Demolition quote comparison checklist

Who is this checklist for?

This checklist is for owners who have two or more demolition quotes in front of them and want to choose on substance rather than on the bottom line. It is particularly useful if you live abroad and cannot walk round the site with each contractor, if the quotes are in Spanish and use different structures, or if the totals are far apart and you want to know why.

It is less useful before you have quotes. At that stage, the quote request and the post mistakes when asking for a demolition quote from abroad will help you obtain offers that can be compared at all.

Section A: the contractor and the document

• Is the contractor identified with name, tax identification number and address?
• Is the quote written, dated and specific to your property, mentioning the address or municipio?
• Does it state how long it remains valid?
• Is there a contact person who can answer questions in a language you understand?

A quote that cannot answer these four points is not yet a document you can rely on, whatever its total.

Section B: scope and method

• Does the quote list each element demolished: main building, pool, outbuildings, walls, terraces, paving?
• Does it list what is kept, explicitly?
• Are foundations, slabs and buried elements included, excluded or priced per unit?
• Is the method stated: manual, mechanical or combined?
• Does it say how shared walls, neighbouring roofs, pavements or retaining walls are protected?
• If parts are priced per unit, is the unit, the estimated quantity and the way of measuring stated? See demolition cost per m².

Section C: waste and asbestos

• Does the quote include sorting the waste on site into fractions, as selective demolition requires?
• Does it include loading, transport and delivery to an authorised facility?
• Will you receive the delivery receipts? You will need them to recover the waste guarantee from the town hall.
• Is there any fibre cement on the property, and does the quote deal with it?
• If so, is the removal carried out by a RERA-registered company under a work plan approved by the labour authority, and is its waste kept separate?

In our quotes the asbestos phase is a separate line, executed by a RERA-registered company working as our subcontractor. For the waste side, see rubble removal and skip cost; for asbestos, asbestos removal cost. Our sister site also has a dedicated asbestos removal contractor checklist.

Section D: safety, paperwork and coordination

• Does the contractor confirm it will prepare its plan de seguridad y salud from the técnico's study?
• Does it state that it works with your técnico's proyecto or memoria técnica, and does the scope match that document?
• Is it clear who files the declaración responsable or licence? (The owner and the técnico do; a contractor that claims otherwise should explain how.)
• If the street will be occupied by a skip or a lorry, is it clear that an authorisation is needed and who requests it?
• In a building under propiedad horizontal, has the community been informed, and do works on common elements have the owners' meeting agreement?

Section E: end state, schedule and money

• Does the quote describe the condition of the plot on the last day: remains removed, cleaned, basic levelling?
• Is there an estimated duration and a way to fix the start date?
• Are payments split into stages linked to visible milestones, and is the final payment tied to handover?
• Is the VAT rate stated separately, and on what basis?
• Does the quote list its exclusions, such as the técnico, the municipal procedure and utility disconnections?
• Is it clear how changes in scope will be priced?
• Will you be kept informed during the work, for example with photo updates, if you are abroad?

The guide stage payments and written contracts for demolition explains what a fair payment structure looks like.

Warning signs that outweigh a low total

Some answers should make you pause regardless of how attractive the price looks. They are not proof of bad faith, but each one shifts risk onto you as the owner:

• the contractor offers to start before the técnico's documentation exists or before the procedure with the ayuntamiento is clear;
• there is no mention of where the waste goes, or a reluctance to provide delivery receipts;
• visible uralita is described as something that can be «taken off with the rest»;
• the whole amount, or most of it, is requested before any work is done;
• the quote is identical in wording to one you received for a different property, without your address, access or roof type anywhere in it;
• questions in writing are answered only by phone, so nothing that was promised can later be checked.

If one of these appears, ask for a written explanation. A contractor who works properly can usually give one in a few lines, and the answer itself tells you a good deal about how the job would be run.

Turning the checklist into a decision

Put the quotes in columns and the checklist questions in rows. Mark each answer as «yes», «no» or «unclear». Then:

Only when the scopes match does the total become a fair basis for a decision. At that point, the differences that remain usually reflect method, access and risk, which is exactly what you want to be choosing on. If you would like to see how a contractor's checklist looks from the owner's side for the demolition itself, our sister site offers a demolition contractor checklist for overseas owners.