Light Demolition
Light demolition is the trade for non-structural tear-outs and removals — the bathroom getting gutted before the new vanity, the kitchen heading for a remodel, the deck that has rotted through, the fence the storm took, the shed in the back corner that has not been opened in eight years, the carpet over hardwood we want to restore, the abandoned hot tub leaking onto the slab — from $400 for a small flooring tear-up to $6,000 for a full interior strip-out. Handis runs the eight families in one trade with the right tools, the right disposal, and the right handoff where a wall is load-bearing, a circuit is hardwired, a supply line is in the wall, or the home is pre-1980 and needs asbestos and lead testing first. Load-bearing walls and structural framing are explicitly outside this trade — those route to a licensed Washington L&I contractor and we name the issue on the booking call.
Services
What Light Demolition Covers
Light demolition is the catch-all trade for non-structural tear-outs and removals — interior strip-outs, full bathroom and kitchen gut-outs, deck and fence removals, shed demolition, flooring tear-up, and hot tub haul-away. One crew, the right tools (pry bars, reciprocating saws with demo blades, sledges, oscillating multi-tools, HEPA-equipped shop vacs, dump trailers), and a licensed transfer-station relationship for everything that comes out. The work breaks into eight service families with their own pricing, tools, and disposal protocol. None of it touches load-bearing framing or structural members — those route to a licensed Washington L&I contractor, and we confirm the wall is non-load-bearing against the framing plan before any partition comes down. Pre-1980 homes get tested for asbestos and lead before any in-wall, ceiling, or flooring tear-out starts — confirmed asbestos-containing material (popcorn ceilings, 9x9 vinyl floor tile, drywall joint compound on some vintages, pipe wrap) routes to a certified abatement contractor first; we will not break ACM into the air.
Interior (Non-Structural) Demo
The whole-room strip-out before the remodel — cabinets out, fixtures pulled, drywall removed back to studs, baseboards and trim off, interior non-load-bearing partition walls down. Cooking gas, hardwired electrical, and plumbing supply or drain get capped and disconnected by the right licensed trade BEFORE we swing a tool. From $1,500 to $6,000 depending on room count and disposal volume.
Interior (Non-Structural) Demo — strip-outs, non-load-bearing partitions, debris haul
Bathroom Tear-Out
Full bathroom gut — vanity, toilet, tub or shower surround, tile floor, mirror and accessories, drywall to studs where the new layout demands. Water shut off at the supply stops, P-trap capped, supply lines capped. If the tear-out exposes active mold or wet framing, we stop and document before going further. From $1,200 to $3,500 for a standard 5x8 bath.
Bathroom Tear-Out — vanity, toilet, tub, tile, drywall
Kitchen Tear-Out
Full kitchen gut — base and wall cabinets, countertops (laminate, granite, quartz), sink and faucet, range hood, backsplash tile, flooring, dishwasher disconnect, range disconnect by the right licensed trade (gas range = a plumber on the gas line first, electric range = an electrician on a hardwired circuit first). Salvageable cabinets go to Habitat ReStore where the homeowner wants. From $1,800 to $5,000 depending on cabinet count and counter material.
Kitchen Tear-Out — cabinets, counters, sink, hood, backsplash, flooring
Deck Removal
Wood deck dismantle — surface boards first, joists, ledger at the house (we patch the ledger flashing or hand off the wall repair), posts. Concrete footings cut at grade or dug out as an upgrade — pull-out adds dig time and quoted up front. Pressure-treated lumber sorted from cedar; both go to the right transfer-station bins. From $1,200 for a 100 sq ft deck to $4,000 for a 400 sq ft elevated deck with stairs.
Deck Removal — boards, joists, ledger, posts, footings
Fence Removal
Wood or vinyl fence tear-down — boards or panels, top and bottom rails, posts. Concrete footings cut at grade by default; dig-out is an upgrade and quoted up front. Cedar and pressure-treated lumber sorted; vinyl panels recycled where the local stream accepts them. Per-foot pricing for runs over 50 feet. From $600 for a 30-foot run to $2,000 for a 150-foot perimeter with concrete dig-outs.
Fence Removal — boards, panels, rails, posts, concrete footings
Shed Demolition
Wood, metal kit, or resin backyard shed dismantle — roof first, walls down, floor up. Concrete pad left in place (slab break-up quoted separately as a site-prep add-on). Salvage doors, hardware, and shelving the homeowner wants to keep. Standard 8x10 to 12x16 sheds covered here; larger pole-barn structures route to the structural trade. From $500 for a 6x8 wood shed to $1,500 for a 12x16 with metal roofing.
Shed Demolition — wood, metal, resin, roof to floor
Flooring Removal
Tear-up of carpet and pad, vinyl plank or sheet, ceramic and porcelain tile, engineered hardwood, laminate, and nail-down hardwood. Tackstrips, staples, and adhesive residue scraped to subfloor. Pre-1980 9x9 vinyl floor tile is treated as asbestos-containing until tested — we test before tear-up if no documentation exists; confirmed ACM routes to a certified abatement contractor. Subfloor swept clean and ready for the next trade. From $400 for a 200 sq ft carpet pull to $3,000 for a full main-floor tile demo.
Flooring Removal — carpet, tile, vinyl, laminate, hardwood
Hot Tub Removal & Haul
Drain the tub at the curb or through a sump pump to the storm system, electrician disconnect first if the tub is hardwired 240V (most are), then dismantle in sections or whole-haul depending on yard access. Cover, shell, plumbing/pump module, frame. Metal frame and plumbing recycled; acrylic shell to landfill (no current recycling stream). Crane lift quoted separately when the gate or fence will not pass the whole tub. From $500 for a curbside-accessible plug-in tub to $1,500 for a hardwired in-yard tub requiring section dismantle.
Hot Tub Removal & Haul — drain, electrician disconnect, dismantle, haul
Light Demolition Pricing
Final pricing depends on room size, debris volume, disposal weight at the transfer station, and any abatement handoff for pre-1980 homes. Each child page lists detailed pricing for that family of work. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us what is coming out and we will quote the demo, the disposal, and any abatement handoff.
Why Seattle Homeowners Book Handis for Light Demolition
Most demolition calls we get are not the demo itself — they are the questions around it. Is this wall load-bearing? Is that popcorn ceiling asbestos? Who caps the gas before the range comes out? Does the tile have lead glaze? Where does the debris go? We answer those questions on the booking call before a tool ever leaves the truck, and we route the parts we cannot legally do (the structural sign-off, the asbestos abatement, the gas-line cap, the 240V disconnect) to the right licensed trade in the order they need to happen. The actual tear-out is the easy part once the sequence is right.
Non-structural only — load-bearing routes to a contractor
We tear out cabinets, fixtures, flooring, drywall on non-load-bearing partitions, decks, fences, sheds, and hot tubs. We do NOT remove load-bearing walls, do NOT cut structural framing, and do NOT pull anything that requires an engineer's stamp or a structural permit. Before any partition wall comes down, we confirm it is non-load-bearing against the framing plan, the home's age and construction type, or a structural reference. Where that confirmation cannot be made on arrival, we stop and route to a licensed Washington L&I contractor for the structural sign-off — and come back for the non-structural portion after.
Pre-1980 homes — asbestos and lead tested first
Popcorn ceilings, 9x9 vinyl floor tile, drywall joint compound on some vintages, pipe wrap, and lead-paint glaze on tile are all real possibilities on homes built before 1980. We test before tear-out where the homeowner has no abatement documentation — confirmed asbestos-containing material (ACM) routes to a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries certified abatement contractor before we touch it. Breaking ACM into the air is illegal and dangerous; we will not do it.
Utilities capped by the right licensed trade first
Cooking gas to a range — a plumber on the gas line. A hardwired 240V circuit to a hot tub or range — an electrician. In-wall plumbing supply or drain feeding a tub or sink — a licensed plumber. We coordinate the sequence on the booking call and the right trade caps the right line BEFORE we arrive for the demo. Showing up to a kitchen demo with a live gas range is a fire we will not start.
Debris sorted and hauled to a licensed transfer station
Everything that comes out is sorted into the right stream — clean wood, painted wood, drywall, metal, tile, carpet and pad, salvageable fixtures (donated to Habitat ReStore where the homeowner wants), and general construction debris. Final disposal at a licensed King County or Snohomish County transfer station with a dump receipt for the homeowner's records. We weigh in and out where the disposal price is tonnage-based, and we pass through the actual tip fee in the invoice.
Insured, background-checked, 30-day workmanship guarantee
Every Handis demolition tech carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening. The 30-day workmanship guarantee covers what we did to the site — if a remaining wall surface was gouged past what the tear-out scope called for, a debris pile damaged a finished surface, or a finish surface adjacent to the demo was not protected, we come back and correct it at no extra charge. Demolition damage to the items being removed (the cabinets, the tile, the deck boards) is by design — those are the demo target.
Estimate
Tell us what is coming out (the bathroom, the kitchen, the deck, the shed, the floor, the hot tub), the home's age (pre-1980 triggers asbestos and lead testing), whether utilities are still live, and any salvage you want kept aside. We will quote the demo, the disposal weight, and any abatement or licensed-trade handoff.
What Our Customers Say
Recent light-demolition reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Full kitchen gut before the remodel. Tech told me on the call that the gas line to the range needed a plumber to cap it BEFORE the demo day — I had assumed Handis would handle it. He gave me a name, the plumber came out Tuesday, Handis crew came out Wednesday. Cabinets out, counters out, backsplash off, hood pulled, vinyl flooring scraped, all to the dumpster by end of day Thursday. Quartz counter went to ReStore at my request.
1958 bathroom remodel, popcorn ceiling. Crew tested the ceiling before doing anything — came back positive for asbestos. They stopped, gave me the name of a certified abatement contractor for the ceiling, and came back the next week to tear out the rest (vanity, tile floor, tub, drywall) after the abatement was done. Could not have asked for a cleaner handoff. They saved me from a very illegal mistake.
400 sq ft elevated deck, completely rotted, scary to walk on. Crew dismantled top down — boards, joists, ledger (they patched the ledger flashing where it came off the house), then cut the 4x4 posts at grade. Sorted PT lumber from cedar at the trailer. Three days for the tear-down and haul, dump receipts handed over Friday morning. The yard looked like the deck had never been there.
Hot tub the previous owner left rotting on the patio for two years. Hardwired 240V. Handis told me on the call I needed an electrician to disconnect first — they coordinated it with one of their referrals. Day of the haul they drained the tub through a sump to my storm drain, took the cover off, cut the shell in halves to fit through my side gate, hauled the pump module separately. Slab is clean.
Whole main floor flooring removal — 800 sq ft of carpet and pad, plus a small entry of 9x9 vinyl tile we suspected was from the 70s. Crew tested the vinyl, came back positive, brought in an abatement contractor for that 30 sq ft, then pulled the carpet, the pad, all the tackstrips, the staples, and scraped the adhesive on the entry tile. Subfloor swept clean for the LVP installer. Two days of work, two days saved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about light-demolition services — pricing, scope, asbestos and lead, what is structural, who caps utilities, and disposal.