Concrete Removal Cost Calculator
Concrete is two costs: breaking it out, and getting it away. This prices both, and shows why a grab lorry usually beats a skip.
Open the calculator →Price your concrete removal in 30 seconds
4 steps. Area, thickness, how it leaves site and region.
How this calculator works
Concrete removal is two jobs priced as one. Breaking out is labour and machine time, driven by thickness and whether there is rebar in it. Getting it away is driven by weight, which is a different constraint entirely.
That is why the removal method matters. A skip is priced by volume but capped by weight, so a skip of concrete hits the limit well below the rim and adds £50–£150. A grab lorry is built for dense waste and takes it in one lift.
The option people miss is crushing it on site. If a new base is going down in the same place, the old slab can often become the hardcore under it — which removes the disposal cost and the aggregate cost together. It only works if the crusher can get to the slab and the surface going back down does not need certified, graded stone, so it is worth raising with the contractor early rather than assuming: where it fits, on-site crushing is usually the single biggest saving available on this kind of job. Whatever the method, the disposal side is worth pricing on its own, because concrete is dense enough to hit a skip’s weight limit long before it looks full — our skip hire cost guide sets out where a grab lorry works out cheaper. And if the reason you are lifting the slab is to lay a new drive or hardstanding, the driveway cost calculator prices the replacement, so you can see the removal and the new surface as one budget rather than two separate shocks.
Concrete removal cost (2026)
| Job | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Break out slab, up to 100mm | £45–£60 per m² | Breaker and labour |
| Break out slab, 100–200mm | £60–£80 per m² | Slower going |
| Reinforced concrete | £75–£90 per m² | Rebar cut out as you go |
| Concrete driveway (20–30 m²) | £900–£2,400 | Typical whole-driveway job |
| Grab lorry, per load away | £180–£350 | Cheapest route for hardcore |
| Skip with heavy rubble | £245–£600 +£50–£150 | Overweight surcharge usually applies |
| Mini digger + breaker hire | £180–£350 per day | Beats labour beyond ~30 m² |
Figures match our concrete removal cost guide.
Concrete removal calculator FAQs
Skips are priced by volume but limited by weight. Concrete hits the weight limit long before the skip is full, adding a £50–£150 overweight charge. A grab lorry is designed for dense waste.
Beyond roughly 30 m², machine hire at £180–£350 a day usually costs less than the extra labour. Below that a hand breaker is quicker to set up. Access decides it as much as area: if a machine cannot reach the slab down a narrow side passage, you are back to breaking by hand and barrowing out regardless of size, which is worth flagging to anyone quoting so the price reflects the real route in and out.
Often — crushed as hardcore under a new base, which saves the removal cost and the aggregate cost. Worth asking if you are relaying in the same place.
Removing it, no. Replacing it with non-permeable surfacing over 5 m² usually needs planning permission or a drainage solution — check before you commit to the replacement. The permeable route, such as gravel, porous paving or a soakaway that keeps water on your own land, sidesteps the planning trigger entirely, so it is worth deciding the new surface at the same time as the removal rather than treating them as two separate jobs.
Related cost guides
- Concrete removal guide — breaking out and muck away
- Waste options — skip vs grab vs wait-and-load
- Driveway costs — what goes back in its place
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