Demo Day on a Remodel: What to Pay and How to Plan It

Why demo is the day to hire help

Everything after demo needs a skill. Demo needs care, muscle, and a dumpster. It is the one part of a remodel where two extra people cut days off the schedule for the price of a couple of day rates.

It is also the part contractors bill at their full rate to have somebody swing a bar, which is why doing it yourself with help is where most of the savings on a small remodel actually live.

Before anybody swings anything

This is the checklist that keeps a demo day from becoming a repair bill.

• Kill the power to the room at the breaker, and verify it.
• Shut the water off and drain the lines if a bathroom or kitchen is involved.
• Know what is load bearing. If you are not sure, stop and ask somebody who is.
• Have the dumpster on site that morning, not that afternoon.
• Cover floors and doorways you are keeping, and seal the room off from the rest of the house.

The age of the house matters

Anything built before the late 1970s can carry lead paint, and asbestos turns up in old tile, flooring adhesive, insulation, and popcorn ceilings well into the 1980s.

You cannot tell by looking, and a hardware store dust mask is not the answer to either. If the house is old and the material is suspect, get it tested before demo rather than after somebody has made dust out of it.

What to pay and how long it takes

Demolition pays at the top of general labor because it is dirty and physical. Look up demolition for your metro on the Daily Pay Finder for the local figure.

A bathroom gut is usually a day with two people. A kitchen is a day or two. Flooring across a couple of rooms is a day if it comes up cleanly and considerably longer if it is glued.

Say the hazards in the post

Tell people what they are walking into: the age of the house, whether there are stairs, whether the debris goes to a dumpster in the driveway or gets carried out front.

Supply the eye protection, the dust masks, and the gloves, or say plainly what you expect them to bring. Boots and gloves are theirs, everything site specific is yours.

Book the haul off with the demo

The mistake is booking labor for the tear out and nothing for the debris. Half a demo day is carrying, and a pile in the driveway on Sunday night is a second problem.

One crew, one day, dumpster on site. That is the version of this that comes in on budget.