DEMOLITION: TIPPING FEES EAT 20 TO 30 PERCENT OF THE JOB
Landfill tipping fees and hauling account for 20 to 30 percent of total demolition project cost, and tipping fees jumped roughly 10 percent this year to a national average near $62 per ton. A residential teardown alone generates 50 to 150 tons. A bid built on last year's gate rate donates the increase.
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.
Covered in full in the quick answer above. The sourced numbers and what controls it are below.
THE COST, SOURCED.
"Landfill tipping fees and transportation costs may account for 20-30% of the total project cost." (O'Rourke Wrecking) "Tipping fees jumped 10% this year to a national average of $62.28 per ton." (Design Estimation, 2026)
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.
