Iron County register., 1896-10-29
SECONDHAND MATERIALS.
4 business Whose Growth Has Kept PaeG
with the Steady GrnRfh nf the Cffx

n BusfRoss Whose Growth Has Kept Pac6
with the Steady Growth of the City.
There never was a time when there
was 50 much secondhand building
material for sale as now, and there
never was a better market for it. 1t
might Beem to one unfamiliar with the
business, strolling through the yards
and buildings of large dealer, that the
stuff Ieoked old, and that it was piled
up to Jtay there a long time; and it
may Es that some of the things are
-shopBeepers." Secondhand building
material is nevertheless quick moving
stock, Is much so as the average mer-
chandiSe stock, and sooner or later
somebody comes and takes the slow
things too.
Theirs are times when the market for
certain kinds of materials is dull, as it
might De, for instance, for some kinds
of bUi1ding stone, and when it would
be NOR profitable for the dealer to take
such stuff out to sea and dump it than
it would be TO take up room for it in his
yard, 1Olding it for n customer; but the
general fact reminds that there is sale
for everything that the dealer gets.
Years ago there was only one large
dealer in secondhand building mate
rials in the city. Now there are half
dozen who would buy any building and
undertake to remove it within a speci-
fed time. The manner in which they
come to buy the buildings is very SIM
pie: The owner of property desiring
to put up a new building engages an |
architect. When the plans have been /
approved the architect invites bids |
from builders for the construction of |
the building. The contract awarded, |
the builder wants the old building /
out of the way, and he calls on the deal (
ers in secondhand materials for bids /
for it's removal. Sometimes the build /!
er pays the dealer to take the old build !
ing away; sometimes the dealer pays /
for the building; that depends. The |
owners of a church building, for exam
pie, might have tospay to have it re- |
moved. Though the church is large
structure, there might be in it COM !
parativeIy little material of market
value; while a building no larger, but
cut up into rooms and containing many
fittings, might contain much more
material of value.
The dealers go through the building
that is to be removed and make esti
mates. Taking the area and the thick
ness of the walls, they calculate, if it is
a brick building, the number of bricks
in the building. Taking into account /
the number OF stories and the sizes of /
the rooms, they arrive very closely at /
the amount of material in floors. and /
partitions. They take everything about /
the building into account, and figure |,
on the value of the material and the |
cost of removing it, and make bid. |
The work of estimating the value of /
such buildings has been reduced almost /
to a science; even on a very large build /
ing the bids of big dealers might not /
be more than 500 or $500 apart.
The great bulk of the secondhand /
building material is sold within 100 /
miles of the city; perhaps half of it |
in the city. The primary object of the |
purchaser is, of course, economy. The /
purchasers include very wide variety |
of persons, including rich and poor, |
and the material is bought for very |
great variety of uses. Among the regu- /
lar customers are many builders.
The occasional buyers may want a |
single window or a mantelpiece or /
door or a beam of a certain length. They /
come for all sorts of things, but varied .
as their wants are they can all be sup /
piled, for one could find here material
for a house, and, if he wanted, a stone /
sidewalk to put down in front of it,
and lamp post to stand on the edge
n V Gnu