While demolition seems simple from the street, the timeline can shift quickly once work starts. By planning ahead for the most common delays, you will help protect the schedule and budget. This manual will help identify risks early and build the appropriate buffers into your plan.
Permit Delays Explained
Permits are not a simple signature stamp; they are a check list encompassing utility, safety, and the neighborhood. Even when you submit a complete package, the reviews, whether in parallel or sequential, can become several weeklong. Allow extra time for permitting around holidays or at peak building season due to backlogs.
- Missing or outdated utility shut-off letters, site plans, or surveys can trigger a rejection.
- Historic or environmental reviews sometimes require your team to take photos, notify neighbors, or mitigate encroachments.
- Disconnects of utilities such as gas, power, and telecom usually run on their own schedule which slows your start time.
- Many jurisdictions will not approve your work without having an asbestos survey constrained.
- A project review process has significant concerns with scope of work (e.g. partial demo vs. removal of structure).
Tip: Schedule delivery of your roll-off dumpster with the longest permitted span to help avoid dumpster fees if your project gets delayed.
Weather Interruptions
Weather (read more here) impacts every aspect of the project. Rain can not only stop work but can change the entire approach to the work. High winds can make mechanical demolition unsafe, and inclement weather can turn access point paths into mud preventing trucks from accessing the site. Extreme heat or cold can reduce the time the crew can safely work or slow the breaking up of concrete and create challenges to implementing erosion control. Read more on this page.
The schedule should have built in flexibility for storm delays especially during storm seasons. Have gravel or mats available to stabilize access, so debris trucks and equipment can safely move. If a front is moving in, keep in contact with your debris removal service to discuss moving pickup days.
Unseen Structural Issues
After the first wall is taken down, the building starts to tell its story. Altered additions, illegal remodels, and undersized footings can upend your plan. You may need to stop and review the demo sequencing, shoring, and trade-shift supervision before continuing.
- There may be buried cisterns, septic tanks, or other unforeseen foundations that will require excavation and backfill time.
- There may be signs of termite damage or dry rot that will lead to premature collapses and require additional exclusion zones.
- If you find live or misrouted utilities in the walls that have not been locked out/tagged out and/or notified with the utility, the work will have to stop, and utility personnel will need to be contacted.
- There may be masonry tied into a theory wall, referred to as a party-wall condition, which can complicate demolition and will require hand demo and protection.
- If there are steel or post-tensioned members not depicted in your drawings, then you will need a different cutting method and safety controls to remove them.
If you coordinated same day hauling for appliance and fixtures, consider lining up contingency help. Local crews offer appliance removal Post Falls, and they will pivot when surprises happen and change your order of operations. For reference to qualified local service area, see below for the JTC Demolition Post Falls service area map:
Hazardous Material Discoveries
Sometimes we will discover Asbestos, Lead Paint, PCB ballasts, mercury switches, or refrigerants during the demolition project -even after a basic survey. Should this situation arise, your team will need to stop, cordon off the area, and bring in licensed abatement. Those disposal routes and chain-of-custody documentation and manifests take time — but they also will save yourself from fines and liability.
Do not forget to plan for testing in suspected areas that you could not gain access to during bidding – hiding behind tile or possibly crawl spaces, for instance. Allocate a small amount for abatement so that the work does not have to wait to be repriced. One other note: junk hauling and regular dumpster services are not for any regulated waste. Be sure to adhere to your jurisdiction’s construction waste management protocols including permitted facilities.
Equipment Breakdowns
Iron breaks. While there is a difference between loss of work time of a day vs loss of work time of an hour — preparation. Give a little extra redundancy to your fleet plan and make the parts needed for your leaders available before your start date.
- The most usual issues that take excavators out of service are hydronic leaks, blown hoses, and electrical failures.
- Thrown tracks, broken buckets, and dull shears slow production time and increase maximum fuel burn.
- Getting loaders or roll-off trucks when the flat tire occurs will leave debris on your site and delay pick up.
- Fuel contamination (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/fuel-contamination) and dead batteries appear when the weather swings or the machine sits too long.
- Waiting on specialty attachments or benefits from rentals will take most of your workday.
To reduce prestart estimations, if possible, spare wear parts on site and clear callouts to your rental partners would be helpful. Do dispatch your roll-off for a timeframe that if it is possible, it will be flexible — it is helpful to have a backup container in the event loading slows down. Plan labor for a site clean-up crew if there is a delay since repairs or replacement would be a while before you can continue – or a junk hauling partner, as they can help keep anything from piling up if your main machines are down.
Conclusion
Demolition schedules elongate for reasons that can be planned for – and paid for. With a permitting and inspection process that is ‘issuable’, pay attention to the forecasting, expect facades and beams or other hidden structure weirdness, follow through remedial rules to the letter, then rely on your fleet and rolloffs with back ups. With intelligent buffers and responsive partners, you will feel safe and control costs – and move to your targets.
