What tear-out and disposal actually cost — priced for what is in the slab, with the debris weight that decides everything else.
Concrete Removal Cost Calculator
Inputs
Patios and walkways are usually 4 in; driveways and garage floors 5–6.
1 if there is mesh or rebar in it. Tap the edge — exposed steel or a saw cut will show.
Results
Estimated removal cost
$800 – $2,400
cost = ft² × (base × thickness factor + reinforcement)
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com · buildcalculators.com/concrete-removal-cost-calculator
Estimates are for planning only — confirm quantities with your supplier or contractor before ordering.
Tear-out is the line that turns a replacement into a bigger job than anyone budgeted for, and it is the line most often missing from a quote. On a 480 square foot driveway it is routinely a fifth to a quarter of the whole project — and unlike the new pour, there is nothing to show for it afterwards.
Two things drive the price: how much concrete there is, and whether there is steel in it. Thickness matters less than people expect, because roughly half a removal bill tracks the area — saw cutting, edge work, moving around the site — and only half tracks the volume that actually has to be broken and carried. Reinforcement matters more than people expect, because the mesh holds the fragments together and has to be cut out as the slab comes up.
The calculator also gives you the debris weight, which is the number that decides everything about disposal. A 4 inch slab weighs 50 pounds a square foot. A modest patio is several tons.
ft² × thickness ÷ 12 × 150 lb ÷ 2,0000.5 + 0.5 × (thickness ÷ 4)base × thickness factor + reinforcementft² × ratetons × gate feeSearch for concrete removal and you will find $3 to $8 per square foot. That average blends thin unreinforced patios with thick reinforced driveways, so it is high for one and low for the other. This tool starts from the plain 4 inch unreinforced case at $2 to $6 — the figure quoted throughout the rest of this site — and adds for thickness and steel separately. A 6 inch reinforced driveway lands at $3.50 to $10.50, which is where it should.
Concrete is 150 pounds per cubic foot, so a 4 inch slab is 50 pounds per square foot and a 6 inch one is 75. A 20 by 20 patio at 4 inches is 10 tons. That is not a skip; it is several. It is also why a pickup is limited by payload rather than bed volume — a half-ton truck takes half a ton, which is about ten square feet of 4 inch slab per trip, and an overloaded pickup carrying concrete is genuinely dangerous to stop.
Look at a cut edge, an expansion joint or a corner that has spalled. Exposed wire or bar is obvious; a saw cut through the slab shows the section. Age is a weak signal — mesh has been common in residential work since the 1950s, and its absence in a driveway is more surprising than its presence. This matters because a contractor who priced unreinforced and then finds mesh has a legitimate claim for more money, and finding out on the day is the worst time.
Recyclers crush old concrete into base stone and sell it, which is why clean concrete has a lower gate fee than mixed rubble and is occasionally taken free. The word doing the work is clean: rebar, wire, dirt, roots or timber in the load move it to the expensive rate, and some yards reject it outright. Sorting the steel out as you break is unpleasant and it pays.
A 4 inch unreinforced patio is a realistic weekend with a rented electric breaker and a sledge. A 6 inch reinforced driveway is not — it wants a machine, and hiring the job is usually cheaper than renting the equipment and losing the weekend. The DIY figures here are disposal only, deliberately: the equipment, the truck and your time are the real cost, and pretending otherwise makes the comparison useless.
Getting the ground ready for what comes next. Once the slab is out you have a hole with a compacted, often contaminated subgrade that has been under concrete for decades. Regrading, new base stone and compaction are part of the new pour, not part of the removal — and they are the other half of why replacement costs so much more than a first-time pour on open ground.
Hiring it out, decent machine access.
$800–$2,400
Ten tons off a patio you could walk across in six paces. The weight is always the surprise.
The common replacement job.
$1,680–$5,040, and 18 tons of debris
Against a new driveway at roughly $5,000–$9,000, the tear-out really is a quarter to a third of the project. A quote that does not name it separately is hiding it somewhere.
400 ft², 4 in, 10 tons, a $120 per ton gate fee.
$900–$1,500 in disposal alone
Twenty round trips to the recycler. At this size, hiring the removal at the low end of $800–$2,400 is competitive with doing it yourself once the truck and the breaker are priced.
Normal-weight concrete at 150 lb per cubic foot.
| Thickness | Per ft² | 100 ft² | 400 ft² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 in | 50 lb | 2.50 tons | 10.00 tons |
| 5 in | 63 lb | 3.13 tons | 12.50 tons |
| 6 in | 75 lb | 3.75 tons | 15.00 tons |
| 8 in | 100 lb | 5.00 tons | 20.00 tons |
Per square foot, including disposal, with machine access.
| Slab | Factor | Unreinforced | Reinforced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 in | 1.00 | $2–$6 | $3–$9 |
| 5 in | 1.13 | $2.25–$6.75 | $3.25–$9.75 |
| 6 in | 1.25 | $2.50–$7.50 | $3.50–$10.50 |
| 8 in | 1.50 | $3–$9 | $4–$12 |
Removal runs $2 to $12 per square foot depending on thickness, reinforcement and access, with disposal included. Doing it yourself, the gate fee alone is $90 to $160 a ton at a landfill and frequently less at a concrete recycler — sometimes nothing, if the load is clean.
A slab a mini-excavator can reach comes up in hours. The same slab behind a house, through a 36 inch gate, hand-broken and barrowed, is a different job at several times the price. This is the single biggest reason two removal quotes on the same driveway differ, and it is worth walking the route with the contractor before either of you assumes anything.
Under about 200 square feet of unreinforced 4 inch slab, breaking it yourself saves real money — a day with a rented breaker and a few trips to the recycler. Above that, or with steel in it, the equipment hire, the truck trips and the sheer physical toll close the gap fast. Twenty pickup loads is not a saving; it is a fortnight of evenings.
On a replacement, insist that tear-out and disposal are itemised rather than folded into a per-square-foot price for the finished job. It is the only way to compare two quotes, and it exposes the bid that has quietly left it out — which is the classic source of a mid-job change order.
It is a fifth to a third of the project, and there is nothing to show for it when it is done. Every replacement quote should name it as its own line.
Mesh has been standard in residential work for decades and is invisible until the slab is broken. It adds $1 to $3 per square foot and it is a legitimate reason for a contractor to come back for more. Check a cut edge or a joint first.
A 4 inch slab is 50 pounds per square foot. A small patio is ten tons. This governs the truck, the dumpster, the number of trips and whether the driveway you are parking on can take the load.
A half-ton truck carries half a ton — about ten square feet of 4 inch slab. A bed full of concrete is several times the payload, and an overloaded truck does not stop, steer or brake the way you expect it to.
Clean concrete is cheap or free to dispose of because it gets crushed into base stone. Rebar, dirt, roots or timber in the load moves it to the expensive rate, and some recyclers turn it away entirely.
The subgrade under an old slab is compacted, often contaminated and rarely at the right level. Regrading, new base and compaction belong to the new pour, and they are why replacement costs so much more than pouring on open ground.
$2–$6 per square foot for a plain 4 inch unreinforced slab including disposal, rising to $3.50–$10.50 for a 6 inch reinforced driveway. Published averages of $3–$8 blend the two, which is why a simple patio comes out below that figure and a reinforced driveway above it.
A 12 by 40 ft driveway at 6 inches and reinforced runs roughly $1,680–$5,040, and produces about 18 tons of debris. Against a new driveway at $5,000–$9,000, tear-out really is a quarter to a third of a replacement project.
About 150 lb per cubic foot, so 50 lb per square foot at 4 inches and 75 lb at 6. A 20 by 20 ft patio at 4 inches is 10 tons. That weight is what decides the dumpster, the truck and the number of trips.
Yes, by $1–$3 per square foot. The mesh or bar holds the fragments together so the slab will not break into liftable pieces on its own, the steel has to be cut as the work goes, and some recyclers charge more for reinforced debris.
Look at a cut edge, an expansion joint, or a corner that has spalled — exposed wire or bar shows immediately. Mesh has been common in residential work since the 1950s, so its absence in a driveway is more surprising than its presence.
$90–$160 per ton at a landfill, and often less at a concrete recycler because they crush it into base stone. Hauling it yourself, expect $30–$65 per pickup load. Keep the load clean: rebar, dirt or timber mixed in moves it to the expensive rate.
A 4 inch unreinforced patio under about 200 square feet is a realistic weekend with a rented breaker. A 6 inch reinforced driveway is not — once equipment hire and twenty pickup trips are priced, hiring the removal is usually cheaper and always faster.
A half-ton pickup carries half a ton, which is about ten square feet of 4 inch slab. A 400 square foot patio is therefore around 20 trips. Weight is the limit, not the bed — a truck bed full of concrete is several times its payload.
Installed patio cost by finish
New or replacement driveway, installed and itemised
Installed cost by finish, material shown separately
Slabs, footings and columns in cubic yards and bags
Grid bar counts, length and weight by size
Bag counts for base, finish and lath
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It is a planning estimate. It does not replace an engineer, a site visit or a written quote — confirm quantities with your supplier before ordering.