Residential Demolition
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Dirt Cheap is a land clearing contractor working in Chapin, South Carolina. Chapin is known as the Capital of Lake Murray. The town itself is just over 2 square miles, off Interstate 26 and just over twenty miles from Columbia. Greater Chapin is best defined by the 29036 ZIP code. That ZIP code reaches into Lexington, Richland and Newberry counties. Lake Murray has driven a lot of home building south of town. Most people who answered the Town's planning survey live down there, near Timberlake, Eptings Camp Road or Dreher Island Road. By Census Bureau survey estimates, over half the homes in ZIP code 29036 date from 2000 or later. The area was once mostly farmed. New lots now come out of planted pine, or pine and hardwood woods that grew back.
Dirt Cheap is family and woman owned. Our shop sits on Edmund Highway in West Columbia, about 21 miles from Chapin in a straight line. We work in and around Chapin regularly. The company runs full size CASE excavators and dozers, plus a tri axle Kenworth dump truck with trailers. That equipment is built for demolition and excavation. We handle land clearing on wooded house lots, from the first tree to bare dirt. Then we cut a level house pad on the cleared ground. When an old house stands in the way, we start with house demolition before a rebuild. Debris on every job is loaded out on our own trucks. Estimates are free, so call (803) 796-4727 and tell us about your lot.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.
The woods around Chapin run to white oak, southern red oak, post oak, hickory, shortleaf pine and loblolly pine. The dozer pushes the standing timber into piles. The excavator follows and digs out the stumps with their root balls. Roots left in the ground rot, and the dirt above them settles. Nobody wants that under a house pad or a driveway. The piles are loaded out on our own trucks. The Lexington County landfill charges contractor loads by the ton. Its schedule lists $29 a ton for clean yard debris. Yard waste mixed with other debris runs $38 a ton, so clean loads matter.
Burning on site is tightly limited. Outside town limits, a land clearing burn next to woods or brush needs notice to the SC Forestry Commission first. State rules keep a burn at least 1,000 feet from public roads and from homes and businesses off the property. It can only start between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and only with material cleared on that property. In unincorporated Lexington County, the disturbed area sets the paperwork. A single family site under 1 acre, not part of a larger plan, needs no land disturbance permit. At 1 acre or more, it needs one, plus state stormwater coverage. Costs are in our South Carolina land clearing price guide.
Dominion Energy owns the land below the 360-foot contour along most of the Lake Murray shoreline. You must contact its Lake Management before any shoreline vegetation below the 360 comes out. The same goes for a vegetative buffer zone. A limited brushing permit generally covers trees and brush 3 inches across and smaller. Digging below the 360 needs Dominion Energy's authorization. That work runs only from October 1 to January 31. Removing trees or vegetation below the 360 or in the buffer without approval is prohibited. Merchantable timber cut from Dominion Energy property may have to be paid for, at up to triple stumpage.
So on a lake lot, we clear and grade the buildable part above the line. The 360 and any vegetative buffer zone stay as they are unless you hold Dominion Energy's written OK. Above the line, the dozer and excavator work it like any wooded lot. Dominion Energy's permitting handbook prohibits earth fills below the 360, so grading stops at the line too. It also bars storing or stockpiling construction material below the 360. Brush piles stay on the buildable ground until they are loaded out. Where a lot falls toward the water, we shape the pad so rain runs away from the house.
Inside town limits, the Town adds its own steps. No building or structure may be demolished there without a Town zoning permit. A zoning application is also required for land disturbance or property clearing that removes more than 3 trees. The Town's contracted building department issues building permits and inspections for every property in town. The Town also requires every business or contractor working inside town limits to hold a Town of Chapin business license. Its fee schedule, effective August 2024, lists a $105 demolition permit, residential or commercial. Its mobile home lines list a $53 demolition fee. Ask the Town what your job needs before work starts.
Chapin's soil is sandy loam, silty loam or silty clay loam. Those soils have mild limits for road and building foundations. The town itself is fairly flat, and no slope inside town limits tops 15 percent. On the Town's plan map, elevation runs from 200 to 800 feet. Some lots around town sit on steeper ground, where a pad takes more cutting and filling. Not every lot starts as woods. By Census Bureau survey estimates, about 1,900 homes in ZIP code 29036 date from before 1980. The survey also estimates about 390 mobile homes there. Our mobile home demolition for older units clears one off and leaves a clean pad.
Communities & areas we serve around Chapin: Timberlake, Eptings Camp Road, Dreher Island Road, Saint Peters Church Road, Ballentine, Little Mountain, Peak.
Chapin ZIP codes served: 29036.
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Dirt Cheap tears down commercial buildings across the South Carolina Midlands. Strip malls, churches, warehouses and condemned structures come down with full-size excavators and dozers. We work out of a shop in West Columbia.
We clear wooded and overgrown lots across the Midlands, half acre house sites and multi acre tracts alike. Full size excavators and dozers take out the trees, the brush, and the stumps. Our shop is in West Columbia and estimates are free.
Grading and site prep out of our West Columbia shop. We cut building pads, level low yards, and reshape wet ground so water runs off. Estimates are free anywhere in the Midlands.
Dirt Cheap digs site excavation, utility and drainage trenches, and storm drain repairs across the Midlands. Our shop sits in West Columbia, and we run full size excavators and dozers. Estimates are free.
We repair rutted, washed out and potholed driveways across the Midlands, from short residential drives to quarter mile farm lanes. Our crew cuts the ruts out, reshapes the crown and packs the surface so water leaves the drive instead of cutting into it. We also grade new lanes and replace broken concrete drives.
Real reviews from real demolition, excavation and site work jobs on Google.
Storm drain repair for apartment complex fixed twice, both required a large excavation. Did both jobs quickly and for a great price. Would highly recommend.
Awesome Company. Contracted them to demolish a double wide on my property. They did it quickly and cleaned up great. Even brought in fill to level the area out. Marked the septic system as required.
Stop looking. Awesome folks to deal with through and through.
I have had them complete two jobs and they were here right away, completed and cleaned up immediately. Great people to deal with and very pleased with the jobs. Highly recommend.
I had an emergency involving my mobile home, not only was it after hours when they made the decision to come help me. The next morning they showed up and went above and beyond their call of duty as far as the job I hired them to do. Great people, fantastic work!
Great company to work with, very responsive and will make sure the job is done right!!
A few of the questions we hear most around Chapin. Don't see yours? Call the office and ask.
A structure that needs to come down, a lot that needs clearing, a driveway that needs help, a septic system going in? Call or send the form and we will come look at the property and price the job. The estimate is free.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.