Demolition contractor, Apsley and North Kawartha
Cottage, house, garage and outbuilding teardowns on the lakes and rock of North Kawartha. Send the form and an owner calls you back today.
For a demolition contractor in Apsley and North Kawartha, most jobs are lake cottages on rock: Chandos, Jack, Anstruther, Big Cedar or the north shore of Stony Lake. The Township has no municipal water or sewer, so every teardown has a private well and a septic system to plan around, and the rebuild question, same footprint or further back, gets settled before the permit goes in. We are a one-crew company from Bobcaygeon running our own machines, and an owner is on every job.
A whole structure down and the site cleared: the house, cottage, barn or outbuilding comes down, the debris is hauled away and the lot is graded for whatever comes next.
In-ground or above-ground: the concrete or liner comes out, the hole is filled and compacted in lifts, and you get a yard ready for grass or a build.
We run our own excavators and skid steers, so the teardown, the haul-away and the final grade are one crew's work, with an owner on every job.
We take whole structures down. We do not do interior tear-outs, kitchen or bathroom demo, or renovation prep. If you need a wall opened for a reno, we will point you to someone who does that work.
North Kawartha's Building Department issues a demolition permit for any structure over 10 square metres, applied for through Cloudpermit. In the Chandos Ward, Crowe Valley Conservation approves shoreline alterations and new buildings, and on Stony Lake the Trent-Severn Waterway permits any in-water work, docks and boathouses included. With only private services in the township, an unused well is abandoned under Ontario's wells regulation, and septic questions go to the same Building Department, which runs sewage permits and a township-wide re-inspection program. Section 30 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act has the owner list designated substances such as asbestos before a contract is signed.
North Kawartha is Shield country. Kawartha Conservation describes the Eels Creek and Nogies Creek headwaters as granite and gneiss bedrock, and the county soil survey maps wide areas of Anstruther and Burleigh as rock outcrop with only a skin of soil. Old cottages here often sit on piers or short walls pinned to the rock, so removal means lifting and breaking rather than digging. What little soil there is gets kept, and clean fill is brought in to level the pad and shed water away from the shore.
Moving back from the water. North Kawartha's Shoreline Residential zone lets a legal cottage inside the 30 metre water setback be replaced on the same footprint after a permitted demolition, with no enlargement closer to the lake. Rebuild outside the setback instead, and the zoning still allows open attached decks reaching up to 3.7 metres into it from the new building, as long as the old one came down under a Township demolition permit. We map both options at the site visit.
“As a custom home builder, we love contracting Thor Construction Company for all of our demolition, excavation and septic work. They are easy to work with, have great equipment and know what they are doing. Our clients are always very happy with them.”
“Hired Thor for complete site services including bringing utilities into my new build and digging for foundation. Once the build was complete they came back and finish landscaped the property and we couldn't be happier. Strongly recommend!”
“I had a work related project with them and I must say the guys are outstanding. Honest, reliable and straightforward. Highly Recommended!”
Not to the local transfer stations. North Kawartha takes residential construction and demolition material at the Anstruther Transfer Station only from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving weekend, and commercial loads go to the Bensfort Road Waste Management Facility, which serves Peterborough County's eight municipalities. Contractor debris goes to Bensfort, and we haul it.
Yes. North Kawartha's Good Neighbour Guide lists construction and demolition among the noises likely to disturb neighbours, notes that sound carries over water, and points to the Township's noise by-law, 2004-0017. We run the machines inside those limits and let neighbours know when the teardown starts.
Crowe Valley Conservation, alongside the Township. North Kawartha's building page notes that in the Chandos Ward, Crowe Valley's approval covers in-water work such as docks and boathouses, shoreline alterations, additions and new buildings, so the rebuild plan reaches them early. We prepare both files.
Yes. Ontario's Building Code Act requires a permit to demolish a building, issued by your municipality's building department. We prepare the application and book the inspections.
Hydro, gas and water are disconnected and capped by the utilities before demolition starts, and many building departments ask to see that before they issue the permit. We make the requests and keep you posted.
Under Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, the owner of a project determines whether designated substances such as asbestos are present before work starts. On older buildings we line up that check, and anything found is removed by an abatement contractor before we demolish.
Yes. Hauling the debris to proper disposal and recycling sites is part of the job and part of the written price you get after the site visit.
No. We take whole structures down: houses, cottages, barns, garages and pools. For kitchen, bathroom or renovation tear-outs we will point you to someone who does that work.
Yes. Tell us at the site visit what you want saved, and we set beams, barn board or brick aside before the rest comes down.
Every page has the local permit office, the ground and the rules for that area.
Send the form and an owner calls you back today. Or call now and talk to the person who will dig the job.
