Built on Hard Work and Diligence

It’s not often that two people decide to go into the demolition business with no family history or prior background in the industry. But, that’s exactly what Jeff Perry and Jennifer Martin did in 1997 at the ages of 20 and 19, respectively. Nine years later, Jeff and Jennifer have grown their company to the point where they performed $5.2 million in work last year and employed 14 additional people.

In 1997, Jeff and Jennifer purchased their first used dump truck at an auction for $1,800. Jeff worked construction clean up jobs for two years, acting as driver and laborer. In 1999, National Demolition became a licensed demolition contractor with a C21 Building Moving and Demolition classification. Later that year they added an asbestos removal certification.

Jennifer says, “Starting a business at such a young age required many sacrifices, however with a few dollars saved and a lot of hard work, we slowly built our company to profitable results.

“While learning about the industry and our trade, we made our share of mistakes, but quickly turned those errors into successful gains,” she continues.

With the addition of a 753 Bobcat and a Caterpillar 963 Track Loader, National Demolition began performing larger jobs, including full building demolitions. In 2001, the company obtained a C12 Earthwork and Paving license.

National Demolition uses several Caterpillar 320L Excavators with hydraulic thumbs to sort metal and debris.

National Demolition, strictly a demolition company now, uses a couple methods to complete their projects. The majority of the structures they demolish are knocked down with heavy equipment. Some jobs, though, require the crews to take down the building the way it was put up—in effect, deconstructing the building. This is the case mostly with brick buildings, Jennifer explains. They are in the midst of a job right now where they are taking down an old brick hotel in Los Angeles brick by brick so that new loft apartments can be constructed in its place.

Each job is bid based on type of construction—concrete block, brick or timber—and total square footage. The bid also includes all the salvage rights, Jennifer says. “Our goal is to recycle 75-80% of what we take out of a jobsite,” she adds.

“The lumber generally goes to Mexico, the scrap metal is 100% recyclable, and the bricks are cleaned and palletized,” she continues. The concrete is also pulverized and sent to be recycled. Everything is separated at the jobsite and then sent off to various locations. What they are unable to recycle is sent to a waste management facility where further sorting may take place, she adds.

National Demolition now owns 13 excavators, one-track loader, 2 skid steer loaders and a variety of UB attachments. Caterpillar manufactures all of their heavy equipment. They own both UB breakers and pulverizers including the UB Hydraulic 207 Excavator Pulverizer. According to the UB website, the UB Hydraulic 207 Excavator Pulverizer emits both low noise and vibration and offers both high efficiency and performance in order to make concrete “crusher-ready” prior to shipping it to the recycling facility. They are fitted with 4-way rotatable rebar cutter blades. The pulverizer is good for operating safely in a confined area.

(Top) One of National Demolitions Caterpillar 320L’s sorting metal and debris from the demolition of a block building in Rosemead, CA. (Above L-R) Two Caterpillar 320L Excavators tearing down the block building in Rosemead, CA.

UB’s line of excavator breakers uses hydraulic force to break concrete. The UB website says that this line offers “safe, quiet and controlled demolition.” 

The breakers can be used in the demolition of roads, pillars, buildings, floors, bridge decks and foundations.

National Demolition owns six UB breakers: three 750-pound Skid Steel Loader Breakers, one 3,000-pound Excavator Breaker, one 4,000-pound Excavator Breaker, and one 5,000-pound Excavator Breaker.

National Demolition is currently on a fairly small project demolishing an 8,000 square foot commercial block building in Rosemead. The company estimates they will recycle 450 tons of material taken from the project, which will take four days.

Jennifer says that most of the company’s memorable jobs stand out because everything went as planned and there were no accidents or change orders. Some of those jobs are: a $1.2 million Soil Remediation project for an industrial site in Korea Town, Los Angeles; a $450,000 demolition of a 20-acre industrial site in South Gate; demolition of an aluminum plating plant in Torrance; interior demolition of a five-story building for a new battered women’s housing complex in Los Angeles, and demolition of a movie theater in Chatsworth.

Safety is a priority for National Demolition. The company has never had an accident in its nine years of existence. Jennifer attributes this to the weekly safety meetings they hold, and the safety training each employee receives when they start with the company.

(Top) Two CAT 320 Excavators cleaning and sorting the debris that will be recycled from the block building. (Above) Jennifer and Jeff Perry next to one of their Caterpillar 320L Excavators on the job site.

National Demolition serves all of Southern California, covering the area from San Diego to San Francisco. One of the company’s goals, according to Jennifer, is continued growth and availability for projects in any location. They’d like to continue to complete larger jobs, and eventually open additional offices outside of Southern California.

In the beginning, most of National Demolition’s work came from Jeff beating the bushes for work. These days, the majority of the company’s work comes from word of mouth, people seeing the crews on the job, and repeat customers.

Jennifer says there are many factors that she feels cause National Demolition to stand out in its industry. “Our fleet of equipment enables us to respond quickly and efficiently to customer needs,” she says. “We also strive to complete projects on time and often ahead of schedule.

“In addition, our customers are given equal personal attention and respect regardless of project size,” she adds.

Another company goal is focused on doing their part to be environmentally friendly. “We are committed to reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfills and it is our goal to exceed recycling requirements set forth by the State of California,” she explains.

Jeff is owner and Manager of Field Personnel and Jennifer is owner and Manager of Office Personnel.

For more information look online at www.nationaldemolition.com or call (310) 732-1991. Cc