- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- knowledge of public safety and security
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- knowledge of maths
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- to be flexible and open to change
- the ability to work well with your hands
- the ability to use your initiative
- legal knowledge including court procedures and government regulations
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
Your tasks will depend on your role, and you could work as a:
- labourer – preparing the site, putting up rails and safety screens, laying dustsheets and separating out re-usable building materials after demolition
- mattockman or mattockwoman – stripping out fittings, removing doors and windows, dismantling roof structures
- topman or topwoman – doing all the tasks of the others as well as cutting steel framework at heights, stripping off fragile roofs and instructing others in safe demolition practices
You might use:
- tools like hammer drills and oxyacetylene cutting equipment
- plant machinery
- explosives
- crane-mounted industrial magnets to recover metals
- burners to incinerate materials
- crushers to put concrete slabs through to make aggregate for road building
- specialist equipment to safely remove hazardous materials like asbestos and toxic chemicals
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work on a construction site.
Your working environment may be physically demanding.
With further training, you could specialise in a particular demolition method, like explosives.
With experience you could progress into site supervision and management.
You can find out more about working in demolition from Go Construct.
