Division 02 / Delivered

Division 02 existing conditions and demolition estimating

A 129,000 square foot former department store, three storeys, 122 sheets, taken off floor by floor. The hard part was not the square footage. It was the escalator, the store fixtures the drawings never showed, and the part of the building still in use.

What we measure, and in what units

SF floor area by removal type
SF ceiling, acoustical against gypsum
LF partition by height band
EA column wraps, fixtures, doors
SF mezzanine
TON disposal by material
EA haul pulls
SF protection of finishes that remain

What the deliverable looks like for this division

Floor by floor, never building wide, because haul distance and productivity differ by level. Finishes are separated by type before any area is taken, partitions go in linear feet banded by height, and fixtures are counted against the photographic survey rather than the plan.

Scope items routinely missed on this division

Only someone who has priced the work knows what falls through the gaps. No competitor publishes this list.

Casework and store fixtures. Genuinely missed on a real job and caught in QA. They live in the scope statement and the photographs, not on the demolition plan.
Escalator and elevator removal, including rigging, the crane or hoist window, and the structural opening left behind, which is its own operation and not a demolition line.
MEP make safe against full removal. Different scopes at different prices, and sets describe both without drawing the boundary.
Dust and noise containment in an occupied or partially occupied building, which becomes a priced scope rather than a general condition.
Abatement coordination and hold points, and the difference between coordinating abatement and pricing it.
Disposal by weight with a diversion percentage applied. A recycling minimum changes the haul cost because separated streams need separate containers and hauls.
After hours and phased sequencing where part of the building keeps working.
Protection of adjacent finishes that remain, which is measured area and installed material.
Temporary shoring where a wall is removed and the load path above it has not been resolved.

Documents needed to price it

Demolition plans for every floor
Reflected ceiling plans, for ceiling types and extents
The finish schedule
Original building drawings where the building is old
The abatement report if issued, or a statement that it has not been
Site photographs, which on an existing building are worth more than the drawings
The specification section that says what stays

Questions people in this trade actually ask

How is disposal tonnage estimated from area?

Measured quantities are converted to weight by material type. Mixed waste from a retail fit out, gypsum, metals and concrete from a slab cut do not weigh the same per cubic yard and do not tip at the same rate, so a single density applied to a volume is not an estimate.

How is a diversion requirement priced?

As separated streams with their own containers, hauls and processing, plus the site logistics of running several containers where the building has one loading dock. It is carried as a cost line, not as a note.

What happens when the abatement report is not yet issued?

The hold points the programme assumes are stated and the abatement scope is excluded in writing, so you can qualify it. A scope nobody has defined does not get a price.

Work of this kind