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I switched from full demo to selective salvage on a Phoenix strip mall job last year
For years I would just knock everything down to the slab, thinking it was faster and cleaner. On that Arizona project, the owner asked me to try saving the old steel beams and concrete tilt-up panels. We spent three extra days on careful removal, but it cut our new material bill by almost 15 grand and saved a month on the permit review. Now I look at every structure for what we can keep, not just what we can tear out. Has anyone else made that shift and found it actually pays off?
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lindamartin1mo ago
Oh man, that's the way to go now. I've seen guys save the old brick on a storefront and it cut weeks off the schedule just with the city.
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alice_palmer201mo ago
That's a smart move. A contractor friend in Texas said the same thing about an old warehouse. They kept the original brick facade and heavy timber framing. It saved a ton on new materials and the city fast-tracked the permit because it kept the historic look. The budget for that job was way under because of it. Makes you wonder how much good stuff gets wasted.
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