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?
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
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
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!"
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
you are the MAN dozer boy!!!!!:notworthy :notworthy
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.
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
Torey Pines is a pretty nice golf course with a great view!
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 **** a brick. Good for you. :thumbsup
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?
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.
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.
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?
It's not exactly on topic as far as presevation of buildings, but here's an interesting story about finding a graveyard where the highway is supposed to go. 727 graves, under a parking lot... http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20031028cemetery1028fnp2.asp
Recent Encounters? Anybody have any recent encounters? Stories, please.
yeah, i have a great demo story.....a local hospital clinic here, bought up half a city block for parking. soliciting bids to demo all these houses. most were built from 1900-1930. beautiful old homes that could never be reproduced. many would "glory" in just trashing these places, getting rid of our nation, community's past....i bid the demo, and picked up 3 of the best houses, moved them to other lots, and sold them. they are all being restored, put back to the style/condition they were when they were built. we're not very good stewards of the future if our only goal is to rid ourselves of our past.
Great Job Excellent move. You should be congratulated for that. You made a smart business move and a smart move to preserve our nations heritage. Hat's off to you. Well done!
Not me in the video but looks like an old building being demoed. Didn't know where else to put this one so I put it here. http://www.break.com/index/building_falls_on_top_of_excavator.html -Eric
I think that historical preservation has its place, but the tree huggers need to realize that going after the guys contracted to do the job is going about things the wrong way. Demo guys are just trying to make a buck. Its the guys that hire them that deserve the wrath of the treehuggers, not you guys. Awesome stories Dozerman
Demo Guys Trashed Again Big story in Washington papers about demo guys destroying cities' heritage. Total BS in my opinion. They shoudl be going after the developers who create the problem, not the small time operators just trying to make a buck to buy groceries--earn a living. :Banghead :nono :spaz
I have a little trick i have used a couple of times. Also passed it on to a couple of devolper friends also. If you think there might be problem with something some one might throw an injunction on. Get ready and staged Saturday night. Then at first light Sunday morning trash beyond repair. Usually ripping the things of historical value like the eaves, trim work, and windows, columns. Just walk around the building busting up anything that's a bit different and make it beyond repair. DO NOT REMOVE. just destroy. then if they go ahead with injunction you can say that the stuff is totally non perceivable and how now become an unsafe structure. Another one is if you going to be taken down some well loved old growth redwood trees, Bck in the early days of the serial club. Had 2 old growth redwoods that needed to be removed with great prejudice. :guns The day the plans cleared approval (Friday) and knowing what would happen the min we set up serve a markers. PLAN WAS First men on side were 4 loggers, 15 Security personnel 5 in pickups, 5 on Atv's, and 5 on dirt bikes. 4 operators, 2 mounted in d-8 2 in large framed Ex's First machines to fire off were chain saws. @4:30Am 4 man crew escorted by the 2 excavators. got both trees laid down and over and pushed down to the beach in 4.5 hours. Pissed hippy's started to get there at 6:30. got the load of them rounded up with the quads and dirt bikes. and headed them with the trucks. got them to the top and call county sheriff (NOT LOCAL PD) to remove trespassers. You have to know your construction curfews like the back of you hand. when you can do what and how. its all the cover of darkness. courts are closed on sundays so you cant file. Courts are closed on suday dont you know.
Awesome Tricks, Dualie Hey, Dualie, those are great tricks. You are very clever. The tree huggers and hysterical preservationists must love to hate you . . . Love your trick re demo. Trash the place so bad that it is irrecoverable early Sunday morning. That makes sense. By the time they realize what has happened to the poor old building, it's too too late. Too bad. Boo hoo, another one bites the dust. So, how many times have you gotten to trash an old building that way? What kind of places did you destroy? Where are you in NorCal. Also, I can't believe you got to down an old growth redwood. That is like logging in the early days of California, pull down those giants. Keep up the good work, Dualie. :notworthy