Residential exterior demolition
Parts of the outside of the house come off, and the part that stays is left braced, sealed and weathertight.
When people call us about residential exterior demolition
- A rear extension is coming off before a new one goes on
- A porch, stoop or fire escape has failed
- A chimney stack is unsafe or redundant
- Cladding, render or a facade element has to come off before repair
What residential exterior demolition covers
- Rear and side extensions, conservatories and sunrooms
- Porches, canopies, stoops and external stairs
- Chimney stacks and breasts, taken down in sequence from the top
- Render, cladding and facade finishes
- Temporary weatherproofing and, where designed, bracing of the exposed elevation
The scar is the job
Anything removed from the outside of a house leaves a face that was never meant to be an outside wall. Where the extension roof tied in, where the floor joists were built into the masonry, where the flashing ran: all of it has to be closed properly. We plan the weatherproofing before we plan the removal, because a building left open to a New York winter costs more than the demolition did.
How residential exterior demolition runs
The same order every time, whatever the scale.
We walk the site
We look at what is coming out, what is staying, and how we get to it. Access decides most of the plan in this city: a fourth-floor walk-up and a loading dock are two different jobs even when the scope is identical.
We tell you which filing you need
Full structure, interior gut, or work small enough to sit outside a filing. You get a straight answer on which path applies and what it needs before we quote, not after you have committed.
Asbestos gets settled first
Anything built before April 1987 needs an asbestos assessment before a permit is issued. We arrange the investigator and the ACP-5 filing. This is the step that most often moves a start date, so we start it early.
We protect, then we start
Floors, stairs, lift lobbies and anything staying get covered before a tool comes out. Utilities are proved dead. Then the work runs in a set order, with the route material takes out of the building settled before any of it moves.
You get the site back clean
Loads leave covered, to a permitted transfer station, with documentation for each one. We sweep out and hand over a space the next trade can start in.
What moves the price on residential exterior demolition
Every one of these moves the number, so you can see what a quote is actually responding to — and tell us the ones you already know when you call.
- Whether the exposed elevation needs designed bracing
- Working height and whether a scaffold or platform is required
- How much temporary weatherproofing is needed and for how long
- Access to the rear of the property
- Whether the removal changes anything structural, which pulls in a filing
Residential exterior demolition: your questions
Will the house be open to the weather?
Not overnight. We only take off what can be closed the same day, and where a bigger opening is unavoidable it is sheeted and made secure before we leave.
Do you take chimneys down from the roof?
From the top, course by course, with debris brought down rather than dropped. Pushing a stack over is how you end up paying for a roof as well as a chimney.
Does removing an extension need a permit?
Frequently yes, because it changes the building envelope and sometimes the structure. We will confirm for your address before anything starts.
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Get a price for residential exterior demolition
Call and describe the job. Most of the time we can scope it on the phone and confirm on site.
Seven days a week, 7am to 11pm. Emergency calls answered around the clock.
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