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Demolition and Hysterical Preservation

Wolf

Wolf

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Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
Anyone ever have run-ins with historic preservation (I mean hysterical preservation) people while trying to do a demo job?

What happened to you? How did you handle it?

Any suggestions?
 
Wolf

Wolf

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
A Few of My Tricks

Do you know, I had landmarks preservation protestors completely kill one great job I won.

It was tearing down the old court house--built in 1896 and a real fire trap. They said it was historic, got an injunction to stop the job on the first day, and it was all downhill from there.

One trick I learned is to punch a few holes in the corner of the buildings with the excavator bucket right away when starting the job. That way, if the hysterical preservation people come, suddenly the building is structurally unsound and cannot be saved. LOL.

Another trick is to strip off all the decoration from the front of the building with the teeth on the excavator bucket. That way, the stuff they like about the building is gone right away.

Mean tricks, but hey, gotta protect the right to demo.:thumbsup
 
90plow

90plow

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Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
371
Location
Northern New Jersey
We had the preservation people come complain about a job we were doing. It was an old farm house from the 1800s or something. Anyway the house was moved in the 60s from the center of town, put in a development and added on to, so to us and the homeowners the building was not really historical, not to mention all the beetles and bugs in the old timbers. So after we started tearing it down the preservation people found out but it was too late, made the paper and everything. Some people want to save toooooo much.
Eric
 
digger242j

digger242j

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Southwestern PA
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Self employed excavator
A job I was working on one time was in an area that had the possibility of containing some Indian artifacts. The contractor I was working for told all of us in no uncertain terms, "If you see anything that looks like an old bone or anything, BURY IT, RIGHT AWAY, before anybody else sees it. We don't have time to have this job shut down for weeks while some damn archeologist comes out here and messes around!"
 
RonG

RonG

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Dec 2, 2003
Messages
1,833
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Meriden ct
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heavy equipment operator
My standard line is "I found a dinosaur track!!"
I live in Connecticut and have done a lot of work around Wethersfield where that state park is with the dinosaur tracks in it and major construction has been halted around here when things like that are discovered.
Whenever things are going "too well" I like to spring that one on 'em.:yup :yup Ron G
 
D

DKinWA

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Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
210
Location
Western Washington
Occupation
Biologist and Contractor
Do those of you that run into these problems have clauses in your contracts to protect yourself? I'm working with my attorney to draft new contract language and we're covering things like unmarked utilities, hazardous waste, etc. If I run into anything, the customer then pays on a time and materials basis for the extra work.
 
digger242j

digger242j

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Southwestern PA
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Self employed excavator
Actually, in the case I mentioned above, I was told by the boss that there was language in the contract that required the work to stop. That's why he was so specific that we were to find nothing. The job was an addition/renovation and lots of site work (parking lots, ballfields), to a local high school. I was working for the excavating contractor, who was a sub to the general contractor.
 
Dozerboy

Dozerboy

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Jan 18, 2006
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2,232
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TX
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Operator
Nothing historic but I have p*ssed off a lot of tree huggers, before they could get my job shut down. I have also had archeologists on one of my jobs and that poor guy had the worse luck. He parked his truck in the cut and was no where in sight so I left it on a 6' tall mound with vertical sides. Another time I was digging with a hoe and he was poking around my spoils. And he left his safety flag staff on the other side of the pile. I guess he was bent over looking at something when I reached over the pile and took his hard hat off with my teeth he was lucky it wasn't his head. But he never left that staff anywhere again.
 
Last edited:
Wolf

Wolf

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1,203
Location
California
Pissing Off the Tree Huggers

How did you **** off the tree huggers before they could get your job shut down? What are the tricks you used, Dozerboy?
 
Dozerboy

Dozerboy

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TX
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Thanks

There are these pine trees that only grow in a small area of San Diego and Australia there called Torrey Pines. Well there where a whole row 10 or so of them sitting on 50,000 yds. of dirt that had to be exported off site. The first few days I was there I didn't have much equipment on site we there just setting up boundaries and disking up the organics in the cut. Every day I see this couple walking this trail that goes along the boundaries and I just happened to talking to the surveyor when they came walking by. They sopped to chat about what was going on, I gave them a brief run down. And they told me to be extra careful around those trees and the story about them. I told them that the trees where in the way and had to go, they didn't look real happy and walked off. I called my boss and told him that I thought they where going to cause problems for us. He told me he couldn't get any more equipment on the job for 2 days and told me to get a chain saw and cut them down. I didn't what to do that, so I reminded him that the Deere sales man had wanted me to demo one of there 1050 dozers. We made some calls and the dozer was first thing and the trees where down as soon as it was off the truck. A few hours later 6 or 7 Sierra club members pulled up and I was pushing the last of the trees into a pile out of the way and I made sure to track over the pile in front of them a few times. The cops where called when a few of them go in my face and office got a few nasty calls about me.
 
Wolf

Wolf

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Messages
1,203
Location
California
Way to Go Dozer Boy!!!

Way to go Dozer Boy!!!

Love to hear your story about the destruction of the Torey Pines.

I love the part where you pushed the trees in front of those tree huggers and ran over them with the tracks a few times.

That story is funny as heck. Love to see you put those tree huggers in their place. LOL.

You ARE the MAN, Dozer Boy!!

Awesome story.

:notworthy
 
Wolf

Wolf

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Messages
1,203
Location
California
That 1050 is a powerhouse

That 1050 dozer is a real powerhouse. Real mean machine.

About how long did it take you to push over the ten torey pine trees with that big bad blade on that 1050, and turn those trees into toothpicks? LOL.

Must have been great fun. And the Sierra Club must have s**t a brick. Good for you.

:thumbsup
 
Wolf

Wolf

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
Anybody run into these kooks lately?

Any activists try to slow down your jobs?

Historical preservations pains or

tree huggers trying to interfere with your jobs?

What happened? How did you handle it?
 
Wolf

Wolf

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
Do you know, I had landmarks preservation protestors completely kill one great job I won.

It was tearing down the old court house--built in 1896 and a real fire trap. They said it was historic, got an injunction to stop the job on the first day, and it was all downhill from there.

One trick I learned is to punch a few holes in the corner of the buildings with the excavator bucket right away when starting the job. That way, if the hysterical preservation people come, suddenly the building is structurally unsound and cannot be saved. LOL.

Another trick is to strip off all the decoration from the front of the building with the teeth on the excavator bucket. That way, the stuff they like about the building is gone right away.

Mean tricks, but hey, gotta protect the right to demo.
 
Dozerboy

Dozerboy

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Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,232
Location
TX
Occupation
Operator
I had one a few weeks ago; it was on the same job I just posted about the kids watching me on. We had some archeologist there that would be there all of the time to look for crap literally. After I was done with the wall I stated some hazmat removal of a lot of AB pipe. And I came across this "old building footing" she saw". She stopped the job and I spent 3 hrs. care fully digging around uncovering this "footing" that was a very odd shape no 90 bends all different angels. My super showed up and we where all BSing he said it looked like a duct bank, I asked him to take over for a few so I could eat. Well he got a little to friendly with the "footing" and broke it. And it was an amazing discovery a 100 years ago they used 4" and 6" PVC for rebar in there footings, guess my super was right.
 
Wolf

Wolf

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Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
That is a good story about the 100 year old PVC pipes. LOL


Hey, Dozerboy, I didn't realize you were doing so much demo nowadays. What else have you been demo'ing? Any interesting finds?
 
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