A Case Study of Reducing the Costs of Deconstructing Blighted Buildings in the City of Milwaukee

The cost of deconstruction increased dramatically after the deconstruction ordinance in the City of Milwaukee went into effect on January 1, 2018. This study focused on comparing the cost of deconstruction from 2015 to 2018 and look at reducing the cost of deconstruction. Rising costs of deconstruction caused an increasing backlog of vacant and blighted buildings to remain in place across the City of Milwaukee. The purpose of this study was to analyze the costs associated with the deconstruction of structures in the Milwaukee area and to find areas of cost efficiencies. This study defines the labor and process costs required to deconstruct a structure defined as worker hours per square foot, identifies the environmental regulations and constraints that affect the costs of deconstruction, classifies the economic landscape that benefits deconstruction, defines the marketplace for material salvaged from deconstructions and the best practices for deconstructing houses. Contractors that specialize in deconstruction can benefit this research by creating a lean deconstruction process. Traditional demolition companies that focus on mechanical demolitions can use this research to expand business opportunities into deconstruction work and find the value in a material that has historically been landfilled. Municipalities will be able to control the contract bidding process by understanding the economics of deconstruction and the end market of salvaged materials.