The planning library
Before the first removal.
Clear answers start with useful questions. Explore the scope, documents and site details that help you plan the next stage.
Project planning
Turn a removal idea into a useful conversation. Start with what goes and what stays, compare responsibilities, then organise the information needed for an assessment.
Explore this topicApprovals
Keep permission, application status and site readiness separate. These guides explain which questions to take to the responsible authority and professionals for your property.
Explore this topicSurveys & materials
An image or building age cannot identify every material. Use these guides to understand the information to request and why general demolition should not assume specialist hazardous-material work.
Explore this topicSite preparation
The route out, occupied rooms and work restrictions are part of the plan. Record the conditions that need agreement before a removal scope becomes a site arrangement.
Explore this topic01 / Get prepared
Project planning
How to read a demolition scope of work
A useful demolition scope makes the removal limits, retained items, responsibilities and handover condition explicit. Read those details before comparing estimates.
Read the guideDemolition paperwork: what to organise before work
Keep the job scope, contractor identity, applicable approvals and relevant site reports together. Confirm who is responsible for each item before the work begins.
Read the guideUtility disconnects: plan the interfaces early
Identify which services are affected, which must remain and who is responsible for each disconnection. Put these dependencies into the demolition plan.
Read the guide- Deconstruction or demolition: decide what is worth keeping
- Working with an engineer on structural removal
- Useful photographs for a demolition enquiry
- How to compare demolition estimates
- Questions to ask a demolition contractor
- A commercial strip-out handover checklist
- Plan a partial kitchen removal
- Define the layers in a floor removal
- Set the boundaries of a bathroom strip-out
- Mark up a wall and ceiling removal scope
- Define what a house demolition includes
- Separate outbuilding removal, contents and slab
- Prepare an office strip-out asset schedule
- Resolve retail fixture ownership before strip-out
- Prepare a property clear-out instruction sheet
- Record a change to an agreed demolition scope
- Prepare for a demolition assessment visit
- Give demolition bidders the same scope
- Know what demolition waste records actually show
- Compare a placed bin with direct loading
- Separate investigation openings from a strip-out
- Define demolition cleanup and final cleaning
- Planning demolition across several retail locations
- Taking a warehouse unit: how much of the office fit-out should stay?
- Refreshing hotel guestrooms while keeping useful parts of the room
- Changing a salon layout: plan around the stations and wet areas
- Refreshing a gym: which training areas and finishes should stay?
- A new commercial-unit layout needs an interior-removal plan around the approved boundary
- Commercial washroom refurbishment: keep the cubicles or reset the room?
- Refitting a closed clinic: retain the rooms or reset the interior?
- Refurbishing a restaurant kitchen while retaining the dining fit-out
- Preparing commercial interiors for a recording-studio fit-out
- Planning an office strip-out across several floors
- Vacant retail fit-out: what should the next tenant keep?
- Demountable office partitions: reuse, relocate or remove?
- Condo common-area demolition for a lobby and corridor refurbishment
- Food-court strip-out within a shopping centre
- A fresh assessment for an unfinished interior demolition
- Automotive showroom refurbishment: the ordinary demolition package
- Grocery-store refurbishment after specialist equipment removal
- Demolition packages for several lawfully vacant apartments
- From industrial interiors to shared workspace: planning the strip-out
- Changing between office and retail use: what interior fit-out should leave?
- Commercial ceiling renewal: tiles, grid or the complete ceiling?
- Preparing a vacant commercial unit before the next tenant is known
- Interior removal for a whole-home energy retrofit
- Whole-house interior strip-out for a retained-shell renovation
- Interior removals for an apartment riser-renewal programme
- Interior removal when a divided house becomes one home
- Hotel lobby and shared-space interior refurbishment
- Ordinary interior demolition after a fire or water-loss release
- Planning interior removal around ornamental plaster ceilings
- Interior removals for a connected accessible-home renovation
- Interior removal before a garage becomes living space
- Interior demolition when a house becomes separate dwellings
- Interior removal when two condo suites are combined
- Removing later fit-out from a brick-and-beam commercial interior
- Retain the house, remove an addition or rebuild: defining the demolition options
- Demolition for a second-storey addition above a retained house
- Commercial interiors before a building-services retrofit
- Planning a complete condo interior strip-out
- Removing a commercial raised access floor
- Private training-centre renovation: classroom interior strip-out
- Former childcare premises: ordinary removal after the use-change review
- Comparing commercial premises: what would need to come out?
- Community-facility refurbishment: ordinary rooms and retained building features
- Pool-area refurbishment: ordinary interiors around a retained pool
- The demolition contribution to a commercial-to-residential conversion
- Commercial laundry refit: when does the building need demolition?
- Theatre and cinema refurbishment: defining ordinary interior demolition
02 / Get prepared
Surveys & materials
Designated substances: what owners need to organise
Hazardous-material information needs to reach the people planning the work. A survey should address the materials and areas that the proposed removal could disturb.
Read the guideWhat to check in a pre-demolition asbestos report
The useful report identifies the materials and areas relevant to the planned disturbance, including its limitations. Match the investigation to the removal scope.
Read the guideWhen a survey finds asbestos: revisit the removal plan
A finding of asbestos changes the planning conversation. Identify the affected materials, the proposed disturbance and the specialist work needed before general demolition.
Read the guide- Record an unexpected condition for review
- Lead paint questions before removing finishes
- Vermiculite questions before ceiling or attic work
- Ask about silica dust before hard-material removal
- Separate moisture repair, mould work and removal
- Questions before removing an engineered-stone counter
- Identify household hazardous waste before a clearout
03 / Get prepared
Approvals
Notice of Project: a separate planning check
A Notice of Project is different from a municipal building or demolition permit. Confirm whether one is required and who is responsible for the filing.
Read the guideApplying for a demolition permit in Toronto
Start with the application guide that matches the property and proposal. A house removal with a replacement building follows a different application context from removal without one.
Read the guideDemolition control: a question to resolve early
For residential demolition in Toronto, confirm how demolition control applies to the proposal. Keep that question separate from the removal method and estimate.
Read the guide- Heritage status and demolition: check the property first
- After demolition: inspection and permit close-out
- Prepare a condo demolition request packet
- Toronto street occupation for demolition loading
- Check tree protection before planning demolition access
- Screen a Toronto ravine property before demolition
- Plan around a Toronto construction noise exemption
- Vaughan demolition: resolve heritage clearance first
- Markham: demolition or interior alteration application?
- Mississauga demolition: coordinate service notifications
- Prepare Oakville demolition clearances and declarations
- Brampton: separate house and outbuilding applications
- Screen Toronto rental housing before planning removal
- Resolve fire-protection interfaces before a strip-out
- Requesting Toronto building records before demolition
- Toronto rental renovation licensing and demolition control are separate
04 / Get prepared
Site preparation
Construction noise in North York: plan around the rules
North York falls within Toronto’s construction noise rules. Check the municipal restrictions alongside the requirements of the actual building before arranging work.
Read the guideCan you stay home during interior demolition?
Occupancy depends on the actual scope, separation, access and services. Use these questions to discuss a workable arrangement before removal begins.
Read the guidePlanning demolition with limited access
A narrow stair, rear-yard route or managed-building entrance can shape a removal job. Explain the full route before agreeing on the scope.
Read the guide- Plan basement removal around retained equipment
- Plan the join between an addition and the house
- Prepare a restaurant equipment removal brief
- Describe a renovation debris collection
- Prepare a neighbour contact plan
- Record a residential demolition handover
- Plan handoffs between demolition phases
- Record the condition of retained property
- Utility locates before demolition groundwork
- Sort electronics before a property clearout
- Plan appliance disconnection and collection separately
- Coordinate the condo elevator and loading booking
- Arrange commercial strip-out access and check-in
- Plan demolition access around winter conditions
- Arrange vacant-property care after demolition
Your next step
Have the plan. Need the removal?
Tell us about the property, the removal and what comes next. We can start with the scope.