The city of Cleveland has committed $616,000—more than any other city in the U.S.—of its federal Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to pay for private contractors to “deconstruct” roughly 8% of the blighted homes it plans to demolish in the coming year. The city hopes to prove that the extra time it takes to pick through homes by hand for old, but valuable material like hardwood joists and stone in the foundation that would otherwise get crushed up and sent to the landfill makes business as well as environmental sense. In addition to this 10% set aside of NSP II funds, Cleveland is also directing $180,000 in a Department of Energy grant to the deconstruction project.

This new investment represents a big test for the city and the emerging deconstruction trade: Will a sudden increase in supply of materials from these homes find a second life that proves deconstruction self sustaining? If so, recycling even a small portion of a home might be enough to close the cost difference between demolition and deconstruction. The gap is usually only a few thousand dollars, but multiplied across an annual 1,000 blighted homes the city plans to take down has pinned deconstruction to the sidelines, relegated to an idea with lots of potential.

“This is going to put the city on the national map for deconstruction,” says Chris Kious of Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland.

Kious is one of a dozen, mostly demolition contractors out to prove that the city’s investment—enough to deconstruct 50-60 homes in the coming 12 months—is a good one. In the past 12 months, Cleveland test piloted deconstruction in 27 homes with Kious’ crew of 4-5 workers. They were able to figure out how to cost effectively take down walls and roofs and meticulously twist nails out of joists made from old growth pine—a valuable feedstock to the other arm of Kious’ business, A Piece of Cleveland (APOC), which ‘upcycles’ the wood, reconditioning it for clients like Fahrenheit restaurant in Tremont and Starbucks in Cleveland Heights who want new table tops with an eco-chic backstory.

“The city is hoping that the market figures it out,” says Kious. “They’re saying, ‘we’ll pay more than demolition, but you guys will have to offload this material effectively.’”

The pilots confirmed for the city the acceptable time to keep a site open—five days as opposed to a single day a wrecking ball takes to bring down a house. Recovery during that time is about 10-15% of the total of a house. The new funds will continue to use this formula, with contractors reporting to the city’s Building and Housing Department where the materials are going (even the crushed materials) to prove they are avoiding the landfill.

“If an industry grows out of this for reclaimed and recycled materials, it’s good for Cleveland and our reputation,” says Ron O’Leary assistant director of Cleveland’s Building and Housing Department.

Kious hopes to win a big chunk of what the city puts out to bid, and anticipates bringing on another crew of 4-5 full time employees. Urban Lumberjacks will move this month to a larger warehouse at E. 49th and St. Clair to provide more storage; APOC will have a larger workshop to tackle the material for custom jobs such as tables or architectural walls. Kious would like to convert the ground floor space into a showroom. He sees more potential in making up the cost differential with consumer products than selling the materials to the construction trades.

“Getting $3,000 in framing lumber takes some bite out, but people aren’t buying it at those prices. I think there are international and regional markets where building is happening, especially for LEED building projects. But the real market for us is upcycled products. There’s a market in the character of the wood.”

“The city’s hope is that a market does develop for these materials,” O’Leary says, “and that by being able to sell these materials, a contractor bidding on a deconstruction job would be able to bid at the same cost as demolition. We’ll be able to see if having fewer (landfill) dumps and selling materials is able to bring the bids down.”