Easing the costs of demolition in Michigan, USA

By Tim Cook, Wixom, USA

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In the state of Michigan, USA, the financial costs of demolishing a manufacturing facility that was built in 1901 have been eased by Golder's understanding of some of the building's valued components.

Demolition costs at this Michigan, USA facility have been partly offset by the sale of component materials for recycling.

In many demolition projects, some costs of the work can be recouped through the sale of materials. The challenge for many property owners, however, is understanding the full value of the materials so contracting companies do not resell the components without the property owner seeing at least some of the proceeds.

At the demolition in Michigan, Golder's professionals prepared the project scope-of-work and specifications and helped Electrolux Home Products, Inc. select a demolition contractor. The team then designed and negotiated a process for handling metallic scrap and other building components that returned a fair, guaranteed value to the client for materials that were recycled or sold for reuse. These building components included structural steel, sheet-metal siding, furniture, equipment and timber.

As a result, the client was able to reduce the net cost of the demolition project by 65 percent so that the revenues from recycling and reselling the building's components paid for much of the demolition costs.