National Wrecking Company

What National Wrecking Company does

National Wrecking Company is a Chicago-based demolition and environmental services contractor founded in 1958 and operated as a family-held union contractor under the Mandell family. The firm delivers structural, interior, and partial demolition; selective demolition; tank decommissioning; recycling and waste management; and design-build services to commercial, industrial, institutional, and government clients. Environmental remediation—including asbestos, lead, and mold abatement, underground storage tank removal, and soil remediation—is delivered alongside demolition through affiliate Colfax Corporation. The company's headquarters sit at 2441 N. Leavitt St., Chicago, Illinois.

The business is run through a direct, sales-led engagement model in which prospective customers submit project parameters through a website quote form and receive custom estimates and contracts on a project-by-project basis. Notable projects include the Wisconsin Steel Works demolition (1989–1991), Trump World's Fair Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City (2000–2002), Algoma Steel in Ontario (2002), Morton Salt (2020), Union Stockyards, and design-build work for Purdue University (2014–2015), spanning the Midwest, New Jersey, and Ontario. Risk-bearing capacity is anchored by $20 million in bonding from an AM Best A-XV-rated surety, $2 million per-occurrence general liability, a $25 million umbrella policy, and $5 million in pollution liability coverage, supporting execution of multi-million-dollar institutional and industrial contracts.

Operationally, the firm maintains a unionized workforce with OSHA 30- and 40-hour trained crews overseen by a full-time Safety Director, supported by senior estimators, project managers, a General Counsel/Risk Manager, and a Vice President. Leadership is concentrated in the Mandell family: Sheldon J. Mandell as Chairman, Arthur N. Mandell as President, and David Mandell as CFO. The firm holds PICS and ISNetworld prequalification, offers 24/7 emergency environmental response, and operates with no disclosed adoption of digital estimating, BIM, robotics, or AI/ML tooling. The company has never raised external funding and has no public revenue, headcount, or backlog disclosures.

Name

National Wrecking Company

Legal name

National Wrecking Company

Website

https://nationalwrecking.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1958

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

National Wrecking Company is a Chicago-based union demolition contractor founded in 1958, serving commercial, industrial, institutional, and government clients with integrated demolition, environmental remediation, recycling, and design-build services across the Midwest and select U.S. and Canadian markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Demolition Services

NAICS

Remediation Services (562910), Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal (562211), Remediation and Other Waste Management Services (5629)

SIC

Heavy Construction Other Than Bldg Const - Contractors (1600), Construction - Special Trade Contractors (1700), Hazardous Waste Management (4955)

akta.pro primary industry

Demolition (Structural, Selective/Interior) (IMAFAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Decontamination & Demolition (Decommissioning, Industrial Facility Cleanup) (EUAIALAL), Demolition & Selective Tear-Out for Hazardous Materials (BPALALAF)

Keywords

• Commercial demolition services
• Environmental remediation services
• Structural demolition contractor
• Tank decommissioning services
• Construction waste recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Demolition Services: National Wrecking Company generates revenue through one-time project fees for demolition services. Projects include structural demolition, interior demolition, partial demolition, tank decommissioning, environmental remediation, and recycling/waste management. Each project is custom-quoted based on scope, structure type, location, and complexity. The company also provides design-build services where the demolition contractor is responsible for engineering in addition to demolition, creating a turn-key offering for customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

National Wrecking Company is a Chicago-based union demolition contractor that provides comprehensive demolition and environmental remediation services for commercial, industrial, institutional, and government clients. The company's core offerings include structural demolition, interior demolition, partial demolition, tank decommissioning, environmental remediation (asbestos, lead paint, mold, and underground storage tank removal), and recycling and waste management. Each engagement is project-based, with the company also offering design-build delivery where it assumes responsibility for both engineering and demolition to provide a turn-key solution.

Product overview

National Wrecking Company is a Chicago-based demolition services company offering a unified suite of construction demolition and remediation services. The company's core offerings include Structural Demolition, Interior Demolition, and Partial Demolition as primary demolition services, supplemented by Environmental Remediation (provided in partnership with affiliate Colfax Corporation), Recycling and Waste Management, and Tank Decommissioning. These services are offered as integrated capabilities, with the company managing both demolition and environmental remediation processes to deliver complete turn-key projects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Structural Demolition

Quantifiable outcome

• Recycling greater percentages of demolition debris than ever before, with nearly all debris including concrete, brick, lumber, and steel recycled to maximum extent possible
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Colfax CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerColfax Corporation is an affiliate company of National Wrecking Company. The two companies work in cooperation to provide a full range of environmental services including asbestos, lead paint, and mold abatement, underground storage tank removal, and soil and biological waste remediation. This affiliate relationship allows National Wrecking Company to offer integrated demolition and environmental remediation services, which the company identifies as a key differentiator from competitors who can only perform the demolition portion of a project.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• O'Rourke Wrecking Company: Family-owned demolition contractor specializing in structural, interior, and industrial demolition with environmental services, comparable in size, customer mix, and integrated capabilities to NWC.
• Brandenburg Industrial Service Company: One of the largest privately held demolition and environmental remediation contractors in the U.S., offering structural demolition, asbestos abatement, and site remediation — directly overlapping NWC's integrated service model, but at national scale.
• Veit & Company: Midwest-based specialty contractor providing demolition, environmental remediation, and earthwork services to industrial and commercial clients, with a comparable integrated-service approach to NWC.
• D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company: National demolition contractor performing structural, interior, and industrial demolition with environmental remediation capabilities, competing with NWC for complex industrial and commercial teardown work.
• Bierlein Companies: Michigan-based demolition, environmental, and site remediation contractor serving industrial and institutional clients with similar turn-key capabilities and bonding capacity tier to NWC.
• Adamo Group: Michigan-based demolition and environmental remediation contractor serving industrial, commercial, and government clients with a similar integrated demolition-plus-remediation offering to NWC.

Emerging players

• Total Wrecking & Environmental: Demolition and environmental services firm performing structural demolition, abatement, and site remediation for industrial and government clients — comparable integrated service mix to NWC at a slightly smaller scale.
• Controlled Demolition Inc. Specialty contractor focused on implosion and high-precision structural demolition of complex structures (high-rises, bridges, industrial facilities), competing with NWC for the most engineering-intensive demolition projects.

Others

• ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries): Industry trade association representing the recycling industry including scrap metal, e-scrap, and construction & demolition debris processors — relevant adjacent ecosystem for NWC's recycling and waste management services.

Broad incumbents

• Barton Malow Company: Large diversified construction firm that performs demolition as part of broader industrial, commercial, and sports facility projects — overlapping with NWC on large industrial teardowns but operating at much larger scale across multiple construction trades.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC9mNrbC2dk1JFX4FXZavKWw
• Facebookfacebook.com/nationalwrecking
• Instagraminstagram.com/nationalwrecking

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Wrecking Company