“Built for the Heavy Stuff” Nick Melching on Taking Down a City-Size Factory

“Give me the ugly jobs.” That’s how Nick Melching introduces himself on site. As a supervisor and foreman at Melching, and Doug Melching’s son, Nick leans into the work most crews avoid: the sprawling, the hazardous, the unpredictable. In Sandusky, Ohio, he took on a city-size teardown: the former General Motors precision ball bearing plant (later KBI), originally built in 1946.

“One month on this job was the equivalent of 20 ordinary jobs,” Nick says. “Fuel, maintenance, production quotas, everything was bigger.”

Scale, Stakes, and Steel

At 1.3 million square feet under roof and a 750,000-square-foot parking field, the scope was total demolition and site preparation to shovel‑ready. On top of day‑to‑day demo production, Nick had to hit aggressive steel deliveries to a major mill.

“If you commit to 1,000–1,250 tons of processed steel per month, you hit it. Or you pay the difference,” he explains. “That pressure is real for the operators and the superintendent.”

When Contamination Fights Back

The biggest curveball: pervasive PCB contamination discovered underground during excavation. Nick’s HAZWOPER training kicked in immediately.

“You stop the work, secure the area, and establish a contamination reduction zone. Containment first — dirt berms, tarps, plastic — then notifications and sampling. You can’t let a thunderstorm turn a contained pit into a site‑wide problem.”

Tools, Talent, and a Thousand Percent Efficiency Boost

Nick credits three key machines, led by a high‑reach excavator,  for multiplying safe production and precision. “That high‑reach tilting cab with specialized boom/attachments changed the game. Your efficiency jumps by an order of magnitude versus a standard crawler.”

He also brings a mechanic’s mindset. When a used crawler arrived inoperable, he got it running on day one. “I fix equipment. That’s part of how we keep momentum in-house.”

Safety Without Shortcuts

Daily hazards included live power systems in a decaying facility. The team worked methodically to cut and verify power, then faced a second‑order effect: with power down, stormwater management became a six‑figure challenge. Nick led toolbox talks and enforced controls tailored to a repetitive, long‑duration industrial teardown.

Family, Grit, and the Long Haul

The job ran about 26 months. Nick put in 70‑plus‑hour weeks and lived away from home for long stretches. “It took a toll,” he admits. “But the crew stuck together, and we finished the right way, safely, thoroughly, no loose ends.”

Results that Speak for Themselves

• Full demolition of 1.3M sq ft of structures

• Removal of 750k sq ft of pavement and 5 ft below‑grade concrete

• 22,000 tons of ferrous recycled; ~500,000 lbs copper recovered

• ~120,000 tons of concrete crushed and reused on site

• 12–13k tons residual waste disposed per spec

• Site turned over shovel‑ready for redevelopment at 2509 Hayes Ave, Sandusky, OH

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