BY
Megan Hughes
PHOTOGRAPHY
Warehouse photo by James Maidhof; others courtesy of Habitat ReStore

When Becky and Drew Loboda wanted to tear down a 40-year-old home in Mission Hills to make way for the house of their dreams, they decided a wrecking ball was not the way to go. Instead, Becky opted for deconstruction, or the disassembly of a structure in order to salvage materials for reuse. Throughout March and April, more than 12 tons of materials, from cabinets to doorknobs, were extracted from the 2,400-square-foot home, leaving the couple with an empty lot and over $10,000 in tax deductions.

Habitat ReStore, a non-profit organization affiliated with Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City, provides unique services like those utilized by the Lobodas to many homeowners throughout the metro area. What sets apart deconstruction from demolition is the difference of hand dismantling opposed to going in with a wrecking ball or sledgehammer.

“We use hand tools to methodically disassemble,” says Brian Alferman, program manager for Habitat ReStore. “It’s the exact reverse of construction, as every piece of the house or room is touched by hands. We’ve developed an extremely efficient way of removing material so that it can be reused by someone else in the future.”

What that means for the homeowner is that everything is salvaged and sold to the public at bargain basement prices in ReStore’s downtown warehouse, making each item recovered a charitable contribution. This leaves clients with their houses gone or areas cleared, a hefty 501C3 tax deduction, and a good feeling they’ve done the right thing.

“It was so easy for us to decide to use Habitat ReStore’s services,” Loboda reflects. “Since we had no deadline looming, we realized we could take everything apart and put it back to good use, rather than it all ending up in a landfill somewhere. We felt so great about being able to do that.”

Though the deconstruction process can take longer than traditional demolition, at anywhere from three to six weeks for an entire house, the perks of competitive rates, saving useable material from landfills, sparing neighborhoods the noise of demolition and support of Habitat for Humanity’s goals outweigh any drawbacks.

“Everybody wins with deconstruction, as we reuse and recycle building materials and supplies, providing dramatic environmental, economical and social benefits to our community,” Alferman assures. “Houses are coming down all around the metro area, making room for custom homes. That’s where we come in, to harvest materials and reuse them.”

Deconstruction services are not only the answer for entire home projects, as much of ReStore’s work is done in partial jobs, such as dismantling old kitchens, bathrooms, decks or fireplaces, and even tear outs of hardwood floors or drywall. Prior to remodeling, a crew will disassemble an old area to make way for the new. Often the used materials are perfectly good, simply not what the homeowners want anymore. Yet, others will be thrilled to purchase it all in the ReStore warehouse.

To begin the deconstruction process, clients can contact ReStore by phone or e-mail. A team will come out to a house, develop the scope of the work, and determine a bid contract, including the estimated value of what can be extracted from the home and donated for a tax deduction. 

In addition to deconstruction, homeowners are urged to make donations in the form of leftover materials and supplies from personal home improvement projects. Construction or remodeling companies also can profit from a tax deduction by donating mismeasured materials, or those that may be considered altered or unusable. ReStore will even pick these materials up, saving hauling time and costs.

Since its creation in 2001, ReStore has completed over 60 deconstruction jobs from Lawrence to Lee’s Summit, raising more than $150,000 for Habitat for Humanity. That number continues to grow as more people hear about the organization and its services.

“We’re working with the remodeling industry to think of us more, and build us into the business process,” Alferman says. “A lot of times we are used at the request of the homeowner, but we want to convince remodelers to include us from the beginning, rather than as an afterthought.”

With all the favorable aspects of the process for homeowners, Alferman says he’s not sure why the organization is still so little-known, but encourages those interested to inquire further and those familiar with the process to continue to spread the word.

“Unfortunately, we are still a secret, though we definitely do not mean to be,” Alferman admits. “But as we get more quality deconstruction jobs under our belts, people become more aware, we will have more items in the store and sales will increase. This creates even more money for the Habitat organization, serving the community in about as many positive ways as you can think of.”
 
Habitat ReStore is located at 4701 Deramus Avenue in Kansas City, Mo. For more information, call the office Tuesday through Saturday at 816/231-7602 or log on to restorekc.org anytime. For specific information regarding deconstruction services, e-mail deconstruction@restorekc.org.