What Does Demolition Cost?
Quick Answer
House demolition £80–£115 per m²: roughly £6,500–£25,500 for a complete house
Garage £1,000–£3,000. Load-bearing wall £2,500–£5,000 all-in. Chimney breast £1,500–£2,000 per floor. Guide prices from 2026 UK cost guides, not quotes
Whole-House Demolition Costs (2026 UK)
The ranges below span the two major published guides (MyJobQuote, July 2026 and HomeHow, August 2025): where they disagree, we show the full spread. Both work out at roughly £80–£115 per m² of floor area, including machine hire, labour and waste removal, but excluding asbestos, utility disconnections and foundation grubbing-out.
| Property | Guide price | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Small house (80–120m²) | £6,500–£13,500 | 3–5 days |
| Medium house (150–200m²) | £11,000–£19,500 | 4–8 days |
| Large house (200–250m²) | £16,000–£25,500 | 6–12 days |
| Rate per m² of floor area | £80–£115 | Detached, straightforward access |
Semis and terraces cost more per m² than these detached-house figures, because the neighbouring property has a legal right of support: expect temporary works, a party wall agreement (£700–£2,500 across guides) and slower hand demolition along the shared wall. Bungalows tend to come in below the small-house range (MyJobQuote’s single published figure is £5,500–£9,000).
Garage, Conservatory and Outbuilding Demolition
| Job | Guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single garage | £1,000–£3,000 | Around £2,000 average including labour, skip and base removal; brick and concrete cost more than timber or prefab |
| Double garage | £2,500–£5,000 | Contractor guides; a 32m² structure prices at about £3,500 on published per-m² rates |
| Conservatory | £800–£2,500 | Checkatrade’s average is around £2,000 |
| Small structures, per m² | £55–£165 | Sheds, outbuildings and garages; the spread reflects material and access |
Wall and Chimney Removal
Partial demolition inside a standing house is priced by structure, not size. MyJobQuote and PriceYourJob publish closely matching chimney figures; MyBuilder’s 2026 guide runs slightly wider (£1,455–£2,010 ground floor, £1,570–£2,120 first floor), so the sets agree well.
| Job | Guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Non-load-bearing stud wall | £500–£1,250 | Some guides run to £2,000 where sockets, pipes or radiators need rerouting |
| Load-bearing wall, builder’s work | £1,000–£1,750 | Typical single or double doorway opening including basic making good |
| Load-bearing wall, all-in | £2,500–£5,000 | Engineer (£250–£700), building control, RSJ and making good; kitchen knock-throughs £3,000–£6,000 |
| Chimney stack above roofline only | £450–£1,400 | Guides disagree most here; scaffold (£300–£400) is often quoted separately |
| Chimney breast, ground floor | £1,500–£1,750 | Masonry above must still be supported, so structural calculations are usually needed |
| Chimney breast, first floor | £1,750–£2,000 | Access and support push it slightly above a ground-floor removal |
| Full chimney breast, stack retained | £2,200–£2,400 | Remaining stack carried on steel or gallows brackets |
| Full chimney breast and stack | £3,000–£3,500 | The FMB warns complex multi-storey removals can pass £10,000 once steel, party wall work and making good are included |
Plan the structural side with our wall removal calculator, chimney removal calculator and structural demolition calculator.
Asbestos, Waste and Other Add-Ons
| Item | Guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Asbestos survey (refurbishment/demolition) | £300–£700 | Required before demolition of pre-2000 buildings; a management survey is £200–£400 |
| Asbestos removal, if found | £2,000–£5,000+ | Licensed work; scales with the amount and type of material |
| Skip hire | £200–£400 each | Whole-house waste disposal runs £200–£3,000+ depending on tonnage |
| Utility disconnections | £500–£1,500 per utility | Gas, electricity and water must be formally disconnected before whole-house demolition |
| Party wall agreement | £700–£2,500 | Where a shared wall, chimney or structure next to the boundary is affected |
Waste is the cost driver people underestimate: a masonry house produces roughly 0.5–1 tonne of rubble per m² of floor area. Estimate volumes and skip counts with our demolition waste calculator, and scope any survey with the asbestos survey calculator.
What Affects the Price
- Method and access: machine demolition is fast and cheap; tight urban plots forcing hand demolition cost far more per m²
- Attached or detached: semis and terraces need party wall notices and temporary support for the neighbouring structure
- Waste tonnage: disposal and skip counts scale with the building’s mass, and crushed hardcore can sometimes be reused on site to cut the bill
- Asbestos: the survey is a fixed cost; removal, if material is found, can add thousands
- Structural design: partial demolition needs an engineer’s calculations and building control sign-off, typically £450–£1,200 combined for a wall removal
- Reinstatement: plastering, flooring and decoration after a wall or chimney removal commonly add around £1,000
- Foundations and slab: grubbing out foundations adds £2,000–£8,000+ on a whole-house job
London and the South East
MyJobQuote applies a 15–30% uplift to whole-house demolition in London and the South East, and wall-removal guides put the premium at 20–40% against northern regions, with day rates typically £30–£70 higher. The tables above are national guide figures: budget towards or above the top of each range in London.
Permissions and Paperwork
- Section 80 notice: under the Building Act 1984 you must notify the local authority before demolishing most buildings over about 50m³, and wait for their counter-notice (or six weeks) before starting
- Asbestos survey: a refurbishment/demolition survey is required before demolition or major refurbishment of buildings built before 2000 (Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012)
- CDM 2015: applies to all demolition, including domestic jobs; the arrangements must be recorded in writing before work begins
- Planning: usually not needed for demolition alone, but conservation areas and listed buildings are the exception; check first
- Building Regulations: removing a load-bearing wall or chimney breast in a house you are keeping needs building control approval
Important Notes
- Every figure on this page is a guide price from published 2025–2026 UK cost guides, not a quote: get at least three itemised quotes from demolition contractors
- Never remove load-bearing structure without an engineer’s design; the cheap quote that skips the calculations is the expensive one
- Quotes should state what happens to the waste and who holds the waste carrier licence
Figures cross-checked against published UK cost guides July 2026. Last updated: July 2026