Concrete, hardscape and driveway removal
Concrete and hardscape broken out, cut where a clean edge matters, loaded and gone. Driveways, patios, walls, slabs and whole parking lots.
When people call us about concrete removal
- A slab, patio or path is being replaced
- Old foundations are in the way of a new build
- A sidewalk or set of steps has failed or been flagged
- You need an opening cut into an otherwise sound slab
What concrete removal covers
- Floor slabs, both plain and reinforced
- Foundations, footings and machine bases
- Concrete and asphalt driveways, out to the kerb line, with aprons and borders
- Patios, paths and paver, flag, brick and stone hardscape with its bedding
- Garden, boundary and retaining walls, including block, sleeper and stone
- Steps, risers and landings
- Whole parking lots: surfacing, kerbs, islands, wheel stops, lighting bases and drainage
- Sidewalks, kerbs and steps
- Sub-base removal where the new build-up needs the depth, and grading of what is left
- Saw cutting to a clean line where the surrounding concrete stays
- Separation of rebar and mesh from the concrete stream
- Loading and haulage to a permitted facility
Reinforcement is what makes it slow
Plain concrete breaks and loads quickly. Reinforced concrete has to be broken, then the steel cut, then the two separated, and a heavily reinforced slab can take several times as long as its thickness suggests. When we quote we want to know whether it is reinforced, because it is the single largest unknown in this work and the honest answer changes the price.
The parts people ask about most
A retaining wall is holding something back
Removing a wall that is retaining ground is not the same as removing a decorative one. Take the wall away and the material behind it wants to move, and that matters most when there is a neighbour, a path or a structure on the high side. We work out what is behind it and how it will be supported or battered back before anything comes out. If the answer needs an engineer, we will say so.
On a driveway, the sidewalk end is a different jurisdiction
Where a driveway meets the public sidewalk you are into city-controlled ground, and work there is governed differently from work on your own lot. It matters for kerb cuts especially. We stop at the property line unless the sidewalk work is separately arranged, and we will tell you plainly which side of that line your job falls on.
On a lot, everything buried has to be found before it is broken
A parking lot is not just a surface. Lighting conduit, drainage runs, irrigation and sometimes live services cross it, and the as-built drawings are usually wrong or missing. We survey and locate before breaking rather than after, because striking a live service in the middle of a lot is both dangerous and expensive.
How concrete removal runs
The order matters more than the tools. This is the sequence for concrete removal.
Establish thickness and reinforcement
Plain concrete breaks and loads quickly; reinforced has to be broken, cut and separated. This is the single largest unknown in the job and the honest answer changes the price.
Locate what runs through it
Services, drainage and conduit cross slabs, driveways and lots, and the as-builts are usually wrong. We survey before breaking, not after.
Cut the line where the edge matters
Saw cutting where surrounding concrete stays, breaking out where it does not. Cutting is slower and it is the reason the neighbouring slab survives.
Break, separate, load
Rebar and mesh cut out and separated on site. Steel and concrete leave on different routes.
Grade what is left
Sub-base removed where the new build-up needs the depth, formation levelled and left ready for the next trade.
What moves the price on concrete removal
Every one of these moves the number, so you can see what a quote is actually responding to — and tell us the ones you already know when you call.
- Thickness, and whether it is reinforced
- Area, and whether the edge has to be cut clean or can be broken
- Machine access, since hand breaking is dramatically slower
- Weight, which sets the number of loads rather than the container size
- Whether anything runs under the slab that has to survive
Concrete removal: your questions
Can you break a slab without damaging what runs under it?
Yes, and it is a slower method: cut the perimeter, break in controlled sections, and hand-work anything near a known service. We need to know what is under there before we start rather than discover it.
Do you take the rebar?
It gets cut out and separated on site. Steel and concrete go on different routes, which is normal practice and part of why the material is handled the way it is.
Why is a small concrete job priced by weight?
Because concrete is dense. A patio that looks small can fill a container by weight long before it fills it by volume, and the number of loads is what actually drives the cost.
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Get a price for concrete removal
Call and describe the job. Most of the time we can scope it on the phone and confirm on site.
Seven days a week, 7am to 11pm. Emergency calls answered around the clock.
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