Concrete & Driveway Removal
Cost Per Square Foot
$3 to $8 per square foot including disposal. Here’s what pushes you to the top of that band, why post-tension slabs must never be cut blind, and when a driveway suddenly needs a permit.
Concrete removal cost per square foot runs $3 to $8 including disposal, and reinforcement adds another $1 to $3 per square foot on top of that. A standard 200-600 sq ft residential driveway lands between $1,200 and $4,500. Those numbers are easy to quote and easy to blow · because what actually decides your price is thickness, steel, access width and how far the truck has to drive to a facility that will take inert material.
What’s In This Guide
- Concrete removal cost per square foot
- Cost by job type · the full table
- What pushes you to the top of the range
- Post-tension slabs: never cut blind
- Grinding vs full removal
- Where the concrete goes afterward
- Do you need a permit?
- Call 811 before anything breaks
- Worked example: 600 sq ft San Pablo driveway
- Frequently asked questions
Concrete Removal Cost Per Square Foot
The working number is $3-$8 per square foot, disposal included. That figure covers breaking the slab, loading it, trucking it and paying the tipping fee at an inert processing facility. If a quote is meaningfully under $3, check whether disposal is actually in it · hauling is roughly a third of this job and it is the line most often left out and billed later.
$3-$8/sq ft · plain concrete removal including disposal.
+$1-$3/sq ft · added for reinforcement (rebar or wire mesh).
$90-$160/ton · the concrete dump fee your contractor is paying, or $30-$65 per pickup load if you’re hauling it yourself.
Weight is the reason disposal dominates. A 4-inch slab weighs roughly 50 pounds per square foot, so a 600 sq ft driveway is about 15 tons of material · five to seven truckloads, and $1,300-$2,400 in tipping fees alone before anyone has swung a hammer. Double the thickness and you double that line item. This is why “it’s just a driveway” quotes go wrong.
Cost By Job Type · The Full Table
Most homeowners aren’t buying square feet, they’re buying a driveway or a patio. Here are the same rates expressed as whole jobs.
| Job | Typical Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete removal (any flatwork) | $3 to $8 / sq ft | Includes breaking, loading, hauling and disposal |
| Reinforced concrete surcharge | +$1 to $3 / sq ft | Rebar or wire mesh; slows breaking, needs cutting |
| Driveway removal (200-600 sq ft) | $1,200 to $4,500 | Most common residential job in the East Bay |
| Patio, 20 × 20 (400 sq ft) | $1,200 to $3,000 | Backyard access is the swing factor |
| Small slab, 10 × 10 (100 sq ft) | $300 to $800 | Shed pad, AC pad, old landing |
| Sidewalk, 50 linear ft | $750 to $1,250 | Public right-of-way work needs a permit |
| 2-car garage floor | $1,000 to $3,500 | Higher if bonded to footings or stem walls |
| Concrete sawcutting | $5 to $15 / linear ft | Minimum charge $125 to $400 per mobilization |
| Concrete disposal · by weight | $90 to $160 / ton | Inert facility tipping fee |
| Concrete disposal · DIY | $30 to $65 / pickup load | If you’re hauling it yourself |
Cutting is priced per linear foot, but there’s a $125-$400 minimum because a saw crew has to mobilize, set up water and slurry control, and demobilize whether they cut 6 feet or 60. If you only need one short cut, ask whether it can be scheduled the same day as the breakout so you pay one mobilization instead of two.
What Pushes You To The Top Of The Range
Two identical-looking 400 sq ft driveways can price 100% apart. These are the seven variables that decide it, and every one of them is visible on a site walk.
| Driver | Low end of the range | Top of the range |
|---|---|---|
| Thickness | 3½-4 in. residential flatwork | 6-8 in. or a thickened edge / footing turndown |
| Reinforcement | None · plain slab on grade | Rebar mat or wire mesh; adds $1-$3/sq ft and needs cutting |
| Post-tension cable | Absent | Present · specialist scope, never cut blind (see below) |
| Access width | Machine drives on, truck backs to the slab | Narrow side yard, gate, stairs, hillside · hand work and wheelbarrows |
| Distance to disposal | Facility close by, short round trips | Long haul; trucking time added to every load |
| Bonded to a structure | Free-floating slab, nothing attached | Tied to footings, stem walls, steps or an adjacent building |
| Sub-base condition | Leave the dirt as-is | Regrade, import base rock, compact for a new pour |
Access is the biggest single swing factor in the East Bay. Hillside lots in El Sobrante, Richmond Hills, Orinda and Lafayette routinely turn a $3/sq ft job into a $8/sq ft job, not because the concrete is different but because a skid steer can’t reach it. If the material has to travel to the street by wheelbarrow, you’re paying for labor hours, not for concrete.
Bonding matters more than people expect too. A patio that’s simply poured next to the house comes out clean. A patio that’s doweled into the foundation, or a garage floor cast monolithically with the stem wall, needs sawcutting to isolate it so the structure isn’t damaged when the hammer starts. That’s where the $5-$15 per linear foot cutting line shows up.
Post-Tension Slabs: Never Cut Blind
This is the one genuine safety issue in this entire article, and it deserves a section of its own.
A post-tension slab contains steel strands tensioned to thousands of pounds of force and locked off at anchors. Cutting or coring into one blind can release that energy violently · the cable can whip, the anchor can blow out, and the slab can crack across its whole span. A post-tension slab must never be cut without first locating and mapping the tendons. This is not a “be careful” item. It is a stop-and-scan item.
Post-tension is far more common in newer construction, larger flatwork and structural slabs than in a 1950s driveway · but it is not rare, and it is not always documented. Signs worth flagging: a stamped placard or painted note near the garage or slab edge reading “post-tensioned slab · do not cut or drill,” small patched pockets in a regular pattern around the slab perimeter, and original plans that call for PT.
If there is any question, the slab gets scanned · GPR or a comparable locating method · and the tendons get mapped before a blade touches it. On a job where PT is confirmed, detensioning is a specialist scope with its own sequence. Any contractor who shrugs at this and fires up a saw is a contractor to remove from your bid list.
Grinding vs Full Removal
Not every concrete problem needs the slab gone. Grinding · cutting down a raised edge or lip where a slab has heaved · is dramatically cheaper than removal because there’s nothing to haul and nothing to dispose of. It is the right answer more often than contractors like to admit.
Grinding usually wins when…
- The problem is a single trip hazard or a lifted joint, not the whole slab.
- The concrete is otherwise sound · no spidering cracks, no rocking sections, no spalling.
- You’re keeping the surface and just need it flat and safe.
- Access is bad enough that hauling material out would dominate the price.
Full removal is the only real answer when…
- You’re pouring new concrete · you cannot build a proper section on a failing sub-base.
- The slab is cracked through, settling, or rocking under load.
- You’re changing the grade, adding drainage, or planting.
- Something structural is going on that ground · a foundation, an ADU, a footing.
- The sub-base is the actual problem, in which case grinding just moves the failure a few months out.
The honest test: is the concrete broken, or is what’s under the concrete broken? Grinding fixes the first. Only removal fixes the second. If a slab has heaved because of expansive clay, roots or an eroded sub-base · all common here · grinding the lip buys you a season and you’ll be paying for the removal anyway.
Planning A Project In The East Bay?
Free on-site estimate anywhere in Contra Costa or Alameda County. One fixed written number, permits included.
Get My Free EstimateWhere The Concrete Goes Afterward
Broken concrete is not garbage. It goes to an inert processing facility, gets crushed and screened, and comes back out as recycled base rock · the aggregate under the next driveway, road or building pad. It’s a genuinely closed loop, and it matters to your paperwork as well as your conscience.
California requires a statewide minimum 65% diversion of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste. Concrete is the easiest material on any job site to divert, because inert recycling is effectively 100%. On a permitted job, unincorporated Contra Costa requires a Waste Management Plan before permit issuance and a Waste Management Report with receipts after completion · showing facility name, date, place of origin, material type and quantity. Since August 4, 2025 all plans and reports go through the Green Halo portal.
The tipping receipt is the proof. It names the facility, the date, the origin and the tonnage · which is also how you verify you were billed for the material that actually left your property. We hand over tickets on every job. More on how we document it: debris hauling and recycling.
One caveat worth knowing if you’re on a RecycleSmart jurisdiction · Danville, Moraga, Lafayette, Orinda, Walnut Creek and unincorporated Contra Costa: debris has to move via a Registered C&D Transporter to an Approved C&D Processing Facility. A cheap hauler who isn’t registered can invalidate your diversion documentation even if the concrete physically got recycled.
Do You Need A Permit To Remove Concrete?
Usually not for the slab itself. Almost always yes for anything touching the street.
The slab on your own property
Pulling out a backyard patio, a shed pad or an interior garage floor generally does not require its own permit. What can pull it into permit territory is scale: Contra Costa grading thresholds trigger a grading permit for excavation deeper than 5 feet or moving more than 200 cubic yards · and the same 200 cubic yard / 3-foot threshold applies to fill supporting a structure. (Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda drop that to 50 cubic yards.) Grading of 1,000 cubic yards or more triggers neighbor notification. A typical residential driveway is nowhere near 200 cubic yards, but a hillside project that removes concrete and recuts the pad can get there faster than you’d think.
The driveway that meets the street
This is the one people miss. A driveway doesn’t stop at your property line · it crosses the sidewalk and the curb, and that strip is public right-of-way. Removing or altering a curb cut, an apron or a section of public sidewalk normally requires an encroachment permit from the city or the county public works department, separate from anything the building department issues. Expect traffic control requirements, a restoration spec for the sidewalk and curb, and an inspection.
If your driveway removal includes the curb cut or the sidewalk, get the encroachment permit moving before the crew is scheduled. Public works turnaround is its own timeline and it does not care that your concrete truck is booked for Thursday. Our permits guide covers the counters, and there’s a dedicated write-up on driveway and slab removal permits in California.
Call 811 Before Anything Breaks
Before any breaking or digging · and that includes a jackhammer on a 4-inch slab, because you do not know what a previous owner ran under it · the utilities have to be marked.
California Government Code §4216.2 requires an excavator to notify the regional notification center (811 / USA North) at least 2 working days and not more than 14 calendar days before excavating. The resulting ticket is valid for 28 days. It is free, it is not optional, and it is the difference between a routine Tuesday and a cut gas line in a residential neighborhood.
What we find under East Bay driveways with depressing regularity: irrigation mains, low-voltage landscape lighting, unpermitted electrical feeds to a garage or shop, abandoned but still-live conduit, and sewer laterals that run shallower than anybody expected. The marks tell you where to be careful; the private-side stuff nobody marked is why you probe as you go.
Worked Example: 600 Sq Ft San Pablo Driveway With A Curb Cut
Real-shaped numbers. A 1958 San Pablo home, 600 sq ft driveway, 4 inches thick over wire mesh, bonded at the garage apron and running out across the sidewalk to a curb cut. Homeowner is repouring wider, so the sub-base has to be regraded and based.
| Line Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| USA North 811 ticket | $0 | Free · 2 working days ahead, valid 28 days |
| Sawcutting, 34 linear ft @ $9/lf | $306 | Isolates the garage apron and sidewalk joint |
| Breakout, load and haul · 600 sq ft, reinforced | $2,640 | $4.40/sq ft labor, equipment and trucking |
| Inert disposal, ~13 tons @ $110/ton | $1,430 | Within the $90-$160/ton band; tickets provided |
| Encroachment permit · curb cut & sidewalk | $290 | Public works, separate from building dept |
| Class 2 base import, spread and compact | $560 | Sub-base ready for the new pour |
| Total | $5,226 | Removal portion alone: $7.29/sq ft |
Read that total carefully, because it’s the whole lesson of this article. The removal portion · cutting, breakout and disposal · is $4,376, which is $7.29 per square foot: high in the $3-$8 band, exactly where you’d expect a reinforced slab with a bonded edge to land. But the job total is $5,226, above the $1,200-$4,500 driveway range quoted everywhere online.
The difference isn’t a markup. It’s the curb cut and the base prep · two scopes that a “driveway removal cost” search result never includes because they aren’t concrete removal. If your driveway touches the street and you’re repouring, budget for all three: removal, permit, and sub-base. See our driveway removal service page or the broader concrete removal service for what each scope covers.
We measure the slab, probe the thickness at a joint or an edge, look for reinforcement and any post-tension markings, check whether the concrete is bonded to anything structural, measure the gate and side-yard access, and flag whether the work crosses into the public right-of-way. You get one fixed written number with the disposal in it. Request a free on-site estimate →
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does concrete removal cost per square foot?
$3-$8 per square foot including disposal. Reinforced concrete · rebar or wire mesh · adds another $1-$3 per square foot because it slows breaking and usually requires sawcutting. If a quote comes in under $3, confirm that hauling and tipping fees are included; disposal alone runs $90-$160 per ton and is roughly a third of the job.
What does it cost to remove a concrete driveway?
A typical residential driveway of 200-600 sq ft runs $1,200-$4,500. Add an encroachment permit and public-works-spec restoration if the removal includes the curb cut or a section of public sidewalk, and add sub-base regrading and base rock if you’re repouring. Related jobs: a 20×20 patio is $1,200-$3,000, a 10×10 slab is $300-$800, 50 feet of sidewalk is $750-$1,250, and a 2-car garage floor is $1,000-$3,500.
Do I need a permit to remove a concrete slab or driveway?
The slab on your own property often doesn’t need its own permit. Two things change that. First, scale · Contra Costa requires a grading permit for excavation deeper than 5 feet or moving more than 200 cubic yards. Second, and far more common: a driveway that touches the public right-of-way. Removing or altering a curb cut, apron or public sidewalk normally requires an encroachment permit from public works, which is a separate application on its own timeline. Start it early.
What is a post-tension slab and why can’t it be cut?
A post-tension slab has steel strands tensioned to thousands of pounds of force and locked off at anchors inside the concrete. Cutting or coring blind can release that energy violently · the cable whips, the anchor can blow out, and the slab can crack across its span. It is a real safety hazard, not a caution. A post-tension slab must be scanned and the tendons mapped before any blade touches it. Look for a placard reading “post-tensioned slab · do not cut or drill,” patched pockets in a regular pattern around the perimeter, or a note on the original plans.
Should I grind the concrete instead of removing it?
Grinding a raised edge or lifted joint is much cheaper than removal because nothing is hauled or disposed of, and it’s the right call when the concrete is otherwise sound and you just need it flat and safe. Full removal is the only real answer when you’re repouring, when the slab is cracked through or rocking, when you’re changing grade or drainage, or when the sub-base is the actual problem. The test: is the concrete broken, or is what’s under it broken? Grinding only fixes the first.
What happens to the concrete after it’s removed?
It goes to an inert processing facility, gets crushed and screened, and comes back as recycled base rock under the next driveway or building pad. It’s effectively 100% recyclable, which makes it the easiest material on any job to divert · and California requires a statewide minimum 65% diversion of non-hazardous C&D waste. On permitted work in unincorporated Contra Costa, the Waste Management Plan and post-job report with receipts both go through the Green Halo portal. Ask for the weight tickets; they name the facility, the date, the origin and the tonnage.
Legacy Demolitions Team
Licensed demolition contractor based at 4533 Appian Way, El Sobrante, CA. CA License #1122603. We break out driveways, patios, slabs and garage floors across Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole, El Cerrito, Hercules and unincorporated Contra Costa · with our own equipment, our own trucks and documented inert recycling on every load.
Pricing reflects 2026 East Bay working ranges. Regulatory figures are current Contra Costa County, CalRecycle and California Government Code requirements. Your written number is fixed after a site walk.
Get The Slab Priced With Disposal In It
Send us the address, rough dimensions and a photo of the access. You’ll get one fixed number · breaking, hauling, tipping fees and weight tickets included.
Legacy Demolitions LLC · 4533 Appian Way, El Sobrante, CA 94803 · CA License #1122603
One walk-through, one written price.
We measure the real access on your property before quoting, so the number you sign is the number you pay. No ranges, and no line items that appear later.