Demolition contractor, Peterborough
Whole-house, garage and outbuilding teardowns on Peterborough's serviced streets and edge-of-city lots. Send the form and an owner calls you back today.
Before a demolition contractor in Peterborough can take down a house, the City wants one form signed by eight parties: Bell, Cogeco, Rogers, Enbridge Gas, Hydro One, Otonabee Conservation, Peterborough Water Services and the City's heritage coordinator. That form, plus the permit, is where most of the waiting happens. Our single crew comes from Bobcaygeon with its own machines, and one of the owners is on every job. You get a written price after the site visit, and we chase the signatures.
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.
The City of Peterborough Building Division issues demolition permits for an entire building or a substantial removal; interior strip-outs fall under a renovation permit instead. The application goes through the City's online portal on the provincial Permit to Construct or Demolish form, and no permit is issued until the Confirmation of Arrangements for Service Disconnections and Notifications comes back signed. Sewer and water services are capped before they are covered, and a City plumbing inspector checks the caps. Under section 30 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the owner gives the contractor a list of designated substances, asbestos among them, before the contract is signed.
Peterborough sits in the Peterborough Drumlin Field, where the ice left thick, moderately stony limestone till over thinly bedded Trenton limestone. Older basements in town are usually dug into that till rather than rock, so the walls and floor come out with the excavator. Downtown, many reaches of Jackson Creek run buried under buildings and bridges, and the July 2004 storm flooded the core. The hole is backfilled with clean material, compacted in lifts, and graded so water leaves the lot toward the street, not the neighbour.
Heritage register. Peterborough keeps a register of non-designated heritage properties alongside its designated ones, and a listed owner gives the City 60 days' notice of intention to demolish, time Council can use to consider designation. A designated property, or one of the 348 in the City's Heritage Conservation District, takes a heritage permit for full or partial demolition, and removing a designation goes to Council. Because the heritage coordinator signs the disconnection form, the check happens on every job.
“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!”
To the Peterborough Waste Management Facility at 1260 Bensfort Road, about 6 kilometres south of the city, which takes only waste generated in the City and County. Construction material, shingles and drywall go in as sorted loads, asbestos has its own category, and open loads arrive tarped. We sort and haul it.
The City asks for a professional engineer when the building tops three storeys or 600 square metres, when the work goes below the footings of an adjacent building, or when explosives or a laser are used. On a narrow lot beside a neighbour's foundation, that footing test is the one to watch, and we check it at the site visit.
Often. Otonabee Conservation regulates development in and beside floodplains, out to 15 metres past the floodplain edge, and it is one of the signatures on the City's disconnection form. It has also redrawn the Jackson Creek floodplain downtown. We check the mapping for your lot before we quote.
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.
