Riverbank Environmental & Demolition is a family company that has been doing this work since 1967. San Jose grew from about 95,000 people in 1950 to roughly 460,000 by 1970. Orchards turned into tract neighborhoods in a single generation.
That boom is why so much of San Jose was built when asbestos was still normal. Floor tile, siding board, pipe wrap, and old mastic all show up in these buildings. We plan for them before a machine starts.
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The City of San Jose Building Division issues demolition permits through the Development Services Permit Center. You cannot get one without a job number from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. That J number covers demolition of any load bearing part of a building. Age and asbestos content do not change that rule.
The air district needs at least 10 business days of notice. Homes with four or fewer units can file 72 hours ahead if you pay a higher fee. If the property is on the city's Historic Resources Inventory, the Planning Division reviews it first. PG&E wants 30 days notice to disconnect and pull the gas service.
Willow Glen and the Rose Garden are full of houses built long before current rules. In Willow Glen many smaller homes have already been replaced with larger ones. Santa Clara County land is worth more than the old house sitting on it. So the old house comes down and a bigger one goes up.
A survey comes first, and the air district rules set who is allowed to do it. Once the lab results are back, we handle asbestos removal in older San Jose houses under containment. Then the residential demolition can start. We hold CSLB #247684 and CAL OSHA #507.
Silicon Valley office vacancy was 16.0 percent in the second quarter of 2026. The San Jose submarket ran higher at 19.3 percent, and downtown has been above 30 percent. Our sweet spot is houses and commercial buildings of two to three stories. Owners either gut a floor or take the whole structure down.
For commercial building demolition, San Jose adds a PCBs Screening Assessment Form to the permit. It applies to structures built or remodeled between 1950 and 1980. Wood framed buildings and single family homes are left out of it. The form targets caulk, thermal insulation, adhesive mastics, and rubber window gaskets.
Landlords downtown win tenants by rebuilding the space inside the building. That work starts with tenant improvement demolition in San Jose offices down to the bare deck. We take out ceilings and partitions while the rest of the building stays open.
Flooring removal and surface preparation run on UHP water blasting at 40,000 psi. Water holds down the dust that dry grinding pushes through an occupied floor. That matters in a building where other tenants are still working.
San Jose requires construction and demolition debris to go to a City certified diversion facility. Those facilities have to recycle 75 percent of the material they take in. The city also holds a Construction and Demolition Diversion Deposit against your permit. Paperwork from the certified facility is what gets that deposit back.
Santa Clara sits right against the north side of San Jose. We handle demolition in Santa Clara as well, along with concrete demolition and land and site clearing. Fire damage cleanup works the same way.
Communities & areas we serve around San Jose: Willow Glen, Rose Garden, Naglee Park, Japantown, Alum Rock, Berryessa, Almaden Valley, Cambrian Park.
San Jose ZIP codes served: 95112, 95116, 95123, 95125, 95128, 95132.
Free, no-obligation estimates throughout Santa Clara County.
(209) 652-9206
We handle asbestos removal and abatement for homes and commercial buildings across Northern California. Work runs under sealed containment with negative air machines, and the waste goes to a landfill approved to take it.
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We handle residential demolition across Northern California. That covers whole houses, garages, sheds, and mobile homes. Work starts with an asbestos survey and permits, then the teardown and haul-off. A family company since 1967.
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Commercial demolition for retail buildings, small offices, warehouses and ag structures. We handle the asbestos abatement, the utility cuts, the teardown and the debris loads. Buildings up to two or three stories are our size range.
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Interior demolition for remodels and tenant improvements across the Central Valley and Bay Area. We gut spaces down to the studs and hand back a clean shell your builder can start in.
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We break out and haul away old concrete. Driveways, garage slabs, patios, walkways, foundations and footings all come out the same way. Broken concrete goes to a recycling yard and gets crushed into base rock.
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Fire damage cleanup starts once the fire is out and the building is cold. We take down burned structures and haul the debris to permitted disposal sites. The lot is left clear for your rebuild contractor.
View DetailsA few of the questions we hear most around San Jose. If yours is not here, call and ask. The person who answers runs the jobs.
A building that needs to come down, a space to gut, asbestos in the survey, or a fire to clean up after? Call or send the form. We look at the property, price the job in person, and give you a number that holds. Estimates are free.
Tell us about the job and we’ll get right back to you.
