Manhattan, NY
Interior Demolition in Manhattan
We take a space back to whatever your next stage needs. Bare structure, a clean shell, or something in between, with the parts that are staying protected and untouched.
What comes out, and what stays
Interior demolition is the inside of a building coming out while the building stays up.
In Manhattan the list of what stays is longer than almost anywhere, and getting it wrong is the expensive mistake in this trade. Sprinkler and standpipe. Risers and shafts serving floors that are not yours. Base building services a landlord requires back exactly as found. Fire-rated construction that is doing a job even when it looks like a partition. In a pre-war loft, structure that has been boxed in so thoroughly that it reads as joinery.
So we mark up the keep list in the space with you before the first day rather than working from a drawing alone. Then out goes the fit-out: partitions, ceilings and grid, floor coverings and the screed or mortar bed under them, millwork and casework, shopfronts, kitchen and bar installations, redundant mechanical and electrical, and the pipe and cable behind them. Plaster back to masonry where the design asks for it.
Partial is normal. Three walls and a ceiling out of an occupied office floor is a real scope and we run it as one. In the trade that is selective demolition, and it is most of the interior work in this borough. We are the interior demolition contractor on the job rather than the whole renovation, working for general contractors, construction managers, architects, owners and managing agents across Manhattan.
Why the schedule is arithmetic before it is anything else
01 The freight car
A share of one lift, in hours somebody else sets
In most of the pre-war loft stock the freight elevator is the only way in and out for the crew and for every pound of material, and it is shared with every other trade in the building.
That makes the programme a calculation rather than an estimate. Hours released, multiplied by what the car takes per trip, gives the material that can leave in a day, and the floor is clear when the material has gone. Extra labour on the floor does not change the number. We establish it with the managing agent before pricing, and we stage material so it is ready the moment the car is.
02 The stair
Buildings with no lift at all
In the Village, the East Village, the Lower East Side and much of the older walk-up stock there is no freight elevator to book. Every load leaves on somebody's shoulder, down a stair built narrow and turning twice, onto a sidewalk with pedestrians on it.
Treads and handrails are boarded for the duration, loads are sized to what one person can carry safely, and the crew works as a chain. It costs more per ton and it never waits for anyone's permission, which on a fixed date is worth more than it sounds.
03 The curb
There is nowhere else for it to go
No driveways and no yards. Everything that leaves a Manhattan building ends up on a public street, in a container standing under a permit, in a space that may be metered or restricted and is certainly in demand.
Where that container can stand and how often it can be swapped is settled before we price, because on a tight downtown street it is a harder arrangement than anything happening inside the building.
Before the first wall
Two things sit ahead of the work in most Manhattan buildings, and on a designated address there is a third.
The asbestos assessment. Where the building went up before 1 April 1987 and the job needs a Department of Buildings permit, a DEP certified asbestos investigator inspects the areas the work will disturb and files with the Department of Environmental Protection before that permit issues. Most of the borough's stock predates that date. It is the owner's filing rather than part of a demolition contract, and it is the commonest single reason a start date moves.
The hours. Construction activity runs 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays, and anything outside that needs an After Hours Variance filed a few business days ahead. A residential building will usually give you less than the city would.
And on a landmark site or inside a historic district, a Landmarks certificate sits ahead of the permit. Downtown that is the normal case rather than the unusual one.
A stripped floor with the columns exposed
How we work in a live building
Protection first
Lobby floor, corridors, door frames and the freight cab covered before anything comes down. It is faster to protect a lobby than to repair one, and the managing agent sees it before anything else.
Dust control
Openings sealed, negative pressure where it is warranted, and cutting kept wet where the material allows. The tenants on the floors above notice dust long before they notice noise.
Noise in windows
Loud work is grouped and run inside the hours the building and the city allow, so it is predictable for everyone else in the stack.
Daily clear-down
The space is left safe and swept at the end of each day. Nothing is stored in a corridor, a stairwell or a lobby overnight.
Common questions
What is interior demolition?
Taking out the inside of a building while the building itself stays up. Walls, ceilings, floors, fittings and services come out. The structure, the facade and usually the windows stay.
It is what most people mean when they say a space needs gutting before a fit-out or a renovation, and in Manhattan it is almost the whole of the demolition market.
What is the average cost for interior demolition?
There is no useful average, because the same square footage can differ several times over in price.
Here the dominant variable is the route out. An office floor of drywall partitions with a booked freight slot is straightforward. The same area of plaster on masonry, four floors up a walk-up, with tile beds to lift and a container permit to arrange, is a much larger job for the same drawing. The gap between those two is wider in this borough than anywhere else in the city.
We walk the space, price the actual scope, and say which parts could still move once the walls are open. Tell us your date when you call and we will tell you what we can hold.
Do I need an asbestos assessment before interior demolition can start?
If the building was built before 1 April 1987 and the work needs a Department of Buildings permit, then yes, one has to be filed before that permit is issued. That covers most of the buildings in Manhattan.
A DEP certified asbestos investigator inspects the areas the work will disturb and files Form ACP-5 with the Department of Environmental Protection. Where material is present but sits under the DEP thresholds and will not be disturbed, the ACP-5 can still be issued.
It is the customer's own filing and not part of a demolition contract, and the permit waits on it, so order it early.
What hours can demolition work happen in New York City?
Construction activity may be carried out from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays. Anything outside that needs an After Hours Variance from the Department of Buildings, filed a few business days before the first day and able to cover days inside a fourteen day window.
In this borough the building is usually the tighter of the two. A co-op alteration agreement routinely sets narrower hours than the city allows, and some buildings bar work entirely around holidays. Where the two differ, the building's rules decide your schedule.
What happens to the debris?
Clearing it is part of the job. You do not have to arrange it separately.
Material is broken down, bagged or bundled and staged on protected floor inside the work area, then moved in the freight windows the building releases, or carried down the stair where there is no lift. Carting off site is done by a registered carting company and we coordinate the two halves so they line up.
Nothing sits in a corridor or a stairwell overnight, and nothing is left staged where the building has not agreed it can be. You get the space back swept and clear.