Cost guide

Demolition Cost: City Program Figures

Last reviewed November 2026. Primary sources were accessed November 7, 2026. Dates are Mountain Standard Time (Phoenix).

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The dollar range below is from a Philadelphia city program for unsafe buildings. It is not a national homeowner price.

What the data shows

Primary sources first. We found a 2024 city audit of demolishing unsafe houses. We did not find a government price for a homeowner demolishing one room, a garage, or a house they still live in.

Philadelphia City Controller special investigation

Government audit · Jun 2024 · Accessed Nov 7, 2026

Demolition costs are approximately $25,000 to $30,000 per average two-story structure. Each additional floor is an extra $12,000. The findings summary says the average residential demolition costs upward of $30,000. Brick row homes are demolished by hand because neighboring homes are close. The city uses curbside bids from about 10 contractors, pays them, and bills the owner.

Confidence: Medium

Homeowner partial demolition, or a national residential average

Government / public bid · n/a · Accessed Nov 7, 2026

Not found

Confidence: Low

Typical range for homeowners

Philadelphia unsafe-structure program

About $25,000 to $30,000 (Philadelphia City Controller special investigation)

How it was derived

We did not calculate it. The City Controller's June 2024 investigation states that demolition costs are approximately $25,000 to $30,000 per average two-story structure, and that each additional floor is an extra $12,000 (Philadelphia City Controller special investigation).

A second sentence on the same report

The findings list says the average residential demolition costs upward of $30,000. That sentence and the $25,000 to $30,000 sentence are both printed. We did not merge them into a new average.

What it is not

A national homeowner price, an interior gut, or a price for a detached house taken down by machine. The report is about Philadelphia's unsafe and imminently dangerous buildings, often brick row homes taken down by hand. A price for demolishing part of an occupied house was not found.

Confidence

Medium for that city program. Low as a price for any other demolition.

What the report says changes the cost

  • Height. Each floor above an average two-story structure is an extra $12,000 in that program (Philadelphia City Controller special investigation).
  • Method. Brick row homes next to other houses are demolished by hand, which the report gives as the reason for that approach.
  • Who is buying. These are city curbside bids for unsafe buildings, then billed to the owner. A homeowner hiring a crew for a planned teardown was not priced in the report.
  • Hazardous materials. This page does not add asbestos or lead prices onto the demolition figure. Those jobs have their own cost guides.

FAQ

How much does demolition cost?

For the job this page can cite, Philadelphia's controller reported about $25,000 to $30,000 per average two-story unsafe structure in a June 2024 investigation, plus $12,000 for each additional floor (Philadelphia City Controller special investigation). A national homeowner average was not found.

What kind of demolition is that?

City demolition of unsafe and imminently dangerous buildings. The report says brick row homes are taken down by hand because neighbors are close.

Does that include tearing out one room?

No. A government price for partial demolition inside a house someone still occupies was not found. Do not use the $25,000 to $30,000 band for that scope.

Why might a row house cost more than a detached house?

The report's reason is hand demolition next to other homes. It does not publish a machine-demolition price to compare.

Should asbestos or lead be in the same bid?

Ask, and compare the answers. This page does not fold those costs in. The asbestos and lead cost guides cite their own public prices.

Is this a price for my city?

No. It is one city's 2024 program. A state-by-state homeowner demolition table was not found. A listing in the directory is a license on record, not a local price.

How we built these numbers

  • Source order: we start with government sources (EPA, HUD, state agencies), then public bid or contract unit prices (state contracts, school districts, cities), then industry survey data. Angi, HomeAdvisor, This Old House, HomeGuide and Fixr are shown only in a separate consumer-reported section and are not used to set the headline ranges.
  • Each figure in the tables is one we read on the cited page or document, with the source type, year, link, confidence and the date we accessed it (Mountain Standard Time, Phoenix). Where we found nothing, the table says Not found.
  • Typical ranges are our own arithmetic, with one sentence on how each was derived. We do not average bids of different scope, and a range is only as good as the sources it rests on, which is why each one carries a confidence rating.
  • Public bid prices are unit prices from institutional buyers, and they may include prevailing-wage rules and larger project sizes. They are examples of what contractors bid, not residential averages.
  • We do not use proprietary estimating databases such as RSMeans, Xactimate or HomeWyse, and we do not quote them.
  • We plan to add quotes collected from contractors in our directory later, and will label them as a separate source type.
  • Confidence key: High means a government source states the figure directly or two independent primary sources agree. Medium means one primary source read in full, or primary sources that agree only loosely. Low means dated before 2022, unclear scope, a program budget estimate or a single source. Consumer-reported rows are capped at Medium.
  • We refresh figures at least twice a year and show the last-reviewed date. Where a contractor listing is mentioned, the directory's phrase is license on record.

Sources

Contractors by state

These links go only to states where the directory currently lists demolition contractors. The figures above stay national.

Before you hire

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Related guides

Older buildings can contain asbestos. See the asbestos removal cost guide before treating demolition as a single line.

Lead-based paint is a separate scope on pre-1980 buildings. See the lead paint abatement cost guide.