Demolition Contractors in Atlanta, GA

Atlanta is our home market, and demolition contractors working inside the city limits spend as much time on paperwork as on the excavator. The city counted 498,715 residents in the 2020 census, spread across 242 officially defined neighborhoods in Fulton and DeKalb counties. On any given week we might be clearing a 1920s bungalow for a new house in a streetcar suburb, gutting a kitchen and two baths down to studs, breaking out a cracked driveway, or filling in a backyard pool that nobody swims in anymore. Each of those jobs touches a different set of city offices, and we plan around them before anything is torn down.

What the city asks for before a teardown

The Atlanta Municipal Code makes it unlawful to demolish a structure without first getting a building permit. The city's demolition procedures list several items that surprise owners who have never done this before:

• A rodent letter. A current letter on an exterminator's letterhead showing the property has been treated, so rats leave with the building instead of moving next door.
• A plumbing permit for a sewer plug. The old sewer lateral has to be plugged so groundwater and debris do not get into the city's system.
• Site plans with erosion control. Twelve copies, routed to Site Development, the Arborist, Zoning, Plan Review and the Office of Planning. The three arborist copies must show trees, buildings, roads and driveways.
• Asbestos notification. If the job involves asbestos removal or encapsulation, the permit is not issued until a notification from the Georgia EPD Asbestos Licensing and Certification Unit is presented.

Utility disconnects for power, gas and water are arranged with each provider before the structure comes down. We build the schedule around those steps so the crew is not sitting idle waiting for a letter.

Trees are part of every Atlanta demolition

Atlanta has the densest urban tree coverage of any major U.S. city, and its Tree Protection Ordinance shapes how we stage a job. Under the Arborist Division's rules, removing a tree with a trunk diameter of 6 inches or more at breast height takes a permit, or 12 inches for pines. Trees affected by construction are handled under the building permit and reviewed by the Arborist Division, and healthy trees taken down for construction carry a recompense charge. Violations are a criminal offense with a minimum first-offense fine of $500. In practice that means we plan the equipment path, the dumpster spot and the haul route so root zones of the trees you are keeping stay protected.

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Historic districts and landmark buildings

Atlanta has lost plenty of landmarks to the wrecking ball. Terminal Station came down in 1972 and the Carnegie Library in 1977, and the Fox Theatre was nearly razed in the mid-1970s before a grassroots campaign saved it. Today, demolishing a building in a designated historic or landmark district goes through the Atlanta Urban Design Commission and a Type IV Certificate of Appropriateness. The city's application packet sets out two routes: showing a major and imminent threat to public safety, or showing the property cannot earn a reasonable economic return. Both require detailed evidence. If your lot is in Inman Park, West End, Whittier Mill or another protected area, we will tell you up front whether a teardown is realistic or whether interior demolition and a renovation make more sense.

The houses we take down most often

Wikipedia notes that the craftsman bungalow is the dominant single-family house type in Atlanta's lower-density neighborhoods, and the eastside streetcar suburbs were built from the 1890s to the 1930s. Older houses like these tend to sit on brick piers or low crawlspace foundations, with plaster walls, heart pine framing and sometimes old ductwork wrapped in insulation that needs testing. Postwar areas such as Collier Heights and Cascade Heights have ranch houses on slabs or block foundations, which come apart differently. We look at the foundation, the access from the street and the distance to the neighbors' houses before we pick the machine.

Weather and ground conditions

The city sits at about 1,050 feet, the highest elevation of any major city east of the Mississippi, and gets around 50.43 inches of precipitation a year. Rain turns a cleared lot into mud quickly, so silt fence and a gravel construction exit go in before the house comes down. Storm damage also brings demolition calls: an EF2 tornado tore through downtown on March 14, 2008. Call (470) 260-8440 and tell us the address, what is coming down and what you plan to build next.