R. Baker & Sons Demo Experience to Find the Best Plan

“Why Didn’t I Think of That?”: Count on R. Baker’s & Son’s Demolition Experience to Find the Best Plan

One of the great benefits of hiring experienced contractors for a construction project is their ability to see things and come up with solutions that the client, designers, and project managers completely missed. These ideas are often seemingly simple but extremely beneficial to the project, as was the case on a recent renovation project at a 225,000 sq. ft. laboratory facility where R. Baker & Son would be performing selective demolition. 

The project master plan was to renovate the entire building in three phases over a five-year period. During each phase, two-thirds of the building would remain in use and there could be no interruptions for employees working in areas that were not under construction. As a result, considerable thought had gone into the planning effort, down to detailed color-coded drawings showing how, where, and when construction materials could be routed into the building and demolition debris could be routed out. 

R. Baker & Son’s demolition team was tasked with performing demolition during the day and staging the debris in the work zone for removal at night through long corridors that snaked through occupied areas of the building. Every other evening, a second shift would be brought in to protect the corridors with plastic sheeting, remove the debris from the building via the assigned route, then thoroughly clean all remaining traces of dust and dirt from the corridors before facility workers arrived the next day. 

The eureka moment came shortly after the project began when one of our demolition workers looked from a window onto a vacant courtyard. What if this courtyard could be used to stage and remove the debris instead of having to laboriously cart it through long hallways? We checked the drawings, and sure enough, the courtyard, which was slated to be converted into an outdoor eating area during the last phase of the project, was perfectly situated for our demolition team’s purposes. 

With the client’s approval, R. Baker & Son removed several large windows opening onto the courtyard so debris could be easily removed and stored. Every other weekend, we brought in a small rigging team to remove the debris from the courtyard by crane to waiting dumpsters and trucks. This simple change in project plans completely eliminated the need for a second shift, significantly reduced the time and effort that would be required to remove demolition debris, and alleviated all of the client’s concerns about contaminating occupied areas of the laboratory facility.

About R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services

R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services, a Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE), in business since 1935, is a premier specialized contractor operating in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, with over one hundred employees and an exemplary safety record (we have been directly involved in six sites that received VPP OSHA Safety Awards). R. Baker & Son is financially strong, with bonding capabilities of over $20 million. Capabilities include industrial and commercial demolition, rigging, machinery- and plant-moving, dismantling, decommissioning, plant and equipment relocation, interior demolition, selective demolition, warehousing, wrecking and razing, millwright, plant reconfigurations, heavy rigging, salvage, environmental services, remediation, decontamination, abatement, and investment and asset recovery.

R. Baker & Son - All Industrial Services
190 Boundary Road
Marlboro, NJ 07746
732-222-3553

https://www.rbaker.com/