demolishing a house and keeping the land

[James Palin]

Yesterday after a day of showings, I stopped in at Cinco day Mayo gathering.  One of my friends whom I haven't seen awhile talked to me about an interesting scenario.

He wanted to know how much it cost to completely demolish an older house and just keep the land. He heard from another source that would cost upwards of $60K.  We talked about different parts of town he was interested in buying an older property with the purpose of demolishing it and keeping the land and building on it at a later time.

Question to the forum.  What is actually involved in the demolition process?  Can anybody speak form experience?  Let's just use an old single story 3 bed 2 bathroom, 1200 sq. ft. pier and beam house as an example. 

[Jonathan Harris]

There are several factors for demolition. I am about to demolish one here in Denver and the actual demolition is only bid at $6,500. What can can expensive with demolition is the potential abatement. I've had a house that cost up to 30K to get rid of the asbestos in it. That where costs can sky rocket. There will also be city regulations about lot protection, sewer and water cutoffs and electric and gas cutoffs from your utility. In rough numbers the house I am about to demolish has the following numbers

Asbestos testing $600

Abatement  $3000 (just Transite siding)

Utility cut off and temp power setup $3200

Demolition $6500