16 Feb

How to Save Money with Tear Downs

How to Save Money with TeardownsBuilding a brand-new home from scratch is a huge undertaking and often an expensive project. And if you’re starting with a teardown before even beginning on your construction, your project will be even more expensive, even though it’s most likely necessary. But there are ways to go about it wisely and save some money in the process. Here are a number of ways you can save money with your teardown:

    1. Reuse and recycle. Deconstruction is often a more time-intensive and expensive method of tearing down. But If you plan to use a deconstruction method to tear down an existing structure, there are a few things you can do save money in the process. First, if there’s any part of the existing home you’d like to reuse, whether it’s an historical decorative piece or simply good materials to use for a new structure, make sure to reuse as much as you can. This can save you money in the rebuilding or remodeling process. And second, if there are usable materials that you don’t want to reuse yourself, recycle them. Much of the recycled material from teardowns can be claimed as tax returns later on, which will help you save some extra money. Hint: check here to see if your local Habitat for Humanity sector has a deconstruction program!
    2. Use a combination of deconstructing and demolition. If you know that part of your home’s materials are worth deconstructing and saving, but not everything, then using both major teardown methods—deconstruction and demolition—may be the right choice for you. If you’re not familiar with the terminology, demolition is the quicker way to go about tearing down a structure, with heavy-duty machinery. By contrast, deconstruction refers to a more gentle, time-intensive method in which a team of people deconstructs the home by hand, and it’s, as previously stated, often more time-intensive than demolition. So if you know you’ll want to save, reuse, or recycle part but not all of the existing structure, it may be wisest for you to use both deconstruction and demolition to save what you need to save and demolish the rest, saving time and money where you don’t need to deconstruct.
    3. Perform a partial demo. One of the more obvious ways to save money on a teardown is to simply not tear down the entire structure. Of course, this method isn’t so “simple” in practice, but it can save you money, and you get to keep parts of your existing home that you like, even it’s just a good foundation. Talk to an expert to see if a partial demolition and remodeling is an option for your home.

Be sure to check your financing options. If you can’t wait to start on a teardown or if construction gets to be more expensive than you anticipated—both of which happen often—financing options do exist to help make sure you have what you need. Although they aren’t as popular as they have been in the past, there are financial institutions that offer construction loans, so check with your financial institution to see what may be available to you. And even if you don’t plan to take a loan for your project, it’s always a good idea to check before you start, just in case!

If you’re considering demolition or deconstruction—partial or full—make note that your contractor will most likely need to get a permit no matter what you do, so make sure you and the professionals you choose to work with are knowledgeable and up to date on the regulations in your area.

BudgetCTA

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