House Demolition
We tear down old houses and cabins, including homes hurt by fire or storms. The debris goes out on our dump truck, and the lot is left clean for what comes next.
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Cashiers sits on a high plateau in southern Jackson County, at 3,487 feet where US 64 meets NC 107. Many homes here are second homes on steep, wooded lots, and soft rock sits a few feet down in places. When an old house has to come down, the slope and the rain shape the whole job. Jackson County also has its own rules for clearing and grading on these slopes.
Sanders Contracting is a demolition contractor based in Murphy, and Cashiers is part of our service area. US 64 links the two, by way of Franklin and Highlands. Here we take on house demolition and building demolition, plus land clearing and site development for new homes. Call or text (828) 342-1467, and we look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Tell us what you need done and where the property is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Jackson County's 2019 plan for the village calls Cashiers a resort and second home community. The 2020 Census found more than 6 in 10 homes in Cashiers township held for seasonal use. Census estimates say about 8 in 10 homes there were built from 1970 to 2009. Most are single-family houses in clubs and subdivisions outside the village core.
Some of those houses are now more than 40 years old. When an owner decides one is not worth saving, we tear it down so a new house can go up. A large excavator and a small one take it down, and our dump truck hauls the debris off. We leave the lot cleaned up and ready for the next build.
Before the work starts, the utility shuts off power and gas, and public lines get marked through NC 811. NC 811 does not mark private lines, and the county's 2019 plan said the village got its water from wells. Point out the well line and the septic tank before the excavator starts. The state health department wants a building checked for asbestos and notice of the tear-down, even if none is found.
Peaks around the village rise above 4,500 feet, and most of the ground slopes. The federal soil survey maps about two thirds of Cashiers as stony Edneyville and Chestnut soils. Those soils sit on slopes of 8 to 50 percent. Chestnut soils reach soft, weathered rock about 20 to 40 inches down.
NOAA weather stations in Highlands and near Lake Toxaway sit on either side of Cashiers. Their 30-year averages, from 1991 to 2020, run about 88 and 96 inches of rain a year. Bare dirt on a slope washes fast in that much rain. Jackson County's erosion rules want bare slopes covered within seven calendar days after the ground is disturbed.
For land clearing, we load brush and stumps into the dump truck and haul them off the lot. Then we cut the house pad and the driveway as part of site development for a new home. Rock from a cut can go back into the fill, or we haul it off. A retaining wall can hold a tall bank, and hydroseeding covers the bare ground.
Cashiers is not an incorporated town, so Jackson County handles permits here. Jackson County Permitting and Code Enforcement keeps a permit office on Frank Allen Road in Cashiers. Demolition is one of the permit types on the county's permit application. The office can tell you what your job needs, and we point you there before work is booked.
Any new land disturbance needs a county permit, and a one-page Land Development Permit covers less than half an acre. From half an acre up, an erosion control plan must be filed at least 30 days ahead. That plan has to be approved before the work begins. For any new grading, the county also wants a call at least 24 hours ahead.
Jackson County maps slopes of 35 percent or more in its Mountain and Hillside Development District. The planning office will work out a lot's average slope on request. Where the hillside rules apply, cleared trees and brush must leave the site and cannot be buried in fill. The county's rules also limit how steep a cut bank or a fill bank can be.
Lots near the crossroads may fall inside the Cashiers Commercial Area, which has its own zoning map. New building there goes through county design review. Ask the county planning office before an old store or office comes down. We take on building demolition for small commercial buildings and talk through bigger jobs case by case.
Not every lot here is steep: the soil survey maps about a tenth of Cashiers as low, wet ground. The county's 2019 plan named flooding on Frank Allen Road a continuing problem in the village core. A 2015 report it cited blamed sediment in Cashiers Lake and poor drainage. On a low lot, we shape the grade and cut ditches so water runs away from the pad.
In September 2024, Jackson County was named in the federal disaster declaration for Tropical Storm Helene. A storm can leave a lot with downed trees or a crushed shed. We take down damaged outbuildings and storm-hit trees, then haul the debris away.
Communities and areas we serve around Cashiers: The village core, The Cashiers crossroads at US 64 and NC 107, Cashiers Commercial Area, Frank Allen Road, Valley Road, Cashiers Lake, Lake Glenville, Glenville, Sapphire, US 64 toward Whiteside Mountain, NC 107 South toward Silver Run Falls.
Cashiers ZIP codes served: 28717.
Cashiers is part of our service area. We come out from Murphy, look at the job and put the quote in writing.
(828) 342-1467 We tear down old houses and cabins, including homes hurt by fire or storms. The debris goes out on our dump truck, and the lot is left clean for what comes next.
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We tear down single wide and double wide mobile homes and haul them off in our dump truck. The lot is left cleaned up and ready for a new home or a new pad.
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We tear down barns, garages, sheds and old store buildings with the excavator. The dump truck hauls the debris off and the spot is left clean.
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We break out old slabs, foundations, driveways and patios with the excavator. The broken concrete goes out in our dump truck.
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We clear brush and small trees off lots and acreage, then pull the stumps. The dump truck hauls the debris away, and the ground is ready to use.
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We cut house pads and driveways into sloped lots and dig for the foundation. Your build starts on level ground.
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We dig for footings and basements and cut level building pads into sloped lots. Extra dirt and rock leave in our dump truck.
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We take down dead and leaning trees with the excavator and haul the wood off in the dump truck. We also trim and prune limbs and handle storm cleanup.
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Retaining walls that hold a driveway or a house pad on a sloped mountain lot. You choose the material, and every wall gets drainage behind it.
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We spray seed and mulch over new lawns, graded sites, cleared ground and cut banks. Once the grass takes, its roots hold the soil in place.
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We haul off demolition, construction and storm debris with the excavator and the dump truck. Brush piles and stumps go too, and the site is left clean.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Cashiers. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us what has to come down or get cleared, and where the job is. Call or text (828) 342-1467 or (828) 361-8764, or send the form, and we set a time to look at it.
Tell us what you need done and where the property is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.