AI for commercial demolition contractors, tested on notices your office already filed.

Demolition is a defined word. The federal asbestos rule, 40 CFR Part 61 Subpart M, calls a job a demolition when a load-supporting structural member is wrecked or taken out, and a renovation when a facility is altered in any other way, so an interior strip-out that leaves the load-bearing structure alone sits on the renovation side of that line. Texas's notification guide has you check one box, and when a project has both a renovation and a demolition portion, the one happening last. One crew can generate both kinds of paper in the same month, which is why a real sample from your files beats a tidy one.

The first paper can hold up the permit. New York City's Department of Buildings moves a full demolition application forward only on an ACP-5 form with item 8(d) alone checked, the statement that the entire building is free of asbestos-containing material; projects permitted as simultaneous demolition and abatement through its ATRU process are the exception. Madison, Wisconsin wants a Reuse and Recycling Plan filed before it issues a demolition permit, with the vendor named for each task from appliance recycling and mercury recovery through shingles and clean wood. The federal notice itself goes to what EPA's overview calls the delegated entity, often a state agency, which is how a contractor working in three states ends up keeping three forms.

The survey behind a job comes in more than one kind. OSHA's rule at 29 CFR 1926.850 has a competent person examine the framing, floors and walls for the chance of an unplanned collapse before anyone starts, check any adjacent structure where workers may be exposed, and leaves the employer holding written evidence the survey was done. The same section wants every service line shut off, capped or otherwise controlled outside the building line, and asks whether hazardous chemicals, gases or explosives were ever used in pipes, tanks or other equipment on the property. The asbestos inspection is a separate report by a separate person. Both first jobs draw on that one job file, and neither adds a finding of its own.

Public owners write the paperwork into the specification. The University of Houston's master Section 02 41 19, revised January 29, 2016, makes demolition waste the contractor's property unless otherwise indicated but keeps cornerstones, commemorative plaques and other items of value with the owner. It also wants predemolition photographs or video, an inventory of salvaged items before work starts and again at closeout, a statement signed by the refrigerant recovery technician, and landfill records for hazardous waste. Case Western Reserve University's Section 01 74 19, updated October 29, 2025, wants records of salvage donated or sold, each saying whether the organization is tax exempt.

Both first jobs come with an answer key. Every notice you filed sits beside the survey and the job file it came from, and every closed job's report sits beside the tickets behind it. Your reviewer can mark each draft against what your own office did, without anyone inventing a test.

One limit covers every page here. The proof of concept works on copies. It never touches your job cost or estimating system or a state portal, files nothing, and never decides whether asbestos is present, whether a notice is required, or that a report is accurate. A licensed inspector does the survey, and a person checks and signs every notice and report. Certified payroll stays out of it. Rules differ by state, county and city, and nothing on this page is legal advice.