Demolition and Tear-Downs in Candler, NC
Clearing the way in Hominy Valley.
Candler is Hominy Valley, west of Asheville along Smokey Park Highway, unincorporated Buncombe County that was farm country until the subdivisions came. Barns, chicken houses, old mobile homes and the outbuildings of small farms are what stand in the way of new houses here. McKinley takes them down, hauls them off and grades the ground for what is next.
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Demolition in Candler
Farm country turning into subdivisions
Hominy Creek comes in from the Haywood County line, runs the length of the valley and joins the French Broad at Hominy Creek River Park. For a century the valley was wheat, corn, cattle and grist mills, and then the Enka plant on the creek employed a good part of it. Now the hillsides on both sides of US-19/23 are filling with subdivisions.
Nearly 27,000 people live in Candler, with no town hall and no town limits. Lots are sold off farms a few acres at a time, and each one comes with whatever the farm left behind.
The old mobile home has to go first
The most common call in Candler is a mobile home that has been on the lot for decades and is in the way of the house replacing it. McKinley takes it down to the frame, hauls the sections, pulls the piers and the skirting and takes out the pad and any porch or deck that was added on.
If a new manufactured home is going back on the same ground, the pad is cut and compacted in the same visit. The guide to site prep for a manufactured home in Western NC explains what that involves.
Barns, chicken houses and lean-tos
Farm buildings come down differently from a garage. A pole barn is mostly air and tin; it comes apart fast but the poles are set deep. A chicken house is long and low with a lot of wire in it. A lean-to against a bank is often the only thing holding the bank.
He takes each one down with the excavator, sorts tin from wood from concrete as it is loaded, and hauls it. Stumps and brush around an old barn lot can go at the same time; see land clearing.
Creek bottom and hillside lots
Along Hominy Creek the ground is flat and it floods; the creek was through the businesses along the road in 1949, and the bottom is still the first ground to go under. Up the sides of the valley toward Pisgah the lots are steep and cut into the hill. The same tear-down finishes differently on each.
On the bottom, the void where the slab was is filled and crowned so it does not hold water. On the hill, the fill is compacted in lifts and sloped so water keeps moving past the house, and a bank left exposed can be held with a retaining wall in Candler. Water that has been running at the old building is dealt with too; see yard drainage in Candler.
Buncombe County, the Air Quality Agency and NC811
With no town, building permits come from Buncombe County Permits and Inspections on Woodfin Street in Asheville. The Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency requires a permit for any plan to demolish a building in Buncombe County, whatever its age, so ask before a date is fixed.
NC811 marks the buried lines first, with the three working days' notice that North Carolina law requires before any digging. On an old farm lot there is often a well line, a spring line or a septic run that nobody has a drawing of, and those are not on the locate. McKinley walks it with you first.
Price, hauling and what is left
The estimate is free and on site. You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the grading in it. Debris leaves in the dump truck, so you do not arrange a dumpster or a second contractor for the haul, and the price does not change when the slab turns out to be thicker than it looked.
What is left is a cleared, compacted, graded site ready for a pad, a drive or seed. The hub page for this work, demolition in Asheville, covers the whole area and says more about what McKinley does and does not take on, including why a house is a different job.
Demolition
Sheds, garages, barns, carports, decks, mobile homes and old slabs taken down, hauled off and the ground graded back.
See the serviceTalk to McKinley(828) 540-6856
Tell McKinley what is on the lot, whether it is creek bottom or hillside, and what is going in its place. He comes out and gives you one figure.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Mobile homes. To the frame, hauled, then piers, skirting, pad and add-on porches out.
- Pole barns. Tin and timber down, loaded, the poles pulled and the holes filled.
- Chicken houses and sheds. Long, low and full of wire, taken down and sorted as it is loaded.
- Lean-tos on a bank. Taken down and the bank behind graded or held with a wall.
Candler, NC
West of Asheville along US-19/23 and Smokey Park Highway, mostly unincorporated Buncombe County with farms, mobile homes and new subdivisions on the hillsides.
Town pageAlso in CandlerRetaining Walls in Candler, NC
See the pageAlso in CandlerYard Drainage & French Drains in Candler, NC
See the pageThe serviceDemolition
Sheds, garages, barns, carports, decks, mobile homes and old slabs taken down, hauled off and the ground graded back.
Main service pageCandler and the towns nearby
Candler is the west end of the Asheville side of the business, and the valley road runs on toward Canton and Clyde, which M&S covers from the same base. East, the same tear-down work is done in Asheville itself, on older and tighter lots, and north on the farm ground around Weaverville, where the calls look a lot like Candler's: a barn or an old mobile home on land that has just been sold. The Asheville service area page lists everything else done locally.
You get McKinley. Not a crew he sent.
You call
You call or text. McKinley comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the finish grading in it.
He runs the machine
Then he shows up and runs the machine himself.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled, water is given a way out, and the ground is left so you can build, pour or seed.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full demolition service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (828) 540-6856 and ask McKinley, or read the guides.
Do you take down old mobile homes in Candler?
Yes, and it is the most common call from the valley. The home comes down to the frame and is hauled, then the piers, skirting, steps, add-on porches and the pad go. If a new home is going on the lot, the pad can be cut and compacted in the same visit.
Is there a town permit in Candler?
No, because Candler is unincorporated. Building permits come from Buncombe County Permits and Inspections in Asheville, and the Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency requires a permit for any demolition in the county, whatever the building's age. Ask both before a date is fixed.
Can you clear the brush and stumps around the barn at the same time?
Yes. Once the building is down, the excavator and the skid steer are already on site, so stumps, fence lines and overgrowth around it can come out in the same visit and go in the same price.
Our lot is on the creek bottom. What happens to the hole?
It is filled and crowned so it sheds water rather than holding it. The bottom along Hominy Creek floods, so a flat backfill turns into a pond. If the lot is in the mapped floodplain, McKinley asks the county before bringing in more fill than the hole needs.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Demolition in other towns
Gravel Driveways
A new drive cut into the hill, based in lifts and crowned to shed water.
Learn moreDriveway Repair & Grading
Washouts, ruts and potholes fixed at the cause, not just regraded.
Learn moreDrainage & Erosion Control
French drains, catch basins, culverts and riprap so the property sheds water.
Learn moreRetaining Walls
Block, boulder and riprap walls that hold a cut bank up.
Learn moreLand Clearing
Lots, building sites and overgrown acreage cleared, stumps and root mat out.
Learn moreHouse Pads & Site Prep
Pads cut, filled and compacted on ground that started at anything but level.
Learn moreFree estimate in Candler.
Where it is, how long the drive is, how steep it gets and what it is doing now. We come out, walk it, and give you a real number.
- Free on-site estimates across WNC and the Upstate
- One crew from clearing through to the last load of stone
- Drainage designed in, not sold to you afterwards
Need demolition in Candler?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.