Tear down new construction?

Question

I have an opportunity to buy a property that currently has a small 2 bedroom house currently being rented for 1000/mo. There is a large 5 bed 2 bath house directly behind it that has been sitting unfinished for a year or two. Essentially, studs, roof, tyvek, and that's it. The city will not allow both houses to be on the property when sold so one of them will need to be torn down. I live in an area where folks LOVE their shops. I'm thinking of keeping the smaller home and keeping it rented and then tearing down he unfinished house while eventually putting a shop up.

My question is this - who has experience tearing down an unfinished home? Is it something you get charged for, charge for, etc? In my head, I'd love to say whoever comes and tears it down gets to keep the lumber, windows, basically anything they can keep. Of course, I don't know if anyone would do that. If not, then I'd pay someone to tear it down while keeping things like windows for me for later use.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Eric

Mary M. · Answer

See if you have a local store with “used” building materials.  Think Restore or we have one called the ReBuilding center. They each will come dismantle a bldg and take the useable materials. They also may be able to help you understand the city/county regulations, but you can also just call your local permit department.

Eric Lunsford · Answer

@Joseph H. I have ran the numbers. Unfortunately, for the neighborhood, the 5 bed house with a shop would run significantly higher than most would like to pay for that area. That and the existing unfinished home is in the back of the lot so the shop being added to the 5 bed house would essentially be street facing...not ideal.

I was thinking about a way to keep the ultimate structure of the unfinished home and just convert it to a shop. That way you can still side the house, keep the roof/windows and just empty the guts and reinforce. Not sure of the availability to do that, just an idea.

Joseph H. · Answer

If you are going to build a shop you could reside the windows in the shop. Have you ran the numbers for finishing the 5 bed and building a small shop in the back?