As the owner or manager of a construction company, you likely do everything you can to keep your overhead costs low without sacrificing the quality of your services to ensure you can pay your employees well and earn a good living yourself. However, if you don't work with concrete salvage companies, then you may not realize how their services can save you money on both demolition projects and building new structures. Read on to learn how your company benefits when working with a salvage company, and as a great bonus, how working with a salvage company helps the earth. 

1. Demolitions: Materials You Can Salvage and How Salvaging Them Helps You Save Cash

If you typically just throw the materials left at a demolition site after you perform your demolition in a dumpster, then you may be under the impression that salvaging the waste will slow down your project and cost you extra cash. Sure, tossing all those materials in the trash can be quick, but your employees still have to do a bit of sorting before placing the leftover materials in the dumpsters to be sure the maximum weight loads are not exceeded. 

Then, your employees must haul all that "trash" to the local landfill, and that can result in hefty gasoline costs, especially if that landfill is many miles from your demolition site. Finally, you have to pay for the often sky-high disposal fees. In addition, even if you are not a huge environmentalist, you may find yourself feeling guilty from time to time because you are adding even more trash to landfills that are taking a huge toll on the environment. Building materials actually make up almost 30 percent of all trash placed in landfills in California, and that is about the average for the rest of the country as well. 

What do you have to do to salvage the concrete and other "waste" created after you demolish a structure? First find a local concrete salvage company and obtain any specific rules they have for items they will accept at their facility. Also inquire about what other types of salvage they accept. If the company accepts many types of salvage materials, then this will make salvaging a lot easier. Also ask the company whether they will pick up your salvage materials, since many will. 

Then, before you begin cleaning up after a demolition project, have several smaller waste containers set up at your demolition site instead of a couple of large dumpsters. Place a sign on or in front of each container to help your crew easily know at a glance which material goes where. The materials you want to have dedicated containers for include concrete, brick, lumber, and metal. Optionally, you can also separate asphalt, glass, and drywall. Then, instruct your workers to place each material in the right container as they clean up; this can be much easier for everyone than placing everything in one dumpster and then separating the salvage materials. 

Finally, if the salvage company picks up your loads, your job is done, and you can give the company a call to come take the items. If you must haul the items to the facility, then you or an employee will just drop them off. 

How does this process save you money? Instead of paying something in the neighborhood of $100 a ton that you currently pay when dropping off these items at a landfill, you will pay little to nothing to the salvage company when dropping off your items! Also, if they have a pick-up service, that means you save on both gasoline and the time it takes to haul your items to the local landfill. 

2. Builds: How Salvage Can Decrease Building Costs 

After concrete salvage companies get scrap concrete after demolitions, they crush it and clean it to create new concrete mix called recycled concrete aggregate, or RCA. They also turn asphalt into reclaimed asphalt pavement, or RAP. By using recycled and reclaimed asphalt in your projects, you can save a lot of money. This material is high quality, yet just due to the fact that it is not made from "brand-new" materials, it is sold at a more affordable price. 

Salvage bricks are typically sold as-is to builders like yourself, and like other reclaimed materials, salvage bricks are also more affordable than their counterparts and sold at much lower prices. Lumber is often sorted by salvage companies according to whether it is reusable as is or would be better to shred to turn into wood composites. Many homeowners love reclaimed wood flooring due to the popularity of it, and by installing this type of flooring in your new home builds, you can save money while adding a feature that will appeal greatly to new home buyers. 

If your construction company performs demolitions and builds, then you may not realize that you can save money on both by embracing salvage. Salvaging the materials from your demolitions means you don't have to pay the sky-high dumping fees landfills charge and may even save a lot of money on the gasoline used to haul the items to the landfill. Using reclaimed and recycled materials in your new home builds can also save you a lot of cash, and when eco-friendly home buyers hear how much recycled material is part of their new home, they may even be willing to pay more for those homes to show their commitment to the environment. 

Contact companies like Alliance Demolition Services Inc to get started using salvage.