Concrete quantities and pricing
Concrete Removal Cost
Estimate concrete removal cost from area, thickness and demolition rates. Separate hauling, disposal, access, permits and unknown work.
Measure removal
Editable prices are planning allowances, not quotes. Unpriced work stays unknown.
Enter your measurements to start the worksheet.
Your worksheet
Start with the dimensions and planned thickness, or enter billed yards. Your worksheet updates as you enter a complete set of measurements.
Complete the required inputs to update the worksheet.
Planning estimate, not a quote. Calculation methods and price limits.
National removal planning envelope. Published scopes and inclusions differ; confirm the actual work. Low/high span the stated rows. Typical is calculated from source midpoints, not an observed national average. HomeGuide includes disposal; Angi does not establish it here. Add a waste fee only after checking the selected quote excludes it. Permits and tax remain unknown.
Measurement diagram and manual formula
Convert all dimensions to one unit before multiplying. Circle area = π × (diameter ÷ 2)². Add only nonoverlapping sections. Cubic yards = cubic feet ÷ 27. Whole bags = round up adjusted cubic feet ÷ published yield. Display rounding does not set a supplier order increment.
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Sections10
- Build a concrete removal cost budget
- Concrete removal cost: slab and access details
- Separate slab removal from waste charges
- A worked removal worksheet
- Local waste charges and exclusions
- Dust, utilities and site controls
- When removal leads to replacement
- Confirm disposal before adding fees
- FAQ: concrete removal
- Verdict on concrete removal cost
Concrete removal cost depends on the old slab and the work included in the price. Measure its area and thickness, then use a written removal rate. Keep hauling and waste fees separate unless they are included. The tool below prices removal only. Installing a new slab is a separate job.
Multiply old area by a removal rate per square foot, or old volume by a rate per cubic yard. Choose one basis. Add quoted hauling, waste fees and fixed fees once. Leave unknown charges outside the priced total. Do not use the new driveway area to price the old slab unless the areas match.
Build a concrete removal cost budget
Start by defining the boundary of removal. Mark the slabs to take out and those to keep. Save steps, thickened edges or attached work separately. A flatwork measurement does not describe footings or a wall. Those need their own quoted scope.
Enter the old area or its length and width sections. Use the old thickness, not the stated thickness of the new drive. If you do not know it, the volume stays unknown. The tool needs a positive thickness for a volume-based rate and will not guess it from a photo.
Choose slab removal per square foot or per cubic yard. Enter a low and high rate from quotes for the same scope or a stated scenario. A blank rate lets you see volume but leaves the cost unavailable. If you have a fixed job quote, use it as a fixed fee on its own line and label the area rate as excluded.
Concrete removal cost: slab and access details
For the same area, a thicker slab contains more concrete to remove. A worked 20-foot by 20-foot slab at an assumed 4 inches contains about 4.94 cubic yards. At 6 inches, it contains about 7.41 cubic yards. These are solid volumes, not container sizes or measured waste weights.
Save whether the existing slab has steel or fibers. Steel can affect the contractor's method and the receiving site's terms. Do not infer the answer from surface cracks. Use a checked detail or mark it unknown. The calculator records that uncertainty rather than adding an invented steel surcharge.
Describe the route from the slab to the loading point. Include gates, overhead obstructions and surfaces that must be protected. Ask the quote to name its access assumptions. If the contractor prices open access and the site has a narrow passage, the rate may describe the wrong job.
Separate slab removal from waste charges
Keep these tasks visible. Removal takes the slab out of its old position. Hauling moves it off site. The receiving site charges for waste and sets its acceptance rules.
A bundled rate can cover each task. The written scope must state that it does.
| Line | Possible price basis | Check before adding |
|---|---|---|
| Slab removal | Square feet, solid cubic yards or fixed job | Thickness, steel or fibers and boundary |
| Hauling | Fixed trip or job | Number of loads and access |
| Waste fees | Volume, measured mass or fixed charge | Material rules and minimum fee |
| Permits or other fees | Fixed job | Applicable local scope |
| Tax | Defined taxable subtotal | Actual rate and taxable lines |
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The tool accepts waste fees by volume or as a fixed charge. It does not turn volume into tons with a guessed density. If the site charges by weighed mass, use its waste quote or scale bill. Enter that amount on a fixed line after checking the basis.
Solid concrete volume does not tell you how much space broken pieces fill in a bin. Gaps between pieces affect that space. Ask the hauler which truck or bin will be used and how many loads are priced. Do not turn the yard result into a truck count without those facts.
A worked removal worksheet
Take the worked 400-square-foot slab at 4 inches from the earlier example. Suppose you enter a breaking-only scenario of 3 to 4 dollars per square foot. Multiplication gives 1,200 to 1,600 dollars. Those rates are entered assumptions for the example, not a local or national benchmark.
Now suppose the quoted hauling is 250 dollars for the job and waste fees are 150 dollars. Adding those fixed charges gives 1,600 to 2,000 dollars before any relevant tax or other excluded work. The example is useful because each part can be checked. It does not claim those prices apply at your address.
If the removal rate already includes hauling and waste fees, do not add those charges. If you do not know what it includes, keep the removal total subject to those facts. A calculator cannot resolve unclear wording by putting zero in the missing lines.
Run a separate scenario if the slab thickness or steel is uncertain. Use a quoted rate for that scenario, with its own terms. Do not add a generic percentage to stand in for unknown work. The printed result should tell you which case you have priced.
Local waste charges and exclusions
Check the receiving site's current acceptance rules. Ask whether painted material, steel plus soil or mixed waste can be included. Check whether pricing uses incoming mass, loose volume, a load size or a fixed fee. Use the unit the facility actually quotes.
A written waste price is not a price for slab removal. Nor does a recycling destination prove that the hauler has included all trips. Save both the waste destination and the hauling scope on the budget. If either is unknown, the calculator will list it among the unpriced work.
Keep removal of adjacent asphalt, buried foundations, contaminated material plus trees and utilities outside this concrete-only total unless specifically priced. Site restoration can also be a separate task. Describe it as work outside the price so a full job quote is not compared with a breaking-only result.
The cost of concrete per yard guide concerns buying new material. Its supplier prices cannot be used as waste fees rates. Both use volume, but they charge for other services.
Dust, utilities and site controls
Cutting or breaking concrete can create respirable crystalline silica dust. OSHA's construction silica guidance covers employers' task-based exposure controls and other compliance routes. A small budget or brief task does not itself show an exemption. Ask the removal scope to include the relevant dust-control plan.
This page does not provide a slab removal method or authorize work near utilities. Check the location of services, limits of removal and protection of adjacent property before work begins. If those facts are unclear, keep them as a stop condition rather than a small allowance in the budget.
Save who handles site protection plus cleanup and any required access plan. Those tasks can have costs even if the concrete itself is only a small area. Treat a checked included task as part of the rate; keep an unconfirmed task visibly unpriced.
When removal leads to replacement
Use the driveway estimator for the new installed work after defining the new footprint. Transfer removal once, either as an included package item or as an extra. The removal-only result does not include base repair, new concrete plus forming or finishing.
If you plan to widen the drive, new area can exceed removal area. If you keep part of the old surface, the removal area can be smaller again. Save a sketch that makes those boundaries clear. Equal-looking totals can hide other amounts when drawings are missing.
Use the concrete calculator to check the new amount with the new planned thickness. Do not reuse old volume as the order amount. Add an order allowance only to the new material math, not to the slab removal volume.
Confirm disposal before adding fees
The editable removal range spans HomeGuide and Angi's US planning references. HomeGuide includes disposal; Angi's disposal scope is unconfirmed. Confirm the waste scope before adding a separate fee so the estimate does not charge for disposal twice.
The worked costs above use only the stated example quote inputs. OSHA supplies the dust-control boundary, not a price. Entered quote rates retain their units and inclusion labels in the result.
See methods and sources.
FAQ: concrete removal
How much does concrete removal cost?
Use a removal quote that names the area, old thickness plus access and included tasks. Multiply only by the unit it uses. The calculator separates slab removal plus hauling and waste fees so you can see the priced scope. A total with any of those tasks missing remains an incomplete budget.
Is concrete removal priced per square foot?
It can be quoted per square foot, per cubic yard or as a fixed job. A square-foot rate needs the slab terms that it covers. A volume rate also needs old thickness. Choose one slab removal basis and avoid adding a second rate for the same work.
Does removing concrete include waste fees?
Only if the written scope says so. A breaking-only rate can leave hauling and receiving-site fees outside it. Ask where the waste will go and how many trips the price covers. Keep those costs separate when they are excluded, and do not add them again to a bundled rate.
Can I estimate the weight from slab dimensions?
You can work out solid volume from area and thickness. Converting it into weight needs a known density or scale ticket. Broken pieces fill a loose volume that differs from the slab. This tool avoids a guessed weight and accepts a fixed waste quote when the receiving site uses mass.
Verdict on concrete removal cost
Use concrete removal cost as a separate scope in your project budget. Define old dimensions and the rate basis. Check access and waste charges. Print the result with unknowns intact. A replacement budget is useful when it adds new work without losing or counting those removal lines twice.