Metal roof - resale value?

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Hi everyone.

My FIL passed away last November, and we have to tear down his house (unsafe). However, he had a metal roof installed about 3 years ago that is in great condition.

First, is there a market for it? And if that is a yes, what do I ask for in terms of a price? The buyer would have to remove it themselves, and while I'm not looking to squeeze every single penny out of it, I don't want to give it away. It covers roughly a 1000 square foot house, shallow slopes.

Thanks in advance!
 
If it's a knockdown, I wonder if the contractor who does the job would be willing to pay for it. Pay / reduce their bill as they could haul to the recycler for the weight.

If the house is unsafe, how would Joe Blow come in to remove? I'm wondering if there's some safety issue here where you wouldn't want someone walking around on it.
 
It would be good for repurposing on a shed or other small structure. If it was screwed in then removal would be the easiest without incurring damage.
 
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
First, is there a market for it? And if that is a yes, what do I ask for in terms of a price? The buyer would have to remove it themselves, and while I'm not looking to squeeze every single penny out of it, I don't want to give it away. It covers roughly a 1000 square foot house, shallow slopes.


If they have to remove it themselves it is worth $0, people aren't going to pay you for the privilege of demoing your house. I assume like recycling any building materials, great care must be taken to not wreck it. 20% is probably going to be destroyed in the process, seems like not enough material to even be worth it.

An expensive lesson on not trying to polish a turd. Brand new metal roof on a condemned house, yikes. I've pulled trim during demo that was dated the current year, but your situation is just brutal.
 
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
If they have to remove it themselves it is worth $0, people aren't going to pay you for the privilege of demoing your house.


Honestly even if you're giving it away people want you to remove it, and heck even deliver it at your cost.
 
OP's situation isn't brutal, FIL who put the roof on and only got 3 years use, that's brutal. If it was on the ground in a neat stack with no damage but the screw holes 25% of new maybe? Stick a sign in the yard and put it in all the local trade sheets and on craigslist and ask for offers, see what you get. Realistically anything is more than nothing since the house is coming down and you'll be paying someone to take it for free.
 
No demolition company is going to treat any demolition gently.
Their objective is to demolished a house under 2 hours.
Unless you can remove the roofing yourself, even after that it will probably only valuable for recycling unless you can find a buyer already that can reuse it.

USA is not the type of country that will repurpose or reuse.
It is not a common practice unlike a lot of other countries.
 
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
First, is there a market for it? And if that is a yes, what do I ask for in terms of a price? The buyer would have to remove it themselves, and while I'm not looking to squeeze every single penny out of it, I don't want to give it away. It covers roughly a 1000 square foot house, shallow slopes.


If they have to remove it themselves it is worth $0, people aren't going to pay you for the privilege of demoing your house. I assume like recycling any building materials, great care must be taken to not wreck it. 20% is probably going to be destroyed in the process, seems like not enough material to even be worth it.

An expensive lesson on not trying to polish a turd. Brand new metal roof on a condemned house, yikes. I've pulled trim during demo that was dated the current year, but your situation is just brutal.


Dang, dude, go easy on the deceased. He lived in the house for decades. It was his home. He didn't know he was going to pass theee years later after installing the roof. I stated the house was unsafe... well... that may have been an oversimplification. It needs a ton of work, there are ceiling and floor issues, and we want to keep the acreage it sits on in the VA mountains. We are too far away from it and don't want to be landlords, and vacant home insurance is brutally expensive. So we are tearing it down. But the house was not condemned by any means.

If we can sell it and give someone a bargain on metal roofing at the same time, splendid. If not, we will scrap it. Just sizing up the options.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
If it's a knockdown, I wonder if the contractor who does the job would be willing to pay for it. Pay / reduce their bill as they could haul to the recycler for the weight.

If the house is unsafe, how would Joe Blow come in to remove? I'm wondering if there's some safety issue here where you wouldn't want someone walking around on it.


I should have worded it this way: the house is unsafe for residing because of holes in the floor, some ceiling issues, a plumbing issue, and who knows when the chimney from the wood stove was serviced. we know what and where the issues are for the most part. If we rented it to someone, no way is it a safe place, and repairs would likely outpace the 50% mark of the structure's value.
 
I wouldn't let strangers crawl around on my roof to remove it for scrap value.

They'd probably fall off the roof or through it and sue you.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I wouldn't let strangers crawl around on my roof to remove it for scrap value.

They'd probably fall off the roof or through it and sue you.


This.

I once made a mistake hiring a handyman doing a kitchen demo, because he wants to use the old cabinets in his girlfriend's house (flood damage). That guy took way too long to finish his work trying to preserve the cabinets, it ended up delaying a lot of stuff making it more expensive than just have a guy coming in with a saw and cut things out in 2 hours.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
I once made a mistake hiring a handyman doing a kitchen demo, because he wants to use the old cabinets in his girlfriend's house (flood damage). That guy took way too long to finish his work trying to preserve the cabinets, it ended up delaying a lot of stuff making it more expensive than just have a guy coming in with a saw and cut things out in 2 hours.


[off-topic]
PandaBear,
what was that guy doing?
it took me+myself 6 hours to do a galley kitchen. It was slower because I moved the appliances out of the way, and I break the cabinets down the slow and quiet way out of respect for building neighbors (after 6 PM work)...

With a saw+Big Hammer may have been 1 hour . maybe
[/off-topic]
 
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
Originally Posted By: supton
If it's a knockdown, I wonder if the contractor who does the job would be willing to pay for it. Pay / reduce their bill as they could haul to the recycler for the weight.

If the house is unsafe, how would Joe Blow come in to remove? I'm wondering if there's some safety issue here where you wouldn't want someone walking around on it.


I should have worded it this way: the house is unsafe for residing because of holes in the floor, some ceiling issues, a plumbing issue, and who knows when the chimney from the wood stove was serviced. we know what and where the issues are for the most part. If we rented it to someone, no way is it a safe place, and repairs would likely outpace the 50% mark of the structure's value.


do you know of any "ethnic" roofing guy in the area?
He may have a friend in need...
 
First off, condolences on the passing of your Dad or Dad-in-law or whatever. You are in a common situation.

Colored steel roofing? I assume VERY OLD slate was removed 3 years ago.

Those sheets of roofing, while economical, are fragile (subject to bending) when they're going up.
Taking them down, while doable, is only going to be done by someone local for only a few reuse applications.

Trying to engineer a reclamation process from as far away as you are is fruitless.

You've decided to tear it down? Do it. Let the tearer-downer salvage a few square feet for his pocket. Remind him it's his before the job starts AND that you'd appreciate a clean site when he's done.

Don't pay him until you've expected the site. How many acres?
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
... AND that you'd appreciate a clean site when he's done.

Don't pay him until you've inspected the site. How many acres?

^^^ This.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I wouldn't let strangers crawl around on my roof to remove it for scrap value.

They'd probably fall off the roof or through it and sue you.


Good point, for sure.
 
what you have is not a commodity so it all depends on if you get a buyer.

you can put out some feelers and if you get nothing then you get nothing.

i would also assume the demo team is best subject expert avail in knowing what has value.
if it is worth their time to resell it they arent going to leave money on the table and already bake it into their price.

I suppose the way you know is you need to get at least 2 quotes for the job and then evaluate who's baking in the extra value.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Kira
First off, condolences on the passing of your Dad or Dad-in-law or whatever. You are in a common situation.

Colored steel roofing? I assume VERY OLD slate was removed 3 years ago.

Those sheets of roofing, while economical, are fragile (subject to bending) when they're going up.
Taking them down, while doable, is only going to be done by someone local for only a few reuse applications.

Trying to engineer a reclamation process from as far away as you are is fruitless.

You've decided to tear it down? Do it. Let the tearer-downer salvage a few square feet for his pocket. Remind him it's his before the job starts AND that you'd appreciate a clean site when he's done.

Don't pay him until you've expected the site. How many acres?


Thank you for the advice. It's not that much...14 acres, but it has some easy access combined with great views, and it's been in the family for a while. About half of it gets hay farmed.
 
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