Construction and Demolition Case Study: Presidio of San Francisco

Project Economics

Of the 65,295 board feet (bf) of wood recovered, approximately half (34,355 bf) was sold on site with an additional 1,545 bf donated. The on-site sale of the wood generated $30,155. The prices for the wood ranged between $0.25/bf for roof planking to $1.50/bf for the douglas fir flooring. The majority of wood sold for around $1.00/bf. The remaining wood was divided among the members of the consortium.

The table on the previous page shows that the consortium contracted to dismantle building 901 was able to recover 85 percent of the wood fraction of the materials generated. It was estimated that 15 percent of the wood was found to be unusable or degraded to recycling quality during the dismantling of the building.

It was estimated that it took approximately 1000 man-hours to dismantle building 901. This resulted in an on-site labor cost of $33,053. There were additional logistical costs of equipment hauling and removal of the concrete footer of $11,983 and administrative costs totaling $12,604. These costs resulted in a total expenditure for the project, not including hazardous materials remediation, of $55,340.

Income from the project emanated from several sources. $16,800 came from the greater demolition contract give-back. This was the savings estimated by the general contractor for not having to demolish the building. An additional $15,000 was supplemented by the National Park Service to foster the hand deconstruction project and help develop future projects of this kind. Sale of the lumber on-site generated an additional $30,155. This results in a net income of $61,955 and a net profit to date of approximately $6,600. It was estimated that the value of the unsold lumber recovered from building 901 was approximately $13,500. If the recovered lumber from this project is sold for the estimated value, the net profit from the deconstruction of building 901 could exceed $20,000.

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Last updated: November 01, 2007