07716 484668
Century Demolition Ltd: demolition contractors in Bishop Auckland, County Durham

Domestic DemolitionGarages, Outbuildings & Full HouseIn Bishop Auckland & County Durham

Garages, conservatories, outbuildings, farm buildings and full house demolition handled directly with you, the homeowner, no principal contractor in between, just a free survey, a written fixed price and a crew that turns up when they say they will.

Request your free site survey 07716 484668

Free site survey, free written fixed price, and a straight answer on asbestos before anything is booked in, built on 50+ years of family experience in demolition.

50+ yrs
Family experience in demolition, trading as Century since 2021
£5m / £10m
Public and product liability / employers' liability cover
SSIP
SSIP and Constructionline accredited for health and safety
24/7
Phones answered every day of the year, attendance aimed within the hour
DBS
DBS-checked operatives working on and around your home
The service

What this work involves, and who it is for

What domestic demolition covers

Domestic demolition covers everything from a single freestanding garage to a full house knock-down: garages, sheds, conservatories, lean-tos, outbuildings, stables, farm buildings on a smallholding, swimming pool structures, and complete dwellings ahead of a rebuild. The scope always includes disconnecting services, checking for asbestos cement sheeting or old textured coatings, taking the structure down safely, and clearing the site to whatever level you need: down to bare ground, or left as a level base ready for the next contractor.

Because it is domestic work, we deal with you directly rather than through a principal contractor. That means the survey, the quote, the RAMS and the day-to-day decisions on site all go through the same conversation with you, which keeps a small job simple and a larger one, a full house or a farm with several outbuildings, no less rigorous on safety, insurance or waste documentation than a commercial contract.

Who we do it for

Homeowners removing a garage, conservatory or outbuilding that has reached the end of its life, is unsafe, or is standing in the way of an extension or new build. Self-builders and developers taking down an existing dwelling to build a replacement on the same plot. Farmers and smallholders clearing redundant agricultural buildings, old byres, Dutch barns, grain stores, that no longer suit the operation or are becoming a liability.

Also homeowners and buyers who have discovered a structural problem, storm damage, or an asbestos cement roof that has started to break down, and need someone who can survey, advise honestly on whether it needs to come down, and then do the work without passing them between different specialists.

When it is needed

Before an extension, driveway or landscaping project, when an old garage, shed or conservatory is in the way.

Ahead of a self-build or replacement dwelling, when the existing house needs to come down before the new build can start.

When a structure has failed or is failing: cracked block walls, a sagging roof, rotten timber framing, or asbestos cement sheeting that is shedding fibres.

After storm damage or fire, when part of the home or an outbuilding has to be made safe or removed before repair or rebuild work can proceed.

When redundant farm buildings become an insurance liability, an eyesore on a sale particular, or simply unused ground you want back.

Why it pays to use a demolition contractor

The biggest risk on a domestic job is not usually the demolition itself; it is what is hidden inside an older structure. Asbestos cement sheeting, asbestos-containing rope seals around old boilers, and textured coatings on ceilings are common in garages, outbuildings and houses built or extended before 2000, and disturbing them without the right training turns a straightforward job into a health hazard for your own family and neighbours.

A contractor who surveys properly, prices honestly and carries the right insurance protects you from that risk and from the ones that follow it: unpermitted skip loads, undocumented waste, damaged boundary walls, or a job that stalls halfway because nobody checked what was underneath the cladding. We survey and quote every domestic job free of charge, in writing, before any work is booked.

Free site surveys and quotes. We price job by job, with no obligation to proceed.

Leave it and it costs more

What happens if this is left alone

An old garage, conservatory or outbuilding rarely improves with time, and a full house demolition done badly creates problems that follow the site into the rebuild. Most domestic demolition problems are avoidable with a proper survey before work starts.

Risks and escalating cost

  • Asbestos cement roof sheets and old textured coatings degrade and shed fibres, turning a simple strip-out into a contamination issue for the household and neighbouring gardens.
  • Unsupported party walls and boundary walls shared with a neighbour can be damaged or destabilised by demolition carried out without a survey or the right sequence.
  • Old drains, septic tanks, oil tanks and buried services on farm and house plots get struck by machinery when nobody has checked what runs under the ground first.
  • Uninsured or under-insured operators leave you personally liable if a wall, chimney or roof comes down onto a neighbour's property, a car or a passer-by.
  • Undocumented waste removal, a van and a skip with no paperwork, can leave the homeowner exposed if the material is later found to have been fly-tipped.

Mistakes we are called in to fix

  • Assuming a garage or outbuilding is too small to need a proper asbestos check, when cement roof sheets and old flue seals are common in exactly these structures.
  • Booking a general builder or a man with a digger instead of a demolition contractor with liability insurance and a written method for the job.
  • Not telling the contractor about a shared boundary wall, an easement, or a neighbour's fence fixed to the structure coming down.
  • Agreeing a verbal price with no written scope, so extras, skip levels, hardcore removal, extra hand-digging around services, turn into disputes later.
  • Leaving a partly demolished structure or open foundation unsecured overnight where children, pets or passers-by can access it.
How it works

Our process, start to handover

  1. Step 1

    Free site survey

    We visit, look at the structure, check for asbestos cement sheeting, old coatings or rope seals, and confirm what services run to and through the building: water, gas, electric, drains. No charge, no obligation.

  2. Step 2

    Written fixed price and plan

    You receive a written quote covering the demolition, any asbestos handling, skip or muck-away requirements, and the finish you want: cleared and levelled, or a hardcore base left ready for the next trade.

  3. Step 3

    Service isolation and protection

    Gas, water, electric and drainage connections to the structure are disconnected and made safe before anything is touched. Neighbouring boundaries, fences, driveways and gardens are protected.

  4. Step 4

    Asbestos handled first, if present

    Non-licensed asbestos such as cement sheeting or rope seals is removed in-house by trained, tested operatives before demolition starts. Where a survey finds licensed material, it is coordinated through our trusted licensed specialist partner ahead of the demolition date.

  5. Step 5

    Demolition

    The structure is taken down using the method that suits the site: machine demolition where there is room to work, careful hand or supported demolition where boundaries, access or overhead lines restrict it.

  6. Step 6

    Clearance and handover

    Arisings are cleared, the site is left to the agreed finish, and waste transfer documentation from a licensed recycling facility is provided so you have a record for building control, your insurer or a future buyer.

What you get

Why clients keep us on their list

One point of contact, no middleman

You deal with us directly from survey to handover, rather than through a builder or agent who then subcontracts the demolition on.

Asbestos checked before anyone starts

Garages, outbuildings and older houses are surveyed for asbestos cement sheeting and coatings before demolition, so a hidden hazard does not turn into a mid-job stoppage.

Fixed price in writing

Every domestic job is surveyed and quoted individually, so the figure you agree covers the whole scope rather than growing once work has started.

Insurance that actually covers you

£5 million public and product liability and £10 million employers' liability, so damage to a neighbouring wall, car or garden is covered rather than left as your problem.

Neighbours and boundaries protected

Party walls, shared fences and boundary structures are identified at survey stage and worked around, rather than discovered mid-demolition.

Documented waste disposal

All waste goes through a licensed recycling facility with transfer documentation, useful if you ever need to show building control or a buyer's solicitor how the site was cleared.

The detail

Domestic Demolition: materials, methods and variations

Structures we take down

Freestanding and integral garages in block, brick or timber, including asbestos cement roof sheets, which are common on garages built through the 1960s to 1980s and need identifying before the roof comes off. Conservatories and lean-tos in uPVC, timber and aluminium, and porches, car ports and garden outbuildings such as sheds, summer houses and workshops.

Full house demolition, from a single dwelling on its own plot to a bungalow or detached house ahead of a replacement build, including the associated foundations, drives and hardstanding. Farm and smallholding buildings, stables, byres, Dutch barns, grain stores and redundant agricultural sheds, which often mix timber, block, corrugated cement sheet and asbestos-containing materials and need careful segregation rather than a single method applied across the whole building.

Swimming pool structures, garden walls and boundary structures, and any smaller domestic structure that needs to come down cleanly without disturbing what is left standing next to it.

Methods and how we choose them

Small, detached structures with clear access, a freestanding garage, a shed, a redundant farm building in an open field, are usually taken down mechanically with an excavator, which is quicker and reduces manual handling. Attached and integral structures, conservatories fixed to the main house, and anything close to a boundary wall or a neighbour's property are demolished by hand or with careful supported machine work so the structure that stays standing is not damaged.

A full house demolition is sequenced like a small commercial job: soft strip of fittings and salvageable materials first, then asbestos removal where identified, then mechanical demolition of the superstructure, then slab and foundation removal. Working at height, harness and hot works training covers any cutting or work above ground level, and a fire marshal is on site wherever hot works are involved.

Variations of the service

Single-structure removal, one garage, one conservatory, one outbuilding, priced and completed as a standalone job, often within a day or two once asbestos checks are clear. Multi-building farm clearance, where several outbuildings across a smallholding are surveyed and quoted together, sequenced to keep the working parts of the farm operational while redundant buildings come down.

Full house demolition ahead of a self-build or replacement dwelling, coordinated around planning conditions, party wall agreements and the rebuild programme so the plot is handed to your builder ready to start. Partial demolition, such as removing a rear extension or conservatory while the main house stays standing and weathertight.

Asbestos and older structures

Garages, outbuildings and houses built or altered before 2000 commonly contain asbestos cement roof sheeting, rainwater goods, flue and rope seals around old boilers, and textured coatings on ceilings. None of these are dealt with by guesswork: our survey identifies what is present, and non-licensed material is removed in-house by CATB asbestos awareness trained, HS&E tested and face-fit trained operatives before demolition proceeds.

Where a survey identifies licensed asbestos-containing material, that element is coordinated through our trusted licensed specialist partner and scheduled into the same overall programme, so you still have one point of contact managing the whole job rather than juggling two separate contractors yourself.

Domestic work compared with commercial contracts

Domestic demolition moves at the pace of a homeowner's decision rather than a principal contractor's programme, so once the survey and quote are agreed, jobs are generally booked and completed faster than a comparable commercial contract. The same accreditation, insurance, RAMS and waste documentation apply regardless of size: a single garage is quoted and risk-assessed with the same rigour as a factory unit, just at a scale that suits the job.

The main practical difference is who you deal with day to day: on domestic work it is you, directly, from the first phone call through to the site being handed back, with no principal contractor, architect or project manager in between unless you want one involved.

FAQs

Domestic Demolition: straight answers

If your question is not covered here, ring us. The phone is answered by people who do the work, not a call centre.

Price depends on the structure's size, construction, whether asbestos is present, access for machinery, and what finish you want the site left in. We survey free of charge and provide a written fixed price, so you know the exact figure before agreeing to anything.
Next step

Get a free survey and written price for your domestic demolition

Tell us what needs to come down, a garage, a conservatory, an outbuilding or a full house, and we will attend, check for asbestos, and come back with a fixed written price. No principal contractor, no middleman, just a straight answer.

  • Free survey and written price
  • SSIP & Constructionline accredited
  • £5m / £10m insured
Request your free survey 07716 484668
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