Demolition in Augusta & Aiken
Structural and site demolition, concrete and asphalt removal, debris haul-off. We demo, clear, grade and rebuild with the same crews.
- Structural demolition
- Site demolition
- Concrete and asphalt removal
- Debris haul-off
- Utility disconnection coordination
- Site restoration and grading
Demolition is the least contested work in this market and one of the things we have been doing longest. If something has to come down before anything else can happen, we take it down, haul it off, and — if you want — hand the site back graded, drained and ready to build on.
Pave-Way has worked across the CSRA since 1978, with our own equipment and our own crews, on both sides of the river.
What we take down
Structural demolition. Houses, outbuildings, commercial and light industrial structures, mobile homes, storm-damaged and derelict buildings.
Site demolition. Concrete and asphalt removal, redundant driveways and parking areas, loading docks, below-grade concrete left over from previous structures, old retaining structures, fencing and site furniture.
Selective removal. Taking out one part of a site — a failed parking area, a section of pavement, an outbuilding — while the rest stays in use.
Debris haul-off. Separated where it is worth separating, disposed of properly, and gone.
The part that actually sets the schedule
People assume demolition is slow. The demolition itself usually isn’t — a house-sized structure is often down in a day or two.
What takes time is everything that has to happen first:
- Utility disconnections, confirmed by the providers in writing. Power, gas, water and sewer. This is almost always the long pole, and it is worth starting the moment you know the building is coming down.
- Permitting. Richmond County and the City of Augusta require a demolition permit; Aiken County and the City of Aiken run an equivalent process.
- Asbestos survey, where the age of the structure requires one. A specialist inspection, and one that can hold up a permit if it is left late.
We handle the permitting on our demolition work and will tell you at the estimate what your specific structure needs. Starting the utility disconnections early is the single most useful thing an owner can do to keep the schedule tight.
Demolition is the start of a site job, not the end of one
This is where doing the whole sequence matters.
A demolition-only contractor takes the structure down, hauls it away, and leaves. What you have then is a hole where a basement was, a compacted footprint where the building sat, disturbed ground everywhere the equipment tracked, and whatever the building’s drainage used to do now not happening.
The next contractor arrives to that and has to work out what is under it.
We demo, clear, backfill, strip organic material and old below-grade structures, compact properly, shoot grades, correct the drainage, and then pour or pave if that is what the site needs — with the same crews throughout. One company is responsible for the finished ground, and nobody is inheriting somebody else’s guesswork.
That continuity is also why our backfill is different. We are usually the ones building on it afterwards, so material that would settle for the next three years is our problem, not the next contractor’s.
What actually changes the scope
Owners are often surprised by which variables move a demolition number, so it is worth being direct about them.
Disposal, not destruction. Getting the structure down is rarely the expensive part. Hauling it away and disposing of it properly frequently is. That makes material type and haul distance bigger factors than square footage.
What is under it. A structure over a crawl space is a different job from one over a basement. Anything below grade has to come out and the hole has to be backfilled with material that will not settle for the next five years.
Access. Whether equipment can reach the structure, what has to be protected on the way in, and how close the neighbouring buildings and property lines sit.
Age. Older structures are more likely to require an asbestos survey before a permit is issued, and that inspection is worth commissioning early rather than discovering late.
What happens next. Demolishing a structure so the lot can sit empty is a smaller scope than demolishing one so that something can be built there in the spring. The second needs the ground left right.
We walk the site and price the actual structure rather than a typical one.
Where we work
Augusta, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, Hephzibah, Aiken and North Augusta, and further for larger site packages. Residential through commercial.
Bonded, licensed and insured in both Georgia and South Carolina. Free estimates, no obligation — call whichever office is closer.
Common questions
- Do I need a permit to demolish a building?
- Yes, effectively always for a structure. Richmond County and the City of Augusta require a demolition permit, and Aiken County and the City of Aiken run an equivalent process. Utilities have to be disconnected and confirmed by the providers before anything comes down — that step, not the permit itself, is usually what sets the schedule. Older structures may also require an asbestos survey before a permit is issued, which is a specialist inspection and worth starting early. We handle the permitting on our demolition jobs and will tell you at the estimate what your specific structure needs.
- What happens to the debris?
- It is separated where separating it makes sense — concrete, asphalt, metal and clean fill often have somewhere better to go than a landfill — and the rest is hauled off and disposed of properly. Disposal is usually a meaningful share of a demolition cost, which is why haul distance and material type affect the number as much as the size of the structure does.
- Can you take out a concrete driveway or parking lot without demolishing the building?
- Yes, and we do a lot of it. Selective removal of concrete and asphalt is routine work for us — old driveways, failed parking areas, redundant stretches of pavement, loading areas. Because we also grade, drain and repave, we can take the old surface out and put the new one in as one job rather than handing the site between two contractors.
- How long does a demolition take?
- The knocking-down part is usually fast — often a day or two for a house-sized structure. What sets the overall schedule is everything around it — utility disconnections confirmed in writing, permits issued, any required asbestos survey completed, and haul-off. Plan in weeks rather than days for the whole process, and start the utility disconnections as early as you can.
- Will you leave the lot ready to build on?
- If you want it that way, yes, and that is the version we would recommend. Demolition on its own leaves a hole, a footprint and disturbed ground. We can backfill, strip out organic material and old below-grade concrete, compact, shoot grades and correct drainage, and hand the site over ready for the next stage — with the same crews, so there is no gap between contractors and nobody inheriting somebody else's mess.
Questions we get asked about this
Related work
Free estimates, either office
Tell us about the site and we’ll come look at it. No obligation, and no charge for the estimate.