Updated: August 23, 2021
Reviewed by Cati O'Keefe, Expert Home Building & Sustainability Contributor.
Written by HomeAdvisor.
Cost to Demolish a House
Demolishing a house costs an average of $18,000, though the price can be as low as $3,000 or as high as $25,000, varying on many factors. The house size, location and potential hazards may all impact your final cost.
On This Page:
The cost to demolish a house per square foot ranges anywhere from $2 to $17 per square foot, with an average between $4 and $15. For a complete teardown of a 1,500-square-foot home, rates can range from $3,000 in a rural area to $18,000 in a densely-populated city. A complete demo of a house and its foundation or basement can cost much as $25,000. The price is based on several factors including the size of the structure and whether it has additions, the presence of toxic materials like asbestos, required permits and inspections, and waste material clearing.
The cost of removal can vary based on the area lived in and the typical labor wages in the region. While the estimate above puts a price tag of $18,000 on bulldozing a 1,500-square-foot house, that same work could run anywhere from around $4 to $15 per square foot. Using that range, for example, a 1,200-square-foot home could be between $4,800 and $18,000.
Since most demolition pros charge by the square foot, getting an accurate measurement of the property can give you an overall idea of the expense. Your final project cost will vary depending on whether the process is manual or requires heavy equipment.
| House Size in Square Feet | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1,200 | $4,800 - $18,000 |
| 1,500 | $6,000 - $22,500 |
| 2,000 | $8,000 - $30,000 |
| 2,500 | $10,000 - $37,500 |
| 3,000 | $12,000 - $45,000 |
It's critical to ensure that gas, water and electricity are shut off prior to starting. Additionally, your pro needs to address plumbing pipes, HVAC units, and electrical wiring and outlets. If you're bulldozing an entire structure, it's important to disconnect gas, water and electricity lines. If you're only knocking down a few walls, you'll still need to shut off these utilities so your contractor can remove, reroute, or replace any wires, pipes or HVAC lines. The cost to hire an electrician at $50 to $100 per hour is well worth the investment for safety's sake and may be required by code.
You will need to invest in safety gear when tearing down a home. Tape off and clearly mark all construction areas. Make sure outdoor areas are lit with floodlights during evening work hours.
If you're assisting in any part of the process, it's important to wear protective clothing, gloves, work boots, goggles and a hardhat. If you will be working on the roof, use fall protection gear.
To protect those who will be onsite at any period during or after the teardown, provide masks and fabric mats or cardboard to line walkways so workers can distinguish between safe and hazardous paths. When hiring professionals for the job, be sure to ask if they intend to supply and install site preparation materials.
Rebuilding a house costs most U.S. homeowners between $125,000 to $452,000 in addition to the demolition charges. What you plan to place on your land after demolition will impact the cost of the teardown.
Working with an architect before the house is torn down can be a huge time and money saver. A local architect can work with your demolition contractor to decide if any parts of the structure, plumbing, wiring, or ventilation should be spared, whether it remains standing on the lot or is set aside to be reused. The national average rate for an architect is about $5,300.
The national average cost to eliminate asbestos is about $2,000. Hazardous waste can greatly impact the cost of clearing debris. Many older homes contain asbestos, and there are special fees and considerations associated with its removal and disposal. As it ages, the material’s texture becomes flaky, making it susceptible to becoming an airborne toxin that poses risks to human and environmental health. For this reason, a house contaminated with asbestos cannot be torn down without proper handling.
It's crucial that all asbestos is removed prior to a demolition project of any size. A pro must extract asbestos from the home and also disposed of it properly. Since there are rigid guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local, state and federal codes in place for working with this toxin, it's imperative that you enlist a professional contractor to perform this type of work.
Hire a Demolition Professional
Expect to pay an upwards of $24,000 for a partial demolition. This is often necessary for homeowners who are doing major home remodels, such as tearing down an outside wall to expand a room or breaking down non-load bearing beams. Check with your hired professional as this expense is often eligible for a tax write-off.
| Type | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Garage | $2,000 - $9,000 |
| Swimming Pool | $2,700 - $19,000 |
| Deck | $30 - $50 per square foot |
| Chimney | $4,000 - $10,000 |
| Shed or Barn | $50 - $100 per hour |
| Roof | $4 - $5 per square foot |
| Driveway | $1,500 - $5,000 |
| Foundation | $1,000 - $5,000 |
| Interior Walls | $1,200 - $5,000 |
| Additions | $50 - $100 per hour |
Many garages have electrical and plumbing considerations, so the cost can vary from $2 to $6 per square foot, or roughly $2,000 to $9,000. A partial demolition might entail:
- Tearing down drywall from one or more garage walls but keeping the inner frames intact.
- Removing one or more walls in their entirety but maintaining at least part of the original structure.
- Cutting into the walls or the ceiling in order to install or access internal wiring.
Swimming Pool
Swimming pools can be a complex building project in both installation and removal. The average cost to remove a pool falls around $5,000, or between $2,700 and $19,000. You can use many different methods to remove a swimming pool, such as filling it in fully or partially, or using an engineered or non-engineered backfill.
If a house has an unsound ground-floor deck, your safest option is a partial demolition and rebuild. Depending on the deck design, a partial deconstruction will run about $30 per square foot. An elevated deck may result in additional fees due to height and any added materials it requires to keep it above ground, averaging about $45 to $50 per square foot to eliminate.
Chimney
The price of chimney removal falls within the $4,000 and $10,000 range. The final project cost depends upon several factors, including whether it extends into the basement, or whether it is bolted onto or built into the structure. Be prepared to pay additional fees to repair any roof damage that may occur during the chimney's removal.
The estimated cost of tearing down a shed or barn vary between $50 and $100 per hour depending on building size, ease of access to the site, and the amount of debris that needs to be cleared. While this may seem like an easy job, the building material may require extensive equipment for demolition. The structure will need to be dismantled, and the pieces will need to be hauled away for disposal or set aside to be reused or sold. See the below "disposal and cleanup" section for more information.
The rate for demolishing and reconstructing a roof can be between $4 and $5 per square foot or $45+ per hour for labor. The price will vary based on whether you are demolishing the entire roof deck or just failed parts of the roof. Hard-to-access rooftops and complicated or ultra-steep rooflines can cost more.
The cost to demolish a concrete driveway is $1 to $2 per square foot. Extracting a driveway is a multi-step process, which requires breaking the concrete or asphalt, hauling away the debris and leveling the site.
The average cost for a complete foundation removal runs between $1,000 and $5,000. This may sound like a bargain considering that the average foundation repair runs $5,000 to $7,000, but if you plan to rebuild, you'll need to grade the site (flatten out the land) before laying another foundation. Site grading costs $500 to $7,700, and a new foundation has a price tag of $8,500 on average.
Partial interior demolition costs can range from addressing dangerous situations like getting rid of mold-ridden kitchens to remodeling unused spaces, such as oddly shaped closets or small rooms. The average price of razing interior spaces ranges between $1,200 and $5,000.
Demolishing a home addition costs between $50 and $100 per hour in labor costs. A poorly constructed addition or extension is another very common reason for a partial demolition. If you have a generally solid house, it might be cost-effective to raze just the section (or sections) that are failing.
Hire a Pro For Your Home Demolition Project
The cost to tear down a mobile home depends on the size, materials and method of removal, but most experts estimate around $4 per square foot. They can often be torn down or hauled away using their chassis in as little as one day. Of course, you'll want to be sure you are well-educated on the type of mobile home you are working with. This is a job best left to the professionals to ensure the project is done properly and safely.
Commercial demolitions distinguish between economic enterprises and living quarters. Examples of economic or commercial units would be office buildings, restaurants and other businesses like general stores.
The average cost per square foot for a commercial demolition decreases as the square footage of the project rises, but the general national average is $4 to $8 per square foot. The national average price for the demolition of a small restaurant of 1,000 square feet is $1,400 to $1,700. This is higher than that of residential, which falls between $2 to $7 per square foot, or $2,000 to $7,000 to get rid of a 1,000-square-foot house.
For a medium-sized project, such as a 10,000-square-foot building, expect to pay between $40,000 and $80,000. These costs do not include the cost of disposal and cleanup of the demolished materials, nor do they include the price of permits needed to begin the project.
The factors that affect residential demolition prices also affect commercial demolitions. Some of the most common influences include project size, types of materials that need to be deconstructed, whether hazardous materials exist, and labor and rental costs for bulldozing leftover waste products, such as a concrete foundation. Remember to budget for trucking debris to the landfill and associated dumping fees.
Before or during the estimation process, it is important to know what permits and inspections are required for the project. Most demolition building permits cost $50 to $100. Different ordinances in cities and counties could require permits for both partial and full demolitions of any structure, from a house to a barn or shed. A licensed, reputable contractor will get all of the required permits for your project, but you should find out what they are and how many you'll need so you can budget accordingly.
- Demolition means removing the structure as safely and efficiently as possible, often with a variety of machinery like forklifts and sledgehammers.
- Deconstruction crews will salvage reusable materials and structural elements of the home prior to leveling it. Often these pros leave the foundation intact because it can’t be reused, and you will be responsible for getting rid of it.
- Benefits include being able to keep select materials for a rebuild, selling them for a profit, or recycling them. This can help mitigate the negative impact dismantling a home has on the environment.
- Usually results in a tax write-off, with some cases allowing for as much as $30,000-$45,000.
Disposal and Cleanup
Your contractor will let you know if disposal and cleanup are part of their services. If so, this fee should be listed in your contract but typically falls in the $300 to $1,800 range. Alternatively, some contractors hire professional hauling services or let you know that it's your responsibility to hire a cleanup crew. The average rate to hire a debris removal service is about $400 to $800 per truckload of waste material.
Hiring a Pro
The best way to get an idea of the price tag is to hire a demolition professional to conduct an estimate for you. A pre-project audit will provide an idea of the building materials used in the house and the charges for their removal and/or recycling. In addition, it's important to know what your homowner's insurance company will cover in any situations that may arise during and after the job. Consider hiring a professional who has liability insurance if your current plan doesn't cover enough.
When opting for demolition, there are dozens of options that will impact cost and budget. There's no one bottom-line rate for bulldozing a house, just like there is no one central reason to tear one down. Before talking to a pro to get a quote, be sure you know the following:
- Your home's square footage.
- The materials from which it's made.
- What you plan to do on the land after.
