Let’s just start by saying that Rhonda Seacat Hunnicutt has one of the best names of all time, because it’s amazing. Now let’s get into the fact that she has one of the best jobs ever. It’s one we didn’t even know was a job. Seriously, Hunnicutt needs to make the rounds at Career Day because this one is a keeper.
What does she do? She’s the owner of DFW PreDemolition and Estate Sales. Yeah. Told you it was good.
Wait, wait does that mean?
Well, you know when houses are about to be demoed but still filled with really good new, new-ish, or vintage fixtures and appliances? Hunnicutt sells those things. Here’s how it works.
It’s all done on-site at the location of the teardown or remodel because she gets a fair amount of those, too.
You, the general public, show up to the sale, pay the greatly reduced price, remove what you came for and head home a happy customer.
That’s right, you remove it yourself. Hunnicutt calls it “sweat equity” and she prices things accordingly. “It has to be worth your while to sit there and chisel out vintage tiles,” she said. And that’s exactly what one customer did. She restores old homes, so when Hunnicutt was holding a sale at the Trammell Crow estate, she showed up and delicately chiseled out tile to take with her.
Other clients will come and dig up flagstone and haul it home. Some are in it for the HVAC, the light fixtures or cabinets. Really anything you can think of, Hunnicutt’s sold.
She got her start in estate sales. She had a young son and wanted something with a flexible schedule, so that fit the bill.
“You either have a knack for those sales or you don’t, and I really enjoyed it.” While she was in the middle of estate sale-ing, her friend’s brother bought a home to tear down. He wasn’t getting a very fair price from the demo company so Hunnicutt stepped in and held her first demo sale. It clicked and she’s been doing it ever since. (She’s also a proficient renovator, which you can read all about here.)
On that first sale, the home had tons of gorgeous palm trees and wouldn’t you know it? A tree farm showed up with a semi, painstakingly dug them up, and took them away.
Salvation is another reason Hunnicutt loves what she does. She gets to help keep trees alive, things out of landfills, and Freon from leeching into our soil. Not to mention the satisfaction of helping families find discounted air conditioners when theirs suddenly goes out in the heat of summer.
Plus she gets to take on some pretty amazing properties like the Trammell Crow home, the personal home of the Container Store founders – with a stunning spiral staircase that someone thankfully salvaged – and a home in Prairie Creek that had been completely renovated, but the new owners wanted something totally different so they scraped it all and started from scratch.
With the Trammel Crow residence, Hunnicutt said the great-granddaughter of the man who built the house traveled down from Colorado and carried away three stain glass windows she turned into tables for her daughters.
Amazing stories, an awesome job, and the best name ever? It’s almost not fair.
If you’d like to stay up to date on upcoming sales, follow DFW Pre-Demolition & Estates Sales here.
