Structures that are unsafe after fire, collapse, impact or storm damage. The priority is securing the area and removing the immediate danger, with the rest of the demolition planned once nothing is about to fall.
In an emergency the first job is not demolition, it is making sure nothing else falls on anybody. That means establishing an exclusion zone that accounts for how far debris travels rather than where the building currently ends, getting people and vehicles out of it, and identifying what is holding up what before anyone approaches.
Damaged structures behave unpredictably: fire weakens steel without changing how it looks, and a partially collapsed building can be holding itself in balance in a way that a single removed element ends. So the sequence is worked out from a distance first.
Emergency demolition: document it as you go, for the insurer
Emergency work happens before anybody has time to think about a claim, and the evidence needed later is destroyed by the work itself. Photographs before and during, a written record of what was removed and why it could not be retained, and the reasoning behind the decisions all matter to an insurer who was not there.
Where any part of the structure can be safely retained, the decision to keep it should be recorded too, because demolishing more than necessary is one of the things a loss adjuster will question afterwards. We photograph as we go and give you the record, and we say plainly when something could be saved rather than taking the faster route.
A structure that is unsafe now: fire damage, partial collapse, storm or impact damage, or a wall that has moved. If people or a road are at risk, treat it as one and call.
Securing the area, not demolition. An exclusion zone based on how far debris could travel, then an assessment from a safe distance of what is holding what.
Sometimes. Stabilising with temporary support is often possible and is usually better for you and your insurer than removing more than necessary. We record that decision either way.
Emergency work follows a different route from planned demolition, and the authority is notified rather than applied to in advance. We handle that as part of the response.
Yes. We photograph before and during and record what was removed and why, because the work itself destroys the evidence a loss adjuster would otherwise want to see.
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