The question behind the question
What people usually mean is "when can the next trade start?" That is the right question, and it is why we give a date and a sequence with the quote rather than a number of days in the abstract. The sequence is what your schedule can actually be built on.
What sets the duration
- Access. A ground floor with a loading door is the fastest case. Every constraint added — stairs, a shared service elevator, a booked dock, a lane permit for a bin — adds a handling step, and every handling step is time. The same square footage on the eleventh floor of an occupied tower can take several times longer than at grade.
- Occupancy. A vacant building is worked continuously. An occupied one is worked in windows: quiet work during trading hours, percussive work after hours or on weekends, clean-down every shift. The work is the same; the calendar it fits into is not.
- Structure. Steel stud and drywall comes down fast. Block, cast-in-place concrete, terrazzo, thick-set tile beds and structural slab come down slowly and generate heavy debris. Older buildings hide their wall build-ups until the first opening is cut.
- Services. Isolation to a defined demarcation has to be complete before the first cut, and on a full teardown the utility disconnects run on the utilities' calendars. This is the most common cause of a slipped start.
- Hazardous materials. If an assessment finds asbestos, abatement and clearance come first and cannot run in parallel with the demolition. On older buildings this is usually the biggest single variable.
- Disposal logistics. Bin swaps, haul distance and what the receiving facility accepts set the rhythm of a job. A site where the bin can sit next to the door runs differently from one where every load goes down an elevator and across a lobby.
Crew size is the lever
A scope that comfortably takes two weeks can be done in one with more people on it, provided the access allows them to work without standing on each other. That is a legitimate thing to buy, and we would rather quote it honestly than pretend a compressed schedule costs nothing. The reverse is also true: a flexible date lets the work attach to a mobilization already happening nearby, which is the cheapest way to run a job outside the metro.
Why winter does not change this — and sometimes helps
Interior demolition runs inside a heated envelope and takes the same time in January as in July. Buildings are often quieter in winter, with fewer tenants and trades to phase around, and on a site clearance frozen ground carries equipment better than soft ground does. Our crews come off landscaping and onto demolition when the ground freezes, so winter dates are staffed. The genuine winter constraints are exterior concrete work and utility disconnects scheduled around the holidays.
What to bring to the site walk
- Drawings if they exist, and the year of construction if they do not.
- The date the space has to be handed over, and what the next trade needs to find when they arrive.
- Whether the building stays occupied, and by whom.
- Any prequalification, orientation or booking the site requires before a crew can start.