Hear from Our Customers
When you’re dealing with a flooded basement in Providence Oaks or gutting a pre-1978 farmhouse near Pawlings Road, the last thing you need is a contractor who can only handle part of the problem. The real headache isn’t the demolition itself — it’s discovering asbestos behind the drywall, mold in the subfloor, or a waterproofing issue under the foundation, and realizing your demo crew isn’t certified to touch any of it.
We handle the whole picture. Testing, certified abatement, demolition, gutting, waterproofing, debris removal — all under one engagement. No handoffs. No waiting for a second company to schedule. No surprise gaps in the scope of work.
Audubon’s housing stock is genuinely mixed — 18th-century construction, mid-century builds, and 35-to-40-year-old suburban homes that are right in the renovation window. Each era carries its own risk profile, and the older the home, the more likely something needs to be tested before anything gets torn out. When you call us, you’re not guessing at what’s behind the wall. You’re getting someone who’s been doing this in Montgomery County for over 20 years and knows exactly what to look for.
EJS Environmental Services is a Montgomery County-based, owner-operated demolition and environmental abatement contractor. We’ve been working in the Audubon area and throughout the region for over two decades — long enough to know the housing stock, the permit process through Lower Providence Township, and the specific conditions that make demolition work in communities like Audubon more complicated than it looks from the outside.
I hold EPA Certified Lead Inspector and Risk Assessor credentials — not just the basic renovation certification most contractors carry. That distinction matters in Audubon, where a meaningful share of homes predate the 1978 federal threshold for lead and asbestos risk. We’re also fully licensed, bonded, insured, and HUD compliant, which means the work is done legally, documented correctly, and backed by real coverage.
This isn’t a regional chain or a crew that rotates in from out of state. It’s a local operation that knows the difference between a permit-ready project in Lower Providence Township and one that needs soil samples submitted before the job closes.
It starts with a free estimate. Before anything is touched, we walk the property, assess the scope, and identify whether testing is needed. For homes built before 1978 — which covers a real portion of Audubon’s housing stock — that means checking for asbestos and lead before a single wall comes down. This isn’t a formality. It’s what separates a clean job from a regulatory problem.
Once the assessment is done and the scope is clear, we handle the permit filing with Lower Providence Township. The Township requires a demolition permit before the removal of any structure — no exceptions. That process goes through the Township’s online portal, and we manage it so you don’t have to. If the project involves an underground storage tank, the permit requirements include soil sample reports submitted to the Township upon completion — we handle that too.
Then the work begins. Demolition, interior gutting, hazmat abatement if needed, waterproofing if the basement or foundation is involved, and full construction debris removal when the job wraps. The timeline and scope are agreed on upfront. Cash discounts are available. And if you’re dealing with an emergency — a burst pipe in January, a flooded basement after a storm rolls through the Perkiomen Creek corridor — the phone gets answered around the clock.
Ready to get started?
Our demolition services cover the full range — interior gutting, structural demolition, basement and foundation work, construction debris removal, and oil tank removal for properties with above-ground or underground storage tanks. If your Audubon project involves a pre-1978 home, asbestos testing and certified lead inspection are part of the process before demolition begins. We hold the EPA credentials to do that testing in-house, which means no waiting on a third-party inspector before work can start.
Water damage response is one of the most common calls we get from the Audubon area. Multiple waterproofing companies have specifically documented that basement flooding and foundation moisture are recurring issues in older Audubon neighborhoods — and when flooding is bad enough, waterproofing alone doesn’t solve it. Saturated drywall, compromised insulation, and water-damaged structural elements have to come out first. We handle the gutting and the waterproofing, so you’re not coordinating two separate companies on the same damaged basement.
Restoration services for water damage, mold remediation, HEPA filtration during abatement work, and emergency response availability round out what we bring to a job. Free written estimates are provided before any work begins. The scope is clear, the pricing is transparent, and there are no hidden fees added after the fact. For Audubon homeowners with significant equity in their properties, that kind of straightforward engagement isn’t a bonus — it’s the baseline expectation.
Yes — and it applies to more than just full structural teardowns. Lower Providence Township’s official permit documentation states that a demolition permit is required prior to the removal of any structure. That includes interior gutting, wall removal, and structural modifications inside a home, not just knocking down a building from the outside. If you’re planning a basement gut, a kitchen renovation that involves removing load-bearing elements, or any kind of structural demo in Audubon, a permit needs to be filed with the Township before work begins.
The permit application goes through Lower Providence Township’s online building portal. If your project involves removing an underground storage tank, the requirements go a step further — the permit must be accompanied by soil sample reports submitted to the Township when the job is complete. Skipping the permit process exposes you to stop-work orders and code violations that can delay your project significantly. We handle permit filing as part of the job, so you’re not navigating that process on your own.
The honest answer is that you don’t know until it’s tested — and in Audubon, that’s not a trivial question. The community’s housing stock spans from 18th-century farmhouses near the Mill Grove historic corridor to mid-century builds to late-1980s subdivisions, and the pre-1978 portion of that inventory is where asbestos and lead risk is statistically significant. Asbestos was commonly used in insulation, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, pipe wrap, and textured coatings through the mid-1970s. Lead paint was standard in residential construction until it was federally banned in 1978.
We hold EPA Certified Lead Inspector and Risk Assessor credentials, which means we can legally inspect and certify lead conditions in your Audubon home — not just remove them. That’s a higher credential than the basic RRP contractor certification most companies carry. Before any demolition or renovation work begins on a pre-1978 Audubon property, we conduct the appropriate testing, tell you exactly what was found, and handle whatever needs to be addressed under certified federal compliance. No guessing. No assuming the walls are clean when they might not be.
Interior gutting means removing the contents of a space — drywall, flooring, insulation, ceilings, cabinetry, fixtures — while leaving the structural shell of the building intact. Full demolition means the structure itself comes down. For most Audubon homeowners, gutting is the more common need: a water-damaged basement that needs everything stripped before waterproofing can happen, a kitchen or bathroom renovation that requires a clean start, or a finished basement being redone after years of moisture intrusion.
Full structural demolition is less common in residential settings but does happen — when a detached garage, outbuilding, or addition needs to come down, or when a property is being cleared for a significant rebuild. Both require a demolition permit through Lower Providence Township, and both may require hazmat testing first depending on the age of the structure. We handle both scopes and will tell you clearly during the free estimate which approach fits your project. There’s no upsell pressure — just an honest assessment of what the job actually requires.
Probably both — and ideally, the same company does it all. Here’s why: when a basement floods, the water doesn’t just sit on the floor. It absorbs into drywall, insulation, wood framing, and flooring materials. Within 24 to 48 hours, mold begins forming in those saturated materials. At that point, waterproofing the foundation walls doesn’t fix the problem — the contaminated materials have to come out first, or you’re sealing mold inside the walls.
Basement flooding is specifically documented as a recurring issue in older Audubon neighborhoods, particularly in areas closer to the Perkiomen Creek watershed. We handle emergency gutting — stripping out everything that needs to go — and then handle the waterproofing once the space is clean. You’re not managing two separate companies, two separate schedules, and two separate scopes of work. One call covers the full response. And because we operate 24/7, you’re not waiting until Monday morning to get someone on-site when the flooding happens on a Saturday night.
Cost depends on the scope, the size of the space, and whether hazmat abatement is involved. A basic interior gut of a single room — say, a water-damaged basement — typically runs differently than a full structural demolition of a detached garage or outbuilding. The presence of asbestos or lead adds to the cost because certified abatement requires specific handling, containment, and disposal protocols that general demolition does not.
What drives unexpected cost overruns on demolition projects in Audubon is usually one of three things: permit fees that weren’t included in the original verbal quote, hazmat finds that weren’t anticipated before work started, or debris disposal costs that got added after the fact. We provide free, written estimates with a clear scope before any project begins — so you know what’s included and what isn’t before signing anything. Cash discounts are available, which is a real pricing advantage for homeowners who prefer to avoid financing costs. The estimate conversation is also where the hazmat question gets answered upfront, so there are no mid-project surprises.
Yes — and it’s more involved than most homeowners expect. Older Audubon properties, particularly the farmhouses and mid-century homes that predate natural gas conversion in the area, frequently have above-ground or underground oil storage tanks from heating systems that were replaced or decommissioned years ago. Above-ground tanks are more straightforward to remove. Underground tanks require a demolition permit through Lower Providence Township, and the Township’s requirements include submitting soil sample reports upon completion of the removal — a step that documents whether any fuel contamination occurred in the surrounding soil.
We handle above-ground oil tank removal as a core service, and our environmental compliance background means the regulatory side of the job is managed correctly. If soil contamination is found during tank removal, that’s an environmental remediation issue that needs to be addressed before the project closes — and we have the credentials and experience to handle that conversation honestly rather than walking away from a complication. If you’re not sure whether your Audubon property has a decommissioned tank, the free estimate process is the right place to start.
Local Resources
Useful Links
Other Services we provide in Audubon
