The Heart of Demolition: Scott Laird’s Story of Industry Dedication

January 14, 2025

Scott Laird has been a force in the demolition industry for decades, but his contributions were formally recognized when he was awarded the International Personality Award at the 2024 British Demolition
Awards. A project manager and business development manager at Independence Demolition, Laird’s journey in the industry began by chance when his father’s construction company transitioned from fabrication to demolition. Over the years, Laird has become known not only for his technical expertise but for his passion and dedication to the craft, mentoring younger generations and driving the industry forward.

In this Q&A, Laird reflects on his career, the evolution of demolition and what it means to receive this international recognition. He also shares insights on the challenges facing the industry today, from workforce shortages to safety and environmental responsibilities. Through his candid and heartfelt responses, Laird’s love for demolition and his unwavering commitment to the industry shine through.

What attracted you to the demolition industry, and what keeps you passionate about it?

I came to the United States in 1980. I lived in Fort Worth, Texas, for about a year when I came here. My father had a construction company in Northern California, and I ended up going there to work with him. We were basically in the boilermakers; we did a lot of refinery work. We had a client who we did some fabrication work for, and he came to us and said, “I need some buildings cleared off my property because I want to expand. Do you guys do demolition?” My dad had done some demolition in the past but never officially, but being the entrepreneur he was, he said, “Sure, we can do that.” Lo and behold, we started to do that. We took those four buildings on, and then within six months of that, we were doing more demolition than fabrication. We ended up being a $15-million-a-year demolition company.

What was it like working with your father and learning the demolition trade from him?

It was a great learning experience. I had no experience in demolition. Just because of who he was, my father became one of the best demolition guys I’d ever been around and have ever been around. He understood what it took and taught me what it took to be a demolition guy — that it’s not always just numbers and all that. There’s a lot of feeling and a lot of understanding why a building’s going to fall. I started off as a laborer basically — a torch cutter, labor equipment operator — and learned the trade from the bottom up. I ended up sort of running his company, as he was semi-retired before we decided to part ways.

Can you tell me more about the challenges and rewards of transitioning from fabrication to demolition?

My father’s motto every day was “change the skyline.” If we change the skyline, we’ve done something well. We’ve moved a building, or we’ve taken a pile of scrap and moved it. My passion is just the love of the industry. It’s understanding that every single task on every single day is different. And even sometimes those repetitive tasks are so rewarding because you know what you’re doing — if you’re doing pre-cuts on a boiler, if you’re doing what they call a sit cut so something sits down properly, you know if you do it right, the building’s going to fall. You have overpowered this 20,000-ton structure, or whatever it is, by your knowledge and by numbers.

How did you develop your expertise in demolition? Did you have a specific project or mentor who helped you along the way?

When I started, we didn’t do engineering. My dad’s favorite thing is he would run out and mark an X on the ground and say, “The building’s going to fall right here, son,” and I would say, “How do you know that?” He would say, “I just know.” The passion for me is in understanding where that building’s going to go and understanding what you have to do to accomplish that. Understanding that, once it’s on the ground, what do you have to do to be profitable? What do you have to do to move the steel? And then it builds from that to relationships. You need to talk to people about how you move that steel, who you’re selling it to, what size they want it, or you’re talking to a client who wants to save the concrete. Every single day, I wake up and my saying is, “You can’t be in demolition if you don’t love it.” Demolition is not easy. What we do is extremely difficult. What we do is extremely challenging. I’m in business development now; I’m not out in the field. I’m an office puke, as I call myself. But every day, even in the business development portion of this industry, I absolutely love it. I wonder who I’m going to talk to today, who may give me an opportunity to bid on their building, or who can I help in the demolition industry today.

Later today, I’ve got some calls with a couple of young men, high school students, who are here in Northern Colorado and are interested in finding out about demolition. I’m going to tell them what demolition is and what a great career it can be.

You’ve mentioned some big challenges in your career. What would you say was the most significant project that defined your career?

The guy who gave me my big break when I left my dad’s company was Trent Michaels. He let me take on a power plant. I’d never done a power plant, let alone a 100,000-ton power plant. I had done some smaller stuff. This gentleman gave me a chance to do the Moss Landing Power Plant, which, 40 feet from the boiler, was the world’s largest marine mammal sanctuary in Monterey Bay. I would walk out of the boiler, walk out on at the low point there, and I could see whales breaching every single day. Trent Michaels gave me a chance. I was learning on the go. I was taking what I had done in smaller portions of demolition, and calling some friends who had done a little bit of demolition, and then calling some people in NDA to get some help. Doing that job gave me confidence and gave me the assurance. I finished that job with no injuries and no accidents. That made me think “OK, you can do this.”

What does being inducted into the British Demolition Awards Hall of Fame mean to you, and how did you feel when you received the news?

I got a LinkedIn message from Ben Chambers. I’m not a big LinkedIn guy; I don’t do a lot of checking on LinkedIn and stuff like that, but I got an email, and I’m like, “What’s this?” I clicked on it, and it was on a Friday afternoon, and I’ll be very honest: I broke down. I burst into tears. I could not believe that somebody within our industry had seen the love, passion and value I bring. I was shocked, humbled and honored. I called Ben, and I’m sure he wasn’t happy — it was probably close to midnight for him. I said, “Ben, there are 50 other people who deserve this more than I do.” He told me I represent what the demolition industry is. My service to demolition, especially what I had done for NDA coming out of COVID-19 when we had to cancel. I was the convention chair following the worst thing that could ever happen. But COVID was not going to beat me, because we don’t allow anybody to beat us in the demolition industry. I went to Scott Homrich and said, “Listen, I want to be the convention chair. I know it’s your choice, but if you consider me, I guarantee that you will get a return on your investment.” He appointed me as convention chair. I got a bunch of the people back from New Orleans and had the best Convention Committee I could ever have. We went from being canceled and postponed to going to the hardest place that we could ever have a convention in, San Diego, where land is expensive, not available and everything costs two and a half times what it costs anywhere else to do. Just through pure love of NDA, we made it happen.

The morning we get there and we started laying it out, I was there with Tom Kephart in this field, and we both look down, and there’s a rattlesnake. The day before we started setup, they had a year’s worth of rain in one night in San Diego. That was bad enough. We ran out there, and we got equipment stuck. We did all these things. Then we’re standing there and we’re like, “Oh my God, that’s a snake. That’s a real snake.” We killed the snake, but then what’s that challenge? We have to now go out and get the international sign for rattlesnakes to post up because we had people from out of the country there.

In my career and in being a volunteer, I’ve never been so proud of so many people who worked so hard to make that happen. I really, truly believe if we had failed and it hadn’t happened, I think the Live DEMOlition Event would have gone away. Since then, we’ve had amazing people who have come behind me, like Karsten Pawlik and Jeff Sessler. These people are just absolutely superstars now, and they’ve taken the playbook and expanded it to places that we hope will keep moving us forward. I’m so looking forward to what Andrew DiBiase is going to do in New Orleans.

When did you start getting involved with NDA?

Probably 25 years ago, but I took a long time off when I was working for another company. That was when I was general superintendent, and they, unfortunately, didn’t see the value in me attending NDA. When I was at my dad’s company, I pushed membership and went through his company. I dug deeply into NDA the year after Austin. Independence Demolition was a member, but they didn’t really participate. I convinced my boss at that time that it was good for us to be part of it. The first convention we all really attended was Austin. Andrew DiBiase put on the first Live DEMOlition Event. There was horrendous rain, and he did an amazing job. One of my very good friends and mentors, Greg Menen, took over and did Denver. Denver was right after Austin, and that was a perfect fit for me at that time because I’m right here. I could be his guy on the ground. My real participation started in Denver around six years ago. The rest is history.

What are the biggest challenges facing the demolition industry today?

Our biggest challenge is the workforce. That’s why I’m having this conversation with the high schoolers this afternoon. If people get into this industry and put in the effort, you learn more things than you’ll ever learn. We’re not knuckle draggers with big hammers that break things anymore. It’s very technical. Engineering is extremely involved now. We’re very technologically advanced and advancing every day. We have to attract the younger people. Leonard Cherry said something at that Denver convention that stuck with me forever. He said that whatever you put into NDA and the demolition industry, you get back tenfold. I’m living proof of that. If we can get the younger people excited about it and bring them in, I think we’re moving in the right direction.

Obviously, safety is also an extremely important thing, and we have to work every single day and work harder than the day we did before to make sure it remains a priority. Industry accidents have got to stop. It’s better than it was, but it’s nowhere near where it needs to be.

I think the other challenge is just being a steward of this world. We need to know about recycling. We need to know about the environment. We need to also know about the people. Mental health doesn’t get talked about enough, but there are a lot of mental health issues within our industry.