Demolition and Tear-Downs in Fletcher, NC
Flood-hit or just old, gone.
Fletcher lies between Asheville and Hendersonville on US-25, with the French Broad running flat through the bottomland beside the airport and new neighborhoods on the hills either side. When the river came up in 2024 it wrecked a lot of outbuildings. McKinley takes down what the flood finished and what plain age has, and hauls it off.
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Demolition in Fletcher
Fletcher after the river came up
During Helene in September 2024 the French Broad at Fletcher crested about ten feet above its previous record, set in 2004. Old Hendersonville Road went under, Town Hall took water and apartments at Town Center were evacuated. Along the bottomland by the river and Cane Creek, barns, sheds and workshops stood in water for days.
A year on, a lot of those buildings are still standing with the water line on the wall. Most are not worth saving. McKinley takes them down, hauls the debris and deals with the silt that is left on the slab and across the yard.
Flood-damaged sheds, barns and mobile homes
A flooded building looks solid from the outside. Inside, the framing has sat wet, the insulation is ruined and the floor has moved. A mobile home that took water is the clearest case: the subfloor is gone and the frame is the only thing worth anything as scrap.
He brings the excavator and the dump truck, takes the structure down in sections and loads as he goes. Piers, steps, skirting, decks and the pad underneath go at the same time, so the ground is clear rather than half-cleared and waiting on another trip.
Bottomland, fill and the floodplain
The flat ground along the river is in the mapped floodplain, and that matters once a building is gone. Filling the hole where a slab was is one thing; raising the ground with a lot of fill is another, and the county has floodplain rules for that. McKinley asks Henderson County before bringing in more than the hole needs.
On the bottom, water sits where it lands, so the void is filled and crowned rather than left level. Nobody wants a pond where the shed was, and on this ground that is exactly what a flat backfill turns into after the first big rain.
Henderson County permits and the asbestos check
Fletcher is in Henderson County, so the demolition permit comes from Henderson County Permits and Inspections in Hendersonville, not from Buncombe. The Town of Fletcher handles zoning and says building permits and inspections are the county's. The county's demolition application also notes that the state requires an asbestos inspection and a notification before a building comes down, even if nothing is found.
NC811 has to mark the buried utilities first, with the three working days' notice North Carolina law requires. Water meters and sewer cleanouts in the right-of-way have to be found and marked, and the utility disconnects service before anything comes down.
Dry-lot tear-downs on the hills
Not every job here is flood work. The neighborhoods on the hills either side of US-25 have their own decks, sheds and carports at the end of their lives, and lots being cleared for a new house with an old building on them. Those are standard tear-downs: down, loaded, hauled, graded.
On a hillside the finish matters as much as the demolition. Fill goes in compacted and sloped so water passes the house. If the building was holding a bank, a retaining wall in Fletcher can go in before the ground is finished.
What can follow straight on
Most people clearing a building want something in its place, and the machine is already there. A new gravel drive or parking area is the common one; see gravel driveway installation in Fletcher. If the yard was wet before the flood, and on the bottomland it usually was, yard drainage in Fletcher covers fixing that while the ground is open.
If a manufactured home is going back on the site, the guide to site prep for a manufactured home in Western NC explains the pad. The main demolition page for the whole Asheville area, which also covers what McKinley will not take on, is demolition in Asheville.
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 the building is, whether it took water in the flood and how close the truck can get. He comes out to Fletcher and gives you one figure.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Flooded outbuildings. Sheds, workshops and barns that stood in the river, down and hauled with the silt.
- Mobile homes. Taken to the frame, then piers, skirting, steps and pad out.
- Decks and carports. Posts and footings out, slab gone or kept, ground graded.
- Barns on new lots. Old farm buildings off the building spot, poles pulled, site cleared.
Fletcher, NC
Between Asheville and Hendersonville along US-25 and the airport, with flat French Broad bottomland and new neighborhoods on the hills either side.
Town pageAlso in FletcherRetaining Walls in Fletcher, NC
See the pageAlso in FletcherYard Drainage & French Drains in Fletcher, NC
See the pageAlso in FletcherGravel Driveway Installation in Fletcher, 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 pageFletcher and the towns nearby
Fletcher and Arden run together along US-25 with only the county line between them, and the permits change at that line even though the lots do not. South, the same tear-down work goes through Mills River and Hoopers Creek to Hendersonville and the rest of Henderson County, where the orchard buildings start. McKinley is based in Asheville, twelve miles up the road. The Fletcher and Arden service area page lists everything else M&S does between the airport and the county line.
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 buildings that flooded in Fletcher during Helene?
Yes. Outbuildings along the French Broad and Cane Creek that stood in the 2024 flood are a lot of the current work. The structure comes down and is hauled, the silt is dealt with, and the ground is filled and crowned so it does not hold water.
Which office handles a demolition permit in Fletcher?
Henderson County Permits and Inspections, on North King Street in Hendersonville. The Town of Fletcher handles zoning but not building permits. The county's application notes a state asbestos inspection and notification before demolition, so ask about that at the same time.
Can I bring in fill to raise my lot by the river?
Not without asking. The bottomland is in the mapped floodplain and the county has rules about fill there. McKinley fills the hole the building left and crowns it, and checks with the county before raising anything beyond that.
Does the asbestos check apply to a plain shed?
The county's demolition application says the state requires an inspection and a notification before a building is demolished, even where no asbestos is found. Whether your shed falls under it is a question for Henderson County Permits and Inspections, and it is worth asking before a date is fixed.
What does it cost to tear down a shed in Fletcher?
It depends on the building, the access and whether the slab is coming out. McKinley comes out, looks and gives one figure before anything starts, with the hauling in it. The estimate is free. Call or text (828) 540-6856.
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 Fletcher.
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 Fletcher?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.