A cracked driveway. An old pool deck nobody wants anymore. A slab left behind by a shed that came down years ago. A hole that needs to go through six inches of reinforced concrete for a new plumbing line. Concrete removal covers a wider range of jobs than the name suggests, and the pricing and process shift depending on which one you're actually calling about.
More variety than most people expect:
Driveways and pool decks lead the list, usually because they've cracked, settled unevenly, or simply don't match a renovation plan anymore. Coring is a smaller but steady share of the calls, especially on renovation projects where new utility lines have to pass through a slab that's already poured.
The old surface gets broken up with a hydraulic hammer or excavator attachment, sized to the job, then loaded out and hauled to disposal or recycling. Reinforced driveways, ones poured with rebar or wire mesh, take longer to break apart than plain concrete, since the crew has to cut or pull the reinforcement free as they go rather than just shattering the slab. Access matters too: a driveway that a truck can pull directly alongside is faster and cheaper to clear than one behind a gate or down a narrow side yard where material has to be hand-carried out. Circular driveways and ones with an attached apron at the street sometimes get quoted separately from the main slab, since the city's right-of-way rules can apply to the section closest to the road.
Largely the same process as a driveway, scaled to the area involved, though patios and small slabs sometimes get removed with smaller equipment if the area is tight or landscaping nearby needs protecting. Thickness matters more than most people expect. A standard four-inch patio slab breaks up faster than a six-inch slab poured for something that used to carry more weight, like an old shed foundation or a pad that supported equipment.
Coring uses a specialized drill with a diamond-tipped bit to cut a precise, clean, round hole through concrete, as opposed to breaking or cutting a straight line with a saw. It's the method of choice when a new plumbing line, electrical conduit, or HVAC duct has to pass through an existing slab or wall without disturbing the surrounding concrete. Coring shows up often in renovation work, where a bathroom's being relocated and the drain line needs a new path through the existing slab, and in commercial buildouts where mechanical systems have to route through multiple floors. Because it requires specialized equipment and more precision than general demolition, coring is typically billed with its own minimum charge regardless of how small the hole is, since mobilizing the equipment costs roughly the same whether the crew drills one hole or five, so bundling several penetrations into a single visit is usually worth planning for ahead of time.
It depends on the scope. Removing a small patio or walkway sometimes falls outside permit requirements, but removing a driveway, a slab tied to a structure, or any concrete work connected to a larger demolition or renovation project usually does require sign-off from the city. Coring into a structural slab, one that's part of a building's foundation or floor system, often needs its own review to confirm the work won't compromise anything structural, particularly in a multi-story building. Check with your contractor and the local building department before assuming a project is small enough to skip the paperwork.
Not always. A driveway or patio with surface-level cracking, staining, or minor settling sometimes qualifies for resurfacing, an overlay poured or sprayed on top of the existing slab, rather than full removal and replacement. Resurfacing costs less and takes less time, but it's not a fix for a slab with structural problems: significant heaving, cracks that go all the way through, or settling caused by soil movement underneath will usually telegraph right back through a new overlay within a year or two. A contractor should be willing to tell you honestly whether your specific slab is a resurfacing candidate or whether it needs to come out, rather than defaulting to whichever job is more profitable for them.
Weighed and billed by the ton, the same as demolition debris from a building. Clean concrete, meaning it's free of significant contamination and ideally separated from other debris, can often be recycled into road base or aggregate rather than landfilled, which sometimes reduces disposal cost depending on which facility a contractor uses and current material demand. Concrete removed alongside a full structure demolition typically gets combined with that debris stream rather than handled separately.
More than people expect, in a market with a real wet season. South Florida's rainy stretch generally runs from late spring through October, and it doesn't sprinkle, it dumps, often in a fast afternoon burst that can shut down equipment for the rest of the day. Concrete removal itself can happen in the rain in a pinch, but a job site turns into standing water and mud fast on a lot with poor drainage, which slows down truck access for hauling and makes compaction of any backfill unreliable until things dry out. Scheduling flatwork removal for the drier months, roughly November through April, isn't required, but it does mean fewer weather delays stacking up on a project that's already on a deadline.
Rebar and wire mesh add time to every stage of the job: the initial breaking, since reinforced concrete resists cracking apart the way plain concrete does, and the cleanup, since someone has to cut or pull the metal free before the debris can be loaded and hauled. Thicker slabs, especially ones over about four inches, need heavier equipment and more passes to break down fully. Older concrete work around Fort Lauderdale sometimes carries heavier reinforcement than a homeowner expects, particularly slabs poured to meet wind-resistance standards for structures they used to support, which is one more reason a contractor should see the site before quoting a firm price.
Have concrete that needs to come out or a hole that needs to go through an existing slab? Call (954) 998-4434 for a free estimate.
Breaking up a small, unreinforced slab yourself is possible with rented equipment, but check local rules first, since disposal of construction debris usually has to go through a licensed hauler or an approved facility rather than regular household trash pickup.
Anything over about four inches, or any slab with visible rebar or wire mesh, typically moves into heavier-equipment territory and costs more per square foot than a standard walkway or patio slab.
Coring is generally quieter and cleaner than breaking concrete with a hammer, since it's a controlled drilling process, though it does use water to cool the bit and control dust, so expect some wet debris around the work area.
Yes, and it often does, particularly for a driveway or pool deck on a property that's being fully cleared. Combining the work into one mobilization is usually more efficient than scheduling it as a separate visit.
It typically gets separated and recycled as scrap metal rather than landfilled along with the concrete, which is standard practice for most demolition contractors handling reinforced material.
Call (954) 998-4434 to schedule a free concrete removal estimate anywhere in Fort Lauderdale or the surrounding Broward County area.