r/Demolition

I was just quoted $18k for a single wide demolition in Middle TN. Am I crazy for thinking that is insanely high?

Every demolition project seems to have one story that nobody saw coming. sometime it's a crawl space that hasn't been touched in decades. sometimes it's evidence of rodents long before anyone realized they were there. other times it's hidden nests, unexpected damage, or something that brings the whole job to a stop while everyone figures out the next step. The older building, the more likely it seems that something unexpected turns up. For those who have worked on demolition projects, what's the one discovery you'll never forget?

Was it something you expected once the walls came down, or did it catch everyone completely off guard?

For context: I work with AMPM Exterminators in King County, so occasionally see the pest side of demolition projects. Mostly interested in hearing the stories other contractors have run into over the years.

In my area ive just noticed 2 distinct companies that seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

Both the owners graduated from the same local community college I attended…both in unrelated fields (one was a marketing grad and the other was an hvac course)

The one owner worked for a demo company for only 2 years and now hes been in business 4 years for himself and he has a whole fleet of trucks/machines/bins & a small team of fulltime staff….he is winning big contracts and from what i can tell he isnt a nepo baby….

The other one was doing like tech sales/account management and then his resume randomly says “owner” and its been 3 years and he is top ranked on google and is crushing it winning contracts. I think he rents his machines, but he definitely is doing well and has a fulltime staff aswell, he doesnt look like he came from money/family connections either.

Is there some secret sauce here? These two kids with basically no experience in commercial demolition are winning massive contracts. Obviously they have hired a team of experienced people, but im just so confused how they could even get to this level. Like how did they start?

Reading their about pages is basicaly generic fluff…how did they get to this point? How were they even qualified to do the jobs in the early days?

Sorry if discussed already but im mew to this sub. What is a good tool to cut up and old house roof/walls? Chainsaw pulls so fast when hit a nail. Sawzall is nice but seems to overwork it, unless there is a badass blade I dont know about out there. Any suggestions?