Removal calculator
Concrete removal
cost calculator
Breaking a slab out is priced by what it weighs, not by what it looks like. Enter the area and thickness for the tonnage, the number of containers it fills, and what demolition and haul-away should cost.
Enter measurements ↓More in this series
Put these figures to work
Sizing one part of a pour is easier when the slab itself is settled. Start with the main estimate, then come back for the detail.
- Concrete Calculator Concrete volume, ready-mix bags, gravel base and rebar
- Rebar Calculator Grid bars, lap splices, tie wire and steel weight
- Post Hole Concrete Calculator Concrete per hole, bags, gravel base and total yards
- Concrete Footing Calculator Piers, bell footings, strip footings, form tubes and yards
- Concrete Steps Calculator Stepped volume, landing slab, bags and cubic yards
- Self-Leveling Compound Calculator Underlayment bags, average depth, primer and coverage
- Concrete Bag Yields and Mix Ratios Bag yields, mix proportions and strength classes in one table
Based on your result
What you'll need
Quantities update after every calculation. The container count is the figure that surprises people — concrete hits a weight limit long before it fills the box.
- Dumpster or trailer
- Heavy-debris containers, counted by weight
- Calculate above
- Breaker
- Electric or hydraulic breaker, plus a sledge
- 1
- Pry bar and barrow
- Lifting broken sections and moving them out
- As needed
- Protection
- Goggles, ear defenders, gloves, steel toes
- Always
The maths
How this concrete removal cost calculator works
Disposal is charged by weight, and concrete is heavy: 150 pounds per cubic foot, more with steel in it. A four-inch slab weighs 50 pounds per square foot, so a modest driveway is several tons before anyone lifts a breaker.
weight = volume × 150 lb (155 reinforced)
debris = volume × 1.5 (broken concrete bulks up)
containers = ⌈ tons ÷ weight limit ⌉
cost = area × rate + containers × container cost
- 150 lb
- per cubic foot
- 50 lb
- per sq ft at 4 in
- 1.5×
- debris swell
- 2–3 t
- 10-yard limit
- $2–6
- per sq ft, demolition
- 2 000 lb
- = 1 ton
-
01
Weigh it before you price it
A 20 by 20 foot slab at four inches is ten tons. Every quote you get is really a quote on that number.
-
02
Containers fill by weight, not volume
A ten-yard dumpster is capped near three tons of heavy debris — it will look a third full when you hit the limit, and overweight loads get surcharged hard.
-
03
Broken concrete takes more room
Rubble bulks up about half again over the solid slab, which matters if you are stockpiling before haul-away rather than loading straight out.
-
04
Reinforcement changes the job
Mesh and rebar hold a slab together while you break it and have to be cut out. It adds weight and it adds hours, which is why the rate band is wide.
-
05
Ask about clean fill
Clean, unreinforced concrete is often accepted free or cheap at a recycling yard, and sometimes collected. Sorting steel out first can pay for itself.
Good to know
Concrete removal questions, answered
Two to six dollars per square foot for demolition, before disposal. Thin, unreinforced patio slabs sit at the bottom of that band; thick reinforced driveways and anything a machine cannot reach sit at the top. Haul-away is charged separately, by weight.
About 150 pounds per cubic foot, so 50 pounds per square foot at four inches and 75 at six. A 20 by 20 foot four-inch slab is roughly ten tons.
Count by weight, not by volume. A ten-yard heavy-debris container is usually capped at two to three tons, so that ten-ton slab needs three or four containers even though the rubble would fit in one by volume.
Usually not. Most companies require a dedicated heavy-debris or clean-fill container for concrete, brick and dirt, because a standard dumpster filled with rubble is too heavy to lift safely.
For a small patio, often yes — a rented electric breaker is inexpensive and the saving is real. Past a few hundred square feet, or anything reinforced, the labor becomes brutal and a crew with a machine is usually cheaper per square foot.
Broken concrete makes good sub-base fill under a new slab or driveway once it is crushed. Burying it whole on site is prohibited in many places and traps a problem for the next owner. Recycling yards take clean loads.
Rarely for a patio or path. Driveways that meet the road, anything structural, and any work that changes drainage often do need one. A quick call to the local building department costs nothing.