# Tennis Court Demolition



## Falling Water (May 11, 2008)

I have been asked to place a bid on the demo of a 60' by 120' tennis court. Not sure how to approach this one. Hourly or by the sq ft. First time on this large of a demo. Would appreciate a professionals input.


----------



## BuiltByMAC (Mar 11, 2006)

Welcome to the forum, Sean...and thanks for including your location in your profile.

Questions about "How much" don't usually get answered (at least not seriously) - sharing tips and techniques (and having a place to sound off to peers!) is more where the forum's focus is. Good luck with your demo job -

Mac


----------



## genecarp (Mar 16, 2008)

welcome sean, if there is a member here who builds courts, he can educate you on there construction, and then you should be able to price a removal.


----------



## Falling Water (May 11, 2008)

*Falling Water*

Thanks for the welcome!! This one is new to me, My comfort zone is designing and installing hardscapes/landscaping/waterfeatures I've done demos but not of this size. I'm usually bringing in the earth not taking this much out.


----------



## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

Falling,

Can you describe the construction of the court? And site conditions around it? Depending on where in the country you are it can have different types of construction. 

Most courts around here are asphalt and it's not much different than a driveway removal. Let us know how it lays out and I think you'll get more help I think.


----------



## Vinny (Jul 21, 2007)

*been there done that*

FW, let me know what its made of and maybe I can help.

I've built courts and demo'd for rebuild as well.

Trust me, taking it apart is quicker than putting one together:laughing:


----------



## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Any time i am unsure of what the job entails due to lack of experience or unseen problems then i go with time/materials just to cover my own butt. I would rather lose a bid to someone who knows how to do the job than under bid and lose money.


----------



## joesauers (Jan 2, 2007)

One thing to keep in mind is disposal of the painted asphalt. I bid on a similar job a few years ago and remember having trouble finding somewhere to accept the painted asphalt. Vinny - do your local dump sites accept painted asphalt?


----------



## colvingravel (May 14, 2008)

Hello all,
I am new to this site, but I am a demo estimator, so here is my opinion. This should turn out at about $0.30 - 0.50 / SF. I estimate the qty of material to be demoed. The I estimate the total truck loads, and how many trucks can I realisticly use on a site that small, the create a crew with say a bobcat, the truck, and one laborer. Figure out your haul time for each load and then multiply that times the total # of loads (total Trucking time), divided by the # trucks you will use and that will give you crew times. Your crew time should equal that amount of time because a tennis court comes up quickly and there is your crew cost and your trucking cost. Now don't forget your dump fees, and waalaa


----------



## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I sure could not do it for 30 cents/foot, not even 50 cents. 

I am not saying that Colvin can't make money at those prices in his area, but here that would not work. By the way welcome to the site. 

You really have to find out/figure out what it will cost you do the work and go from there. We can and would gladly give you advice on fixed things like how many tri-axle loads of debris might come out of there, those kind of things are easy to do, but there is so much variance geographically, price wise, it is just not possible to nail down numbers on this stuff.  

For instance:

Has this court ever been overlaid?

Do you have to remove and dispose of any subgrade stone?

Are you preparing the area for a new lawn, hauling in topsoil, taking more cut so it drains properly?

50 cents/foot won't cover these type things.

Let's hear some more about this job.


----------



## joesauers (Jan 2, 2007)

Just to add to the above, don't forget your hourly rates for equipment, any lawn repair if needed, and who is responsible for removing fencing around tennis court (if applicable). I would estimate my crew with a bobcat could have that ripped up in about 1 very long day, but that is providing you always have an empty truck available and the thickness of the asphalt. There really is no "sq. ft." price because there are too many variables.


----------



## BeetsZ71 (Nov 16, 2006)

Few things to keep in mind:

1. Are you to remove just the asphalt?

2. Do you need to remove "x" amount of material (dirt/old rock base) beneath the asphalt to arrive at the proposed subgrade?

3. Leaving a crown after the demo for the pavers so they can drain the new court easier?

4. Material for backfill (onsite or import)?

We bid small demo jobs all the time and the material beneath the pavement often gets overlooked. Check out your local asphalt recycling facility for disposal.

Around here some of the larger grading contractors have road reclaimers (gators/tilling equipment for lime stabilization) that they use for pulverizing the tennis courts in place. With speaking with some of them on the phone they'll tell you that they've pulverized 1-1.5+ acres of tennis courts in one day a some of the local highschools in the area. The advantage of pulverizing the asphalt is that they use it for base material and pave the new courts right on top after re-compacting it.


----------



## Blas (Jan 29, 2008)

This is not something I would personally give a SF price on. I would meet the owner or general contractor on site and build your self a spread sheet of all demo to be included by you and then price it out. If its just the bituminous that's easy enough but what about the fence bollards and everything else. You will have one hell of a time pulling up bollards with a little skiddy. Good Luck to you.


----------



## Blackhammer (Mar 2, 2008)

colvingravel said:


> Hello all,
> I am new to this site, but I am a demo estimator, so here is my opinion. This should turn out at about $0.30 - 0.50 / SF. I estimate the qty of material to be demoed. The I estimate the total truck loads, and how many trucks can I realisticly use on a site that small, the create a crew with say a bobcat, the truck, and one laborer. Figure out your haul time for each load and then multiply that times the total # of loads (total Trucking time), divided by the # trucks you will use and that will give you crew times. Your crew time should equal that amount of time because a tennis court comes up quickly and there is your crew cost and your trucking cost. Now don't forget your dump fees, and waalaa


 
Great first post!
Remind me to never have you do estimating for me.


----------



## WVBartMan (Mar 1, 2008)

Mobilization: Based on distance to site (your subcontracted cost to someone like me plus 10% contingency and 20% profit margin).

Removal: Komatsu PC300 and 3 End Dumps to approved landfill (subcontract to someone like me since you do not own the equipment, include a 10% contingency fee plus a markup 20% to 50%)

Disposal: In contract "Cost Plus 10%" in case of several unknown factors (landfill approval/acceptance, TCLP Testing if needed, Taxes and County Fees, fuel surcharge, overweight fines maybe, tipping fees changing monthly on private landfills) at this time and during the project.

Management Fee: That's where a General Manager like yourself determines what your time is worht to get the permits, TCLP Testing, Oversight, Insurance, your time meeting with Utilities companies and county officals.

Remember one thing, never use the word demo or demolition when talking with any offical unless you want alot more attention and cost involved.


----------



## RPC470 (May 12, 2008)

I agree with wv bartman you don not want to use a skid steer for this job use a full size excavator cat 311 size or larger for optimum productivity set the machine up in the middle rip up the saphalt and whatever to you and then just keep the trucks lined up and fill as you go. put the excavator on top of the pile and just keep loading and digging. you will need about 13 truck loads assuming 12" of material to be removed. How far do you have to move? it how much is your dump fee? how many trucks do you have or can you get? Assuming 3 trucks with a 1 hour cycle time for the trucks, 12 hours of trucking so figure 2 days, for 3 trucks and 2 days for your machine. For me it would price out as follows, 2 days 312b @ 1200 a day, 2400 3 trucks 2 days ea @ $800/truck/day or $4800 disposal fee 270 yds @ 10 a yd. $2700 add that up plus 5% contingency and %5 profit $11,000 for 7200 s.f. or $1.53 a square foot just to remove it and rough grade. For further explanation get a f'ing estimating book


----------

