Palo Alto residents anxious to start building their new homes where an old home is now may not be aware that they need to complete a detailed Deconstruction Survey of the old home before it can be torn down.
The newly required survey, which went into effect on Jan. 1, is part of the city’s demolition permit process and piggybacks on green building standards and on the California Building Code. The rule, which applies to all single-family homes requesting a demolition permit, requires a contractor working with an appraiser to conduct a detailed survey of the old home with a list of materials that are reusable as well as the values of the materials.
“The intent is to reduce the barrier to deconstruct,” said Melanie Jacobson of Integrated Design 360, who is the city’s Green Building Program coordinator. “The actual deconstruction and reuse of the materials is voluntary to the homeowner.”
The survey is free, but the goal is to motivate homeowners to go further, either by tax incentives or by the desire to help the environment.
To reduce the amount of building materials sent to the landfill, the city of Palo Alto already requires that 75 percent of all materials from a residential demolition be diverted. In neighboring Menlo Park, that percentage is 60.
The new deconstruction survey must be scheduled by the homeowners or their contractor, and can be conducted by a city-approved Oakland-based nonprofit called The Reuse People. The Reuse People has facilities throughout the United States. Its warehouse in Oakland is a public store where do-it-yourselfers can shop and buy building materials, such as single-pane windows and bricks.
Homeowners also are free to have their own contractors conduct the survey, as long as they produce the same documentation. Usually this is a five- to 10-page list of reusable materials in the old home and their IRS-approved value. If the homeowner chooses to then have their home deconstructed, they will get a tax receipt for the amount of reusable material.
The required deconstruction survey can also be done by a contractor of homeowners’ choosing working closely with an IRS-certified appraiser.
Homeowners must foot the bill for the actual deconstruction if they choose to do so. Right now, about one third to one half of all demolitions in Palo Alto involve deconstructions, according to Associate Planner Scott McKay, who is also the city’s debris diversion coordinator.
“The idea is that they’ve crunched the numbers,” McKay said, before they decide whether to deconstruct their home or not.
The “pre-salvage” survey is “pretty detailed,” McKay said, with line items delineating light fixtures, doors, windows, flooring, bricks set in sand, pavers, and anything else the surveyor can see. What’s inside the walls is not included in the survey, but homeowners can choose to save materials there as well.
The cost of a deconstruction can often run 50 to 100 percent more than a demolition and takes about two weeks. But McKay said homeowners who choose to deconstruct can then get their demolition permit up to two to three weeks faster than a regular demolition permit.
The process involves no power tools or bulldozers, but instead mostly hand tools that allow workers to preserve materials in a way that allows them to be used again. The Reuse People nickname the process “the velvet crowbar.”
While the home is being deconstructed, which takes about two weeks, the contractor can be making revisions to the plans, and often the building permit is ready by the time the land is cleared for new construction. Regular demolition permits, without deconstruction, are issued concurrently with building permits and can take between two and three months.
The city doesn’t keep track of voluntary deconstructions, which are part of extensive remodels or those that are done despite getting regular demolition permits. Homeowners who secure any building permits (for projects valued at more than $25,000) are required to file documentation of where materials are going also known as debris diversion before they get their final permit so it’s possible for the city to collect statistics on future deconstructions going forward.
Thanks, Elizabeth, for your informative article on the new Palo Alto ordinance. I would like to offer a few clarifications. First, full disclosure: My name is Ted Reiff and I am president of The ReUse People of America.
The ReUse People (TRP) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1993, whose mission is “to reduce the solid waste stream and change the way the built environment is renewed by salvaging building materials and distributing them for reuse.” We work with a group of appraisers who are skilled at valuing salvaged materials, enabling donors (typically homeowners) to donate those materials and claim commensurate tax deductions.
You state that appraisers are “IRS certified.” Actually, the IRS does not certify appraisers. Rather, by meeting strict qualifications related to education and years of training, appraisers may be deemed IRS “qualified.”
My second clarification concerns what is being valued. You quote a city planner as saying, “What’s inside the walls is not included in the survey, but homeowners can choose to save materials there as well.” In fact, what is inside the walls (ceiling and roof) is included in both the survey and the final appraisal, with lumber typically the single largest component.
To summarize the process: TRP, at no cost, visits each project, takes photos and completes a detailed information form listing the type, quality and dimensions of all salvageable materials. The photographs and form are sent to various appraisers, each of whom, at no charge, provides the owner with an estimated range of value, applicable if and when they choose to deconstruct and donate the materials.
Owners who decide to deconstruct are charged for the dismantling of the building by a certified deconstruction contractor, and for a detailed appraisal report prepared by the IRS-qualified appraiser of their choosing. This final appraisal is based on the inventory prepared by TRP (or any nonprofit receiving the materials provided its stated mission is to accept and distribute used building materials).
The City of Palo Alto recognizes that homeowners who decide to demolish and rebuild may not understand that there is significant value in materials normally thrown away during demolition. This newly approved ordinance will specify that value and provide the owner with a viable option. Not a requirement — an option.
FYI. This is not a new policy or requirement in its entirety. The City has long required recycling of old house materials…including documentation and receipts. What is new is the pre-demo survey…a simple step frankly. No need to sound the alarms so loudly.
Hah! When we knocked down the 3600 sq/ft house previously on our property here in 2012 it took 36 hours during a holiday, about 20 workers, 4 Caterpillars, 2 donations to favored local non-profits and 0 permits.
Play the game and do not let those city hall bureaucrats steal your money or tell you what to do!
-Jason
I have witnessed other deconstruction firms offer outlandish tax rebates for deconstruction. Which can be an untruth.
Beware of companies offering huge discounts. Think of it as taking your used underwater to Goodwill and then claiming the value is $2500. This has to stop!Also,there is not firm data on where all the old material ends up! Just because someone has a receipt that states that the lumber was sold in Tijauna does not make it true.
Do we really need more false tax breaks for the wealthy?