Who are they? Salvage operation? And what are they proposing to do on your demo site? How much are they willing to pay you? The stuff the pull out brings in big money in the cities these days.

They are a difficult group to explain as they encompass so many kinds of people. They are people who go into abandoned sites and photograph the grounds. That in itself can generate some amazing photography.
We've dealt with the questionable side of it, with ones that come on job sites to vandalize equipment in hopes of halting demolition.
Some do salvage items, but nothing really much of worth other than assorted memorabilia.

I have only run into a couple of times. I have never had any of them vandalize any equipment though. They came in took some pictures and then ask if the could take a brick or two, so no problems here.

Have you had your equipment vandalized by these "people"?

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What do you mean by the Urban Explorers vandalize equipment in hopes of halting demolition. What is their motive there?

Do you let these people take photos while the demo is going on? What kind of vandalism are they doing? Isn't this trespassing? And dangerous, given the condition of the buildings.

James, for the most part-many of them are that way. Giving bricks away, taking pictures of demolition, I’m all for it. What demolition contractor doesn’t like to show and explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it? At the end of the day, we all have the best job that’s out there.
It seems though, at least jobs in our area-vandalization is out of control by this genre. We recently took down an abandoned mental hospital and met with more opposition in taking it down by the UE community, than the surrounding community itself. An excavator of one of our subs was completely destroyed along with a multitude of break-ins into contained areas, which ranged in theft and destruction of the abatement set-ups...and the list goes on.
For us it was trespassing, thanks to how the law is viewed in our state. We were worried not only for the safety of our own personnel due to the violence that was being perpetrated on our site daily but also for these UE’s who knew nothing in regards to the structural integrity of these buildings not to mention the level of asbestos they were inhaling into their pre-pubescent lungs.
We had wonderful police presence and finally picked up a GOOD security company which in and of itself is surprising. All of this was done, we were told over and over again-to slow us down. In the end, if anything, the only ones who benefited was the city and the fines it was able to levy off of over 150 arrests. My
I in no way post this to tarnish the image of the decent UE’s out there. There truly are those who do it for the reason of historical photographic documentation, and they have truly mastered their passion.
But, I guess as a contractor-our first major exposure to them was extremely negative. They made us wish for more scrappers.

Is that the mental hospital outside of Philly where they had been having all-night "raves?"

Can't believe they arrested 150 people. Were they trying to stop the demo, like to preserve the hospital, or were they just there to party and do drugs? Sounds kinda wild.

That’d be the one. They would have anything from raves to bbq’s to sledding down the collapsed stairways. They would set fires in buildings and run to another roof top of another building to watch the fire department come put out the fire-all the while taking photos of the events. Our first night onsite, one of our containment areas was set on fire.
They thought they would be able to halt demolition with all of their “tactics” but if anything, it sped us along. Some were there for partying, we had a pregnant girl who loved to perch on the ledge of a 7 story building and drink, some came to “say their last goodbyes”, others came to see what an active demolition site looks like-very brilliant individuals who would go up into a partially demolished building to stand on the edge leaning over exposed rebar so someone could take their picture, others thought that by threatening our workers and our sub’s personnel this would scare us off and we’d pack up and leave.
Philadelphia and the surrounding towns as a whole have grown tired of the UE scene. There’s an arson investigation in regards to a church that was burnt down by them. It’s now begun at the next state hospital slated to come down with 2 fires set since the demolition was announced.
One thing you don’t tell a Philadelphia cop while being arrested for trespassing on a demolition site-“I was only urban exploring.”

Sounds like Philly is out of control.

Maybe you could just make arrangements to let them come in and salvage any of the historical items before you started the demo, and then they would agree to keep away once the wrecking began.

Might be a compromise to let them retain something of historical interest and value to them (assuming it had no salvage value to the demo contractor and you were going to trash it anyway) and to keep them from vandalizing your loaders and hoes.

Maybe that would be a win-win. Are they really interested in the historical preservation aspects or just trying to make trouble? If they are acting in the interests of historical preservation, it seems like they are going about it the wrong way, or maybe they are just frustrated that all the old buildings seem to get torn down in the end (they feel like the developers always win out).

Something like that Wolf. We’ve talked to other demo contractors from across the country and it seems as if we weren’t the only contractor who had to deal with such nonsense.
We would have been all about salvage on that job but everything had already been taken. It had sat abandoned for over 20 years so whatever could be taken, already was or had been destroyed due to vandalism.
I think the anger is placed more against the developers as opposed to the demo contractors