DEMOLITION: THE HAZMAT SURPRISE
Asbestos, lead paint, PCBs in old ballasts and transformers, refrigerants in abandoned HVAC. Discovery mid-demo stops the machine, triggers abatement protocols, and adds $2 to $3 per square foot billed separately, and up to $2 to $7 per square foot over baseline in heavier cases.
This page covers one problem. The full picture for this trade, including the other places margin leaks, is on the demolition operating system page.
WHERE THE MONEY GOES.
Asbestos, lead paint, PCBs in old ballasts and transformers, refrigerants in abandoned HVAC. Discovery mid-demo stops the machine, triggers abatement protocols, and adds $2 to $3 per square foot billed separately, and up to $2 to $7 per square foot over baseline in heavier cases. Residential comparisons show the swing: roughly $20 to $30 per square foot with substantial asbestos versus $7.50 to $12 without.
THE NUMBER TO MEASURE IT AGAINST.
Demolition contractors run about % net profit at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 7% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is10%, set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher. A problem like this one lives in the distance between those two figures rather than in a loss on any single job.
Gross margin over the same bands runs % to 22%, against a CFOS target of 10%.
THE SYSTEM THAT FIXES THIS.
Cost codes built against the estimate, so a job can be read while it runs.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
