Some say demolition is clearing the way for progress. I used to believe that. When I was active in the business with my own company I would say at least 90% of the work I did was to clear the way for a new construction project.

I don’t think that is so today. Look at all of the plants being demolished nationwide with no construction to follow, auto plants, power plants, etc. Look at the hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide in need of demolition, with nothing to take their place, no proposed construction to follow the building removal.

The following is an article that appeared in a Detroit, Mich., newspaper this past November:
“The number of blighted homes and other derelict properties that have been razed this year is well below the 3,000 that Detroit officials had hoped to get done by the end of 2010. The Detroit News reported about 1,100 homes have been demolished, but 460 of those were taken down by Wayne County. The city has demolished 575 buildings, and most sites have not yet been cleared of demolition debris. It has completely cleared 50 lots.

The program has moved slowly from the start, and at one point was suspended because the city hadn’t obtained all of the necessary permits. Some progress has been made on buildings that haven’t been demolished. Mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana told the newspaper utilities have been shut off at a number of properties and asbestos removal is taking place at others.”

Interesting article, but in Detroit there are around 90,000 empty structures that may require demolition. They are not even scratching the service of the demolition problem and I’ve heard they will not. A Detroit native with knowledge of the demoliiton situation told me they are not going to demolish all of these structure because it would cause havoc in the city government. He reported the following:

• There is strong lobbying going on within the city to cut down on the demolition program because it could cause massive layoffs in city government;
• If all of the structures were demolished there would be no need for a large police department to patrol for vandals and stop looting in buildings that are no longer there;
• If all of the structures were demolished there would be no need for a large fire department to put out fires in non-existent buildings; and
• If they demolished all of these structures there would be no longer a need for a large public works department to repair and plow street that no longer have houses or buildings on them.

 

Which is more important, keeping city employees working or feeding the demolition industry? That’s a no brainer isn’t it?

Another item along the same line was in northern New Hampshire. Frazier Paper Co., the largest paper company in the state, has filed for bankruptcy. Frazier had a large plant in Berlin, N.H., which a couple of years ago was sold to North American Dismantling Co., Mich., for demolition. In the recent bankruptcy filing, the bankruptcy court put out for bid another plant it had in the area. There were two bidders. One bidder from Virginia put in a price to put the plant back into operation and hire local people. The other bidder was North American Dismantling.

Who do you think was high bidder? If you guessed North American Dismantling, you were correct. Does this mean American industry is now worth more dead than alive? There is a report the bankruptcy court is under pressure to accept the lower bid. If so, wouldn’t that fly in the face of creditor rights?

Another recent situation was in Trenton, N.J. The U.S. General Services Administration is trying to renovate a large structure in Trenton for government offices. It’s a multi-million dollar project. The project was left to a contractor, the work hasn’t started, and it is already behind schedule. The city of Trenton has had a large lay off in city government which has affected the Building Department. The permit section of the department is now only open only two days a week and only six hours on those days.

All of these politicians say they need jobs for their people, but in reality they are the ones stopping the jobs through time consuming regulations. Why don’t they just issue the permit and catch up with the details later. The GSA is not an agency that is going to disappear or is irresponsible. Get the people to work. By the time you read this article, it could all be cleared up.

Government
Some governmental actions are quite frustrating, and the following is a good example of it. In Charleston, W.Va., local officials disqualified a Michigan demolition company’s low bid because of a technicality and instead plan to pay an in-state contractor an additional $58,000 to demolish a building in downtown Clarksburg.

Dore & Associate, Bay City, Mich., was the lowest bidder for a contract to demolish the John W. Davis State Office Building, a six-story structure that has been vacant for years. The state Purchasing Division disqualified the company from consideration because a financial document the company submitted was certified using a gold sticker instead of a required raised seal, a mark akin to the raised seal on an official birth certificate. The state awarded the contract to Fairmont-based Reclaim, which is charging $58,000 more for the same work—removing asbestos from the building and then demolishing it.

Dore bid $619,200. Reclaim Co. bid $678,000. “For some reason they want to spend more money to get the same job done,” said Art Dore.

State records also raise questions about Reclaim’s qualifications for the job. A Purchasing Division request for bids on the contract requires companies seeking the Clarksburg demolition project have at least five years experience working on “projects of a similar size and type.” Reclaim is a three-year-old company, according to state records. The Secretary of State’s office reported it filed its business organizing information in July 2007.

While the company is a licensed contractor, the firm is not listed as a business that specializes in demolition projects, according to the state Division of Labor. A separate document from the state Department of Transportation does indicate, however, the company has a range of expertise, including “asbestos and demolition,” as well as site preparation and “public opinion polls,”  which is a designation the company apparently has so it can sell Rubble Master, a maker of  compact recyclers.

The company has done demolition projects, including tearing down buildings at the county fairgrounds. Reclaim also did asbestos removal and demolition work preparing the way for the new Gateway Connector in Fairmont. Dore suggested the 2007 incorporation date of the company alone raises questions about why state officials disqualified his company’s bid on a technicality but not Reclaim’s. Dore said the so-called surety bond the company submitted was valid, and all state officials had to do was call and check with its insurer, Western Surety Co.

“It’s a bond, it’s a good bond. Just because there isn’t a raised seal on it does not mean it’s a bad bond. They can call the bond company,” Dore said. “I think that call would be worth the $58,000 difference. Don’t you?”

Dore has sued the state to have the project awarded to Dore & Associates. I certainly support that action.

Bankruptcy
This is one of those stories not pleasant to hear. In Indianapolis, Ind., one of the area’s largest environmental contractors has declared bankruptcy. ESI Environ-mental Inc. filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on October 1. The firm listed assets of $41,466 and liabilities of nearly $35.3 million. The largest secured creditor, Churchill Capital Inc. in Minneapolis, is owed $16.2 million on a temporary bridge loan it provided to ESI.

Founded in 1992, ESI ranked as the area’s second-largest environmental contractor based on revenue, according to the most recent IBJ statistics. It listed revenue of $16 million in 2009, down from $23 million the previous year. Employee headcount also dropped during the period, from 103 in 2008 to 68 last year. ESI specialized in the treatment of non-hazardous wastewater, oil recovery and recycling, industrial cleaning, lab packing and environmental demolition.

Going Mobile
Demolition firms are on the move. They are not staying home hoping for work. They are out looking for it and traveling. The low bidder was almost 50% lower than the second bidder. How does the bonding company look at such discrepancies? The city of Enid, Okla., recently opened 13 bids received for the demolition of Convention Hall/Mark Price Arena.

Jackson Wrecking Co., of Enid, had the lowest bid of $120,000 with the project to demolish the building taking about 150 days. The highest bid was from M&M Wrecking, of Blanchard. Its bid came in at $696,800 and 150 days to complete the project.

Bids opened were:

• G&G Dozer, Caney, Kan., $319,000, 60 days to complete.
• Jackson Wrecking, Enid, $120,000, 150 days to complete.
• K&M Dirt Services, Oklahoma City, $243,591, 90 days to complete.
• M&M Wrecking, Blanchard, $696,800, 150 days to complete.
• DT Specialized Services, Catoosa, $224,088, 68 days to complete.
• Midwest Wrecking, Oklahoma City, $442,520, 215 days to complete.
• ARK Wrecking Co., Tulsa, $456,000, 90 days to complete.
• DEM/EX Group, Manito, Ill., $224,000, 90 days to complete.
• Dore & Associates Contracting, Bay City, Mich., $365,000, 120 days to complete.
• Intercon Demolition, Garland, Texas, $218,000, 60 to 90 days to complete.
• Lindamood Demolition, Irving, Texas, $335,900, 75 days to complete.
• Jordan Disposal Service/Gator Industrial, Asbury, Mo., $232,500, 90 days to complete.
• Precision Demolition, Lewisville, Texas, $275,000, 50 days to complete.

 

An upcoming demolition project that will require substantial capital and expertise shows that some markets are still alive. In New York City, the City Council committee approved Vornado Realty Trust’s plans for a 1,200-ft Manhattan skyscraper that is opposed by the owners of the nearby Empire State Building. The land-use committee approved zoning for 15 Penn Plaza on the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania across Seventh Avenue from Pennsylvania Station. Vornado, based in New York, has agreed to spend about $100 million on transit improvements in the area as part of rezoning approval.

“I’m thrilled to see the potential of thousands of new jobs being created at this project,” said Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Manhattan Democrat, in remarks prepared for a news conference before the full council vote. “This proposal is not removing the beauty of the Empire State Building from our skyline, or even diminishing it.”

Peter and Anthony Malkin, the father and son whose company controls the Empire State Building, said Vornado’s tower will mar the skyline. They asked the council to limit the building’s height and make it more slender. The skyscraper as planned would be almost as tall as the Empire State Building and sit about 1,000 ft west of where the landmark has reigned since 1931.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in favor of the tower, calling the proposal an expression of confidence in the city’s future. “Anybody that builds a building in New York City changes its skyline,” he said at a City Hall news conference. “We don’t have to run around to every other owner and apologize. I think this is something that’s great for this city. Competition’s a wonderful thing.”

The council’s land-use committee approved the tower by a vote of 19:1, with two members abstaining. The opposition vote and abstentions were based on members’ concerns that Vornado has not pledged to hire enough minority and women contractors on the project.

In Delaware, URS Corp. has been selected by 1743 Holdings, a subsidiary of the University of Delaware (UD) to oversee the demolition of the Chrysler plant. The 272-acre site was purchased for approximately $24 million in November 2009. The university plans to develop a new research and technology campus and use the site to reshape the gateway to the university from the south. Under the terms of the contract, URS will be responsible for the decommissioning and cleaning of process equipment and associated structures; abatement of asbestos-containing materials; demolition of site buildings; and removal, recycling and disposal of
all building materials. Approximately 95% of the material from the site will be recycled.

“UD is pleased to be working with URS on this important project. After a very competitive evaluation process, URS was selected due to the strength of its prior experience, safety record and willingness to utilize local resources,” said Jennifer Davis, vice president for administration, UD. It is anticipated that approximately 75% of the staff working on the project will come from the local area, including URS’ offices and locally based subcontractors. URS employs more than 100 people in its two offices in Delaware.

Substantial completion of the decommissioning and demolition is expected to be completed by November 2011. Community meetings will be announced and scheduled prior to start of demolition activities. Cleveland Wrecking Co. is a subsidiary of URS.

This employment ad was recently on the internet:
Project Foreman. Project/Program Management, Newark, Del., motivated individual interested in a supervisory role with a nationwide demolition contractor. Experience in small equipment operation, crew management, OSHA...from URS Corporation.

Does this mean URS will the demolition of the plant themselves and not use Cleveland Wrecking for the work?

Last year, I was an expert witness in a court case in which URS was suing Tetra Tech and Foster Wheeler over a demolition project it did at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver. It was a large demolition project and it didn’t use Cleveland Wrecking to do the work, they did it with there own forces and lost more than $10 million on the project.
 

Herb Duane is a long-time demolition contractor who is also an international demolition consultant. He founded the National Association of Demolition Contractors (now National Demolition Association), and has a regular column and breaking news regarding the demolition industry at www.demoli-tionforum.com. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Demolition Engineers, London, England. Duane can be contacted through his Web site www.demolitionexpert.com.

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