scrapping a mobile home. what to look for and how much

my step mother is the town manager and wants me to scrap and tear down a mobile home that is junk. she said everything that is metal i can take and she might even pay me and a friend to tear it down. my question is, how much copper are in old trailers? and do you think its worth my time? the only downfall is i got to load the wood and garbage onto the trailer and bring it to the dump (10 miles away) but its free except gas. let me know what you guys think...

if you think you can make money then go for it i say.

I would try and make a deal with her, saying "depending" on how much $ you make off the metal, you want to get paid for your labor to demo it. If you feel like you didnt make enough id charge her. I would think there is going to be a considerable amount of wood debris that needs to go to the dump.

thanks guys. what do you think would be a fair asking price to tear it down?

I would ask for 5 bucks an hour per man, plus you get to keep what you make on the scrap.

Expect to make about $370 give or take at .12c per lb. mixed metal prices. You guys are going to bust your a$$ for that money. She's getting a deal.

Your going to need Safety glasses, an 8lb sledge hammer, wonder bar, hammer, crowbar, work gloves, power to the job and extension cord, a Sawsall and a pack of blades minimum.

Expect problems to come up.


I would do it though if you can round up the tools.

i was thinking a hundred bucks each and money for gas. i was planning on having someone else help.. no way id do it by myself. and i have never brought back mixed metal, i always make sure to seperate it even if it takes a while to get top dollar. im 17 and have all the time in the world haha. i might go take a look at it this weekend to see what im up against and alteast try and strip out the copper (if there is any left) and get some pictures. i think it will work out good, i hope.

Originally Posted by vamped400

i was thinking a hundred bucks each and money for gas. i was planning on having someone else help.. no way id do it by myself. and i have never brought back mixed metal, i always make sure to seperate it even if it takes a while to get top dollar. im 17 and have all the time in the world haha. i might go take a look at it this weekend to see what im up against and alteast try and strip out the copper (if there is any left) and get some pictures. i think it will work out good, i hope.

Make sure you check the wiring and plumbing, I looked at a trailer and it had aluminum wiring and plastic tubing for water. The kicker was the axles were gone, needless to say i did not scrap it. Allot of labor for little metal.

how old was the trailer? this one is old as hell, 70-80's im guessing. so im really hoping its mostly copper wiring/plumbing. But hey if there isnt any metal ill just ask more for labor

Ok Its free to dump your wood/debri soo your only expense there is gas/labor.. My question is what are you loading into? Truck, trailer, what size? Also is the exterior of the mobile home aluminum? The frame has some good weight for P&S. If your loading into a pickup then expect to make lots of trips and waste gas.. Here's what I would do in your case, ask her to rent a dumpster to throw the debris in, and you handle all the metal. This way your not taking 5 trips to the dump and wasting time/gas.. I'd still ask for $100 a head and metal profit. Also the smart thing to do is take all the metal 1st and scrap it, get your $$, in case something goes wrong and you have a disagreement you still make $$ of the metal. Good luck

i have a 2 axle trailer.. and its a good length, i can easily fit two fourwheelers back to back. i put 1 ton of metal on it with no problems. 15 ft +? and the outside of the trailer is wood sadly. and im pretty sure its 100% free to dump this stuff at my dump but ill check and make sure. im going to talk to her after she gets out of work and try and work out a good price to do it

well i decided to turn it down. but she is going to let me go in and strip everything out that is in there, i just wont have to do the ****ty work

Hey Vamped, just an idea coming from a guy who has quoted lots of labor and debris removal jobs: I would watch out for quoting a set price of $100 for tearing down a trailer like that. Instead, you may want to consider coming up with a price for each of the varying services that you will offer. Make each price cheap since you're getting the scrap, but try to cover your base costs in the event that the whole project fails miserably.
Example (these are just numbers):
Project Initiation costs: $50 for blades, cords, gas, gloves, etc
Dump Trips: $15 per trip for gas and vehicle usage
Hourly Removal of Nonmetal Debris: $X/per man per hour.

Again, I am not trying to tell you what to do, and if you've already said $100 then just go for it. All I have learned is that set prices on debris removal work are very, very hard to make work out unless they are highballed. Since you're only 17 it's probably not a big deal, but it's just been my expereince that hourly and by-the-service rates make things so much easier. This way you don't have to eat gas costs if it takes you 20 dump trips, you simply say to your client, "Well, you have a lot of crap to get rid of and this is what it per dump trip to get rid of it."
Hope that helps. Good luck.

Yall always talk about going to the dump and such, and I am not sure if this is the case anywhere outside of where I scrap, but do yall not have dumpsters located pretty much on every corner? I never go to the dump to unload, because of dumpsters, that happen to be going to the dump anyways.

LOL Mick.

Be a nice place to live atleast.

the frame of the mobel home is worth ur time...