The person that “demolished” the house on a property I bought did it for free and made a nice profit. Before going with them I got an estimate from a “house recycler” that wanted $45-50,000, plus disposal charges for anything they couldn’t use for resale, to remove the house. That was a ridiculous ask in my opinion.

The person that did the “demolition” carefully extracted anything of value (timber, fixtures, hardware, etc.) and resold as they went. It was a mid sized house from the 80s and had good bones (but significant issues) and some nice updates. It was a great deal for us both. He cleared about $10k per week (after his costs) for two weeks and I ended up with a pristine lot.

Plumbing is so much more than manual labor.

I guess I tend to view things from the perspective of top performers, because I am a person who tries to excel. That said, technology people are usually paid peanuts unless they have the education, skills, and sometimes certifications.

I agree, demolition work is very fun and a very nice foil to working with technology, especially after a difficult week.