuff and price that "income" into your price, there might be some dispute if there was a price agreed to demolish X, only to find out that they are actually looking at X minus Y. All the demo companies I approached did outline what they needed from me as part of the quote so it was pretty clear what I had to organize prior. The only other advice I might offer holds true for all service providers, get lots of quotes, I had a difference from low to high quote of around $8,000 so it pays to shop around. Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 7Sep 20, 2011 6:02 am Thanks Ray. I am very much one who will be very happy to hand over any extra hassles to the demo company. Moving after 13 years in the same house is freaking me out enough. I guess i was hoping someone would have found any easy way to offload some of the fittings but it is good to know it wont all go to landfill anyway. Our kitchen is only one year old- the beginning of a misguided foray into renovating that was never going to give us the house we really wanted. We were thinking of trying to use our kitchen cupboards in the laundry. There are a few things i might try to offload via ebay. We have fairly new BI robes with good heavy sliding doors. Someone might be able to use them. Ill definitely take your advice about being upfront with the demos and about getting multiple quotes. Thanks for the help. KT KDRB Carlingford, NSW Building Garden Retreat with MDJH Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 8Sep 20, 2011 6:06 am BTW i think it is a great idea to have this separate thread. It is one part of this build process that it has been hard to find info on. I guess demo companies cant afford flashy showrooms and enthusiastic sales guys like the builders can. Which is a good thing for us really.... KDRB Carlingford, NSW Building Garden Retreat with MDJH Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 9Sep 29, 2011 1:27 pm Great thread, excellent info. We will be demolishing a 1950s solid brick house in the near future. I do/did have intentions of selling off the roof tiles (clay terracotta with lichen for character) and even the bricks themselves (clinker) but now I'm not so sure. I did see a house recently with the roof tiles carefully removed. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has done this. I was going to start with our front fence, take it apart brick by brick, clean the bricks and stack them on pallets (approx 1000 bricks) and see if there are any takers. I know it would be a lot of work but I'd rather do that than go to the gym. Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 10Oct 15, 2011 12:57 pm Brilliant thread!! Great idea to start it Ray. We are in the same position as MCW and was looking up demos and salvages (or possibilities) and came across this thread. You are right, there is not much info just on this process. Ray - your excellent info at the beginning did frighten me a little, but definitely worth knowing this stuff. Thanks to everyone else who has made comments too - KTKTKT, MrsChatz, etc. I have just been on google (looking up how I can re-use part of our house), but didn't find much. Came across Drake Homes (but only SE Qld and NE NSW - we are in North Shore Sydney ). Some people suggested Gumtree or eBay, but I am not excited at the idea of the time needed to organise it all (on top of the house process and day job!). We don't want the money, just the clear conscience at recycling. If I find out anymore I will come back and post. Meanwhile on all the Council stuff - with our DA we also got approval for demolition (but after Ray's post I am going to check the paper work again to see if anything else I missed). All the connection stuff (Telstra ) sounds like it definitely needs a long lead time... Thanks again SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 11Oct 15, 2011 2:06 pm Here are two other threads on demolition / salvage that were useful: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=45127&p=698641&hilit=salvage#p698641 viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46028&p=696228&hilit=salvage#p696228 SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 12Mar 20, 2012 3:30 pm Thank you all, very usefull information indeed! Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 13Mar 20, 2012 3:56 pm I had forgotten about this thread till the post today. Well, the utilities were all fine for our demolition. But we had the demolition disaster from hell (which resulted in 2 months delay and us paying money to get the damage to the storm water pipe fixed). Won't rant here, more details on my thread. All dead and buried now though. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 14Mar 21, 2012 8:31 am Can anyone give me an idea of the timeline for demolition? How long before demolition will we need to move out? Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 15Mar 21, 2012 8:49 am We gave our whole house away, it ended up on the back of a truck into the sunset. Could possibly have sold the building but was not interested in negotiating with a prospective buyer. I think the mover sold it and good luck to him. Electricity - Got in touch with our supplier who sent one of their authorised Electricians to disconnect, Install a new pole ready for the new house = $1600. Water - House mover attached a tap at the meter, ready for adding of future pipes etc. Council - $500 DA fee. A no drama type of process. Sewer - Capped by the clearing company which they did whilst doing a final clear/level of the block, included in the land clearing cost. Telephone - I think the mover just cut it at the house. There is a wire sticking out of the ground, which I imagine the builders will use to connect to the new house, don't know for sure. Our biggest and most frustrating experience was the time taken by the mover from when we first advised him he could proceed (August) to when it was finally moved (November/December). An alternative to actual demolition which might be worth consideration in some circumstances. Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 16Mar 21, 2012 9:13 am kjag Can anyone give me an idea of the timeline for demolition? How long before demolition will we need to move out? We moved out 2 days before demolition. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 17Mar 21, 2012 10:14 am Thanks SunshineT. That was what I was hoping would be possible, but it must require supreme organization to get all the services disconnected in time for demolition. Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 18Mar 21, 2012 10:45 am kjag Thanks SunshineT. That was what I was hoping would be possible, but it must require supreme organization to get all the services disconnected in time for demolition. Probably. My DH was pretty organised and spoke with the utilities companies a few weeks ahead. But I don't think it was a big hassle at all. All we had to really organise was for final bills, and the demo company disconnected the electricity line. Our phone line was dug up in the process, which we expected, and water is still running to the site for the build process. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 19Mar 21, 2012 4:25 pm This is a fantastic thread Ray and thanks for sharing! It is a great idea to try and salvage what you can. You'll generally find that if you (as the owner) don't take what you can and exchange for money then the demolishers will. I had a property that I completely demolished except I decided to keep the granny flat out the back. I relocated it and turned it into a holiday house and it's now valued at $100,000! To check out the story read on at the below link... Re: Demolish a house - Dummies guide to a stress free demoli 20Mar 14, 2014 6:15 am Does anyone know how long it takes for a demolition permit? We have been waiting more that 24 working days and still no sign of it. I'm in the Monash Council area in Victoria. We had this happen to us last year and got charged a variation. Try and give away as much as you can that is usable to charity otherwise if you are in Sydney I have a… 1 4464 We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 13691 You’re on the right track, wire brush in a grinder then a zinc rich epoxy primer then a top coat of some sort, like a waterproofing membrane. Raising the concrete would… 1 7020 |