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Tue February 3, 2026
Toku America — Special to CEG
The Demolition Equipment Market size was valued at $5.52 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $8.93 billion by 2032 — registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.0 percent during the forecast period 2026 to 2032. The global quarry equipment market alone is anticipated to reach $10 billion by 2035 with North America expected to dominate the market — driven by significant investments in infrastructure and urban development.
Consequently, the demand for advanced demolition equipment such as crushers, breakers, shears and excavators, often featuring smart mining and automation, is crucial driver in the race toward increasing productivity and reducing operational costs.
In response to this steady market growth, Matthew Gruden, Toku America Inc. president, offers some insights to key issues facing the construction demolition market in the following Q&A analysis.
With the rising trend of ‘smart machinery', how is Toku responding to it and what products and technological advancements are leading the way?
Gruden: "With the goal of enhancing efficiency and productivity, the demand for automated and smart equipment is on the rise — pushing the market towards more sustainable practices. The introduction of smart machinery equipped with advanced features like automation and enhanced safety measures continues to improve operational efficiency and reduce labor costs.
"Toku is now offering telematics units by Trusted in the U.S. marketplace that provides GPS data on location of attachments, prevents theft or loss and offers geofencing that creates virtual boundaries around specific geographic areas. All data is available to the customer through a portal providing actual and proper utilization data, and predictive maintenance."
What are the most current and pressing government/regulatory issues facing the demolition market?
Gruden: "Due to noise constraints, you are seeing more large metropolitan areas mandating ‘silent demolition'. In the past, hydraulic breakers, which are very noisy, were used almost 100 percent of the time to break concrete and other aggregates. Due to these mandates, you are seeing more and more pulverizers being used to break concrete due to the minimal noise created.
"Governments are also promoting safer demolition practices to minimize accidents, control dust and reduce environmental impact. This regulatory push is expected to increase the adoption of modern, high-performance equipment across both public and private projects. Rising government investment and regulatory mandates support this adoption."
How do Toku's products address high equipment and maintenance costs?
Gruden: "Demolition equipment such as excavators, crushers and hydraulic breakers involves a high initial investment and significant upkeep costs. Regular maintenance and spare parts replacement can be substantial. These costs may discourage smaller contractors from adopting advanced equipment, limiting market growth.
"To offset this, Toku offers a 3-year warranty on hydraulic breakers. They also feature only two moving parts. There is also a removable wear pad on our hydraulic pulverizers — eliminating the need for cutting out and welding on the new wear pad. Now, you just bolt it on which is less labor intensive.
"The company's service profile also offers hydraulic breaker rebuild options including: master seal kit, front tool bushing, spring pins/stopper pins, retainer pins, labor and return freight. Additional parts and labor will be quoted as needed prior to repairs."
How do Toku's products address stringent safety concerns?
Gruden: "Demolition work often involves high operational risks such as structural collapses, flying debris and equipment malfunctions. This increases insurance costs and liability concerns for contractors as demolition activities are subject to strict safety and environmental standards. Compliance with regulations related to these often requires costly upgrades, specialized attachments and additional permits. Failure to meet these requirements can lead to fines and project delays, discouraging investment in new equipment.
"The Toku hydraulic breaker operates as a hybrid essentially, meaning that it runs both off of gas and hydraulics and it has a low pressure gas charge. Many competitive products operate off a high pressure gas charge, meaning that it is far more dangerous to disassemble and repair their hydraulic breakers due to the risk associated with a high pressure gas charge."
Do Toku's portfolio of products address the trending lack of skilled operators facing the market?
Gruden: "A shortage of properly skilled operators can affect equipment utilization rates and project timelines. More so than lack of operators, however, there is a lack of labor in general so there is a greater demand for products that offer higher production with fewer operational support requirements.
"Many of the Toku products can get the same amount of work done as 2-3 employees. In this particular case, let's highlight the 2M-MSSLD which is the hydraulic hammer that is typically placed on a walk behind skid steer. Instead of 2-3 people breaking a patio or sidewalk with jack hammers — or even more labor intensive sledge hammers. The 2M-MSSLD will efficiently complete in a fraction of time with one person — versus the job of 2-3 people in a day."
What Toku products are best suited for demolition equipment by market application: i.e.-commercial buildings, residential buildings, industrial buildings, infrastructure, quarry, etc.
Gruden: "While hydraulic breakers are our core product, we offer a full line of demolition equipment, including multi-processors, crushers, pulverizers (both rotating and fixed), scrap shears, sorting grapples and hydraulic magnets. Equipment durability and high operational control strengthen segment preference.
"Hydraulic breakers are expected to expand steadily due to their precision in breaking concrete, rocks and heavy structures. Growing demand in both urban and industrial demolition projects is likely to drive adoption."
What Toku products help the trend of sustainable recycling practices?
Gruden: "Years ago, concrete and rebar could be recycled together, however, governmental stipulations now require all rebar to be out of concrete when going to the dump. Toku released a hydraulically driven sorting magnet that efficiently sorts through the crushed concrete, thus separating the rebar and the concrete. This magnet eliminates much of the manual labor associated with separating the materials.
"Notably, Toku's Striker FPV Series fixed hydraulic pulverizer secondary attachment is uniquely engineered for reduction and fragmentation of demolished materials, making disposal and recycling easier by separating the rebar from the concrete — delivering reliability, precision and optimal crushing force.
What is the market outlook for demolition equipment in 2026 and beyond, and what does Toku see as the most pressing issues moving forward?
Gruden: "I believe the overall construction market has been saturated with an over abundance of equipment due to over purchasing during COVID from 2021-2023. There were long lead times and backorders, and thus 2024 and 2025 saw less purchasing due to this. I believe that 2026 will see an increase in both equipment sales as well as attachments.
"In addition, 2024 and 2025 saw higher interest rates than prior years, which also created a challenge to both dealers and end-users. With the rates coming down some and the market now hungry for equipment, I feel we will see some growth in 2026."
Are there any specific challenges in the quarry market that Toku's line solves uniquely?
Gruden: "Hydraulic breakers in a quarry are subjected to an extreme environment, and will often see use a daily basis of 12 or more hours, which will shorten the product's life. That said, the first area to start to prematurely wear out is the box housing.
"Toku has developed an extreme duty package that will significantly increase the life of the box housing. Notably, it is manufactured from high-strength, wear-resistant Hardox steel — known for its hardness and durability. This results in a longer product life, as well as less maintenance — which will equal more uptime for the customer as well."
How does Toku collaborate with end-user clients to maximize product/project efficiency?
Gruden: "Toku has a long history of customer involvement in product development and has tested many products with customers in tough environments prior to official product release to ensure capabilities in all environments. Toku also has an engineering team available with over 40 years of experience to provide guidance and technical support in choosing the rock breaker system specific to customers' needs."
How have supply chain issues affected Toku and how are they being addressed?
Gruden: "Toku has addressed supply chain issues by maintaining approximately 4 months of inventory versus one to two months inventory in the past (on both whole goods and replacement parts) to ensure customer availability. We also push for domestic suppliers of components when possible."
What impact are tariffs (such as steel) having on demolition markets and how is Toku responding?
Gruden: "Basically, all demolition attachments are manufactured somewhere other than the United States. Tariffs on imported steel could potentially increase costs for demolition equipment. U.S. tariffs on steel may lead to higher machinery expenses, such as excavators. This means that Toku, as well as our competitors, have had the same challenges with tariffs and have had to increase our pricing accordingly."
For more information about Toku America, Inc. visit: www.toku-america.com
(Article reprinted with permission from Toku America. The opinions expressed in this article are those of Matthew Gruden, president of Toku America.)