What is the average cost to tear out concrete in Tennessee?

For a standard 4-inch unreinforced slab in the Maryville / Alcoa / Knoxville corridor, plan on $3 to $7 per square foot for break-up plus hauling. A 1,000 sq ft driveway usually lands between $3,500 and $7,000 all-in when you self-haul to a drop-off yard. Reinforced slabs, thick slabs, and long hauls push that higher.

How much does hauling concrete cost separately?

Hauling is priced by truck size and county. A 7-ton dump trailer runs $225 (Blount) to $400 (Sevier) for the first load. A 20-yard roll-off is $550 (Blount) to $750 (Sevier). See our calculator for the full matrix or check the pricing table below.

Do I pay a tipping fee at SMSG?

Not right now. Under the grand-opening special active as of August 2026, concrete and asphalt inbound is free at our Maryville yard. Every other option in East Tennessee, including Blount County Landfill at roughly $60 a ton, charges to accept clean concrete.

How do I estimate tear-out weight before I get a quote?

Multiply length x width x thickness in feet to get cubic feet, then multiply by 150 lbs per cubic foot for standard concrete or 155 for reinforced. Add 20 percent for break-bulk (broken pieces take more space than solid slab). That gives you tons and yards, which is what a hauler prices from.

Is it cheaper to rent a roll-off or hire a hauler?

Depends on job length. For a one-day tear-out where you can load everything in a shift, a dump trailer trip is usually cheapest. For jobs that stretch 2 or 3 days, or where the crew loads gradually, a 20 or 30-yard roll-off wins because you're not paying per trip.

What if I have 5 or more loads?

Volume pricing takes over. Once you're moving 5 or more trips or a total of 20 or more cubic yards, call us for a project rate. The per-load pricing on the calculator stops making sense at that scale.

Does rebar affect the price?

It affects the break-up cost, not the disposal. Reinforced slabs take longer to break and slower to load. We accept concrete with rebar attached at the yard, no extraction needed. Rebar goes to our scrap pile after crushing.

Where are you located?

245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville, TN 37801. About 8 minutes off US-129 in Alcoa, 20 minutes from downtown Knoxville, 25 minutes from Sevierville. Open Mon-Fri 7am to 5pm, Sat 7am to noon.

How Much Does Concrete Tear-Out Cost in Tennessee? (2026 Pricing)

TL;DR: Concrete tear-out in East Tennessee runs $3 to $7 per square foot all-in for a standard 4-inch slab when you self-haul. Break-up is roughly $1.50 to $3.50/sq ft. Hauling depends on truck size and county: $225 to $850 per trip. Tipping fees at the landfill add ~$60/ton. At SMSG's Maryville yard, inbound concrete is free under the grand-opening special. Use the tear-out calculator to price your exact job.

Tear-out pricing is one of the fastest ways to lose money on a demo bid. Most contractors underquote it because they price the break-up but forget how many trips the debris takes, how much fuel that burns, and what the tipping fee does to margin. This guide breaks down the real 2026 numbers in East Tennessee, based on what we see roll through the gate every day at our Maryville yard.

If you just want a number for a specific slab, skip to the concrete tear-out calculator and enter your dimensions. It handles the weight math, the break-bulk factor, and county pricing automatically.

The two costs no one separates

When someone asks "how much to tear out my driveway," they're really asking about two costs stapled together:

Break-up and load-out, which is labor plus equipment (jackhammer, mini-ex, skid steer, saw) plus dumpster staging on the site.
Hauling and disposal, which is a truck, a driver, fuel, and a tipping fee at the receiving end.

The break-up cost is what most people think of. The hauling cost is what most people underquote. Both matter, and on a small residential job the hauling side can easily be half the total.

Break-up cost by job type

These are the ranges we see quoted by Maryville, Alcoa, and Knoxville contractors in 2026. Nothing fancy, just averages from real bids that came across our gate this year.

| Job | Range | Notes | |---|---|---| | Residential 4" driveway (unreinforced) | $1.50 to $2.50 / sq ft | Simple slab, easy access, standard tools | | Residential 4" driveway (with wire mesh) | $2.00 to $3.00 / sq ft | Mesh slows load-out, doesn't slow break-up much | | Residential sidewalk / patio | $1.75 to $2.75 / sq ft | Smaller pieces, more trim work | | Commercial 6" slab (unreinforced) | $2.50 to $4.00 / sq ft | Thicker means slower, bigger equipment | | Commercial 6" slab (rebar) | $3.50 to $6.00 / sq ft | Rebar cutting is the big variable | | Foundation wall / footing | $4.00 to $10.00 / sq ft | Depends on thickness, access, wall height | | Post-tensioned slab | Get a specialty quote | Do not DIY. Cables can whip. |

That's just the break-up and load side. Now add the trucks.

Hauling cost by truck size and county

Here's the exact hauling rate card we publish for tear-out jobs. This is the same table the calculator pulls from.

| Equipment | Blount County | Knox County | Sevier County | |---|---|---|---| | Dump trailer (7 tons / 3.5 yd) | $225 first / $175 add'l | $325 first / $225 add'l | $400 first / $275 add'l | | 10-yd roll-off (3-day rental included) | $425 | $525 | $625 | | 20-yd roll-off | $550 | $650 | $750 | | 30-yd roll-off | $650 | $750 | $850 | | Dump truck (~14 tons / 10 yd) | $325 per trip | $425 | $525 |

Once you're over 5 loads or 20 total yards, we quote as a project instead of per-load. Call (865) 999-0857 for volume pricing.

The county rates step up because drive time steps up. Blount County means Maryville, Alcoa, Rockford, Louisville, Friendsville. That's all within 20 minutes of our yard on Brookdale Rd. Knox County pulls in Knoxville, Farragut, Karns, and West Knox jobs, adding roughly 20 to 40 minutes each way. Sevier County (Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg) is a full 45 to 60 minutes off US-411 or the Foothills Parkway.

The tipping fee wildcard

This is where the math goes sideways for most contractors.

Blount County Landfill accepts clean concrete at roughly $60 per ton. Knox County's transfer stations and Sevier County's landfill run in the same range, some higher. That fee compounds fast.

A 20-yard roll-off holds around 12 to 14 tons of broken concrete. At $60/ton that's $720 to $840 in tipping fees on top of the container rental.

At our Maryville yard, right now, concrete and asphalt inbound is free. Zero tipping fee. This is the grand-opening special we launched in August 2026, and it applies to any clean concrete or asphalt load, contractor or homeowner, any truck size. That savings alone often pays for the extra 15 minutes of drive time versus the landfill.

Full example: 1,000 sq ft residential driveway

Let's price a common job: a 1,000 sq ft, 4-inch unreinforced concrete driveway in Alcoa. Homeowner-adjacent, decent access, no gate to fight with.

Step 1: Break-up cost 1,000 sq ft x $2.00/sq ft (mid-range for a straightforward residential slab) = $2,000

Step 2: Weight math 1,000 sq ft x 4/12 ft thick = 333 cubic feet 333 cu ft x 150 lbs/cu ft = 50,000 lbs = 25 tons

Volume once broken up, with 20% break-bulk: 333 cu ft x 1.20 = 400 cu ft = 14.8 cubic yards

Step 3: Hauling That's tight on a single 20-yard roll-off (they max at ~14 tons of concrete before axle limits). Two options:

Dump trailer approach: 7 tons per trip means 4 trips at Blount County rates. $225 + $175 + $175 + $175 = $750.
20-yard roll-off approach: $550 for the container, and 25 tons is over its weight limit. Would need to split into a 10-yard plus dump trailer, or use two 10-yard containers. Call it $850 all-in for the container option.

Step 4: Tipping At SMSG under the current promo: $0. At Blount County Landfill: 25 tons x $60/ton = $1,500.

Total, self-haul to SMSG: $2,000 break-up + $750 hauling + $0 tipping = $2,750 Total, self-haul to landfill: $2,000 + $750 + $1,500 = $4,250

That's a $1,500 delta on a single driveway. Multiply across a season and it stops being a rounding error.

Full example: 2,500 sq ft commercial parking pad

Now scale it up. A commercial retail pad, 2,500 sq ft, 6-inch reinforced slab in Farragut (Knox County).

Break-up: 2,500 sq ft x $4.50/sq ft (mid-range with rebar) = $11,250

Weight: 2,500 x 0.5 ft thick x 155 lbs/cu ft = 193,750 lbs = 97 tons, roughly 57 cubic yards broken

At this volume you're not per-load anymore. This gets a project quote. A rough field number: 8 to 10 dump truck trips at Knox County rates ($425 x 9 = $3,825), or 3 to 4 roll-offs staggered. Call and we'll price it.

Tipping at SMSG under the current promo: $0 Tipping at a Knox County landfill: 97 tons x $60/ton = $5,820

Same job, $5,800+ swing on where you dump.

What drives price up (and what most people forget)

Access. If a truck can't back to within 30 feet of the slab, you're carrying broken concrete in a skid steer or wheelbarrow. That doubles load-out time.

Thickness. A 6-inch slab isn't 50% more expensive than a 4-inch, it's often 80% more. Break-up scales with thickness worse than it scales with area.

Rebar spacing and grade. #4 rebar on 24-inch centers is a nuisance. #5 or #6 on 12-inch centers with hooked ends changes the tool selection. Post-tensioned changes the whole job.

Distance to disposal. Every extra 15 minutes each way is another billable half-hour on a truck. This is why our county tiers exist. It's not price gouging, it's fuel plus wages plus wear.

Weekend or after-hours. If you need Saturday drop-off, that's covered under our normal Sat 7am-noon hours. Sunday or evening is a case-by-case call.

Weather. Wet mud on tires ends up on Brookdale Rd, and TDOT does not appreciate that. We ask contractors to knock off big clods before leaving the yard. In sustained rain, sites get muddy and load times stretch.

Reinforced vs unreinforced: the density trap

Standard concrete weighs about 150 lbs per cubic foot. Reinforced concrete is closer to 155. Broken concrete piles at roughly 135 (there's air between the chunks). Asphalt is 145.

Those numbers matter because your truck's weight limit doesn't care what you tell yourself the yardage is. A 20-yard roll-off can technically hold 20 cubic yards, but if you fill it with reinforced slab you'll blow past legal axle limits before you top the walls. Half-fill it, or split loads.

Rule of thumb: for solid concrete, budget 1.35 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard as broken debris. That's what the calculator uses under the hood.

The break-bulk factor everyone ignores

Solid concrete and broken concrete take up different amounts of space. Cut a 100 sq ft slab into rubble and the pile is bigger than the slab. We use a 20% break-bulk factor: broken debris takes ~1.2x the volume of the original solid form.

This is why a 3-cubic-yard slab often needs a 5-yard container to haul comfortably. If you're pricing by container size instead of weight, you'll under-order every time. The tear-out calculator applies the break-bulk factor automatically so the container recommendation makes sense.

Where the numbers come from

Every rate on this page comes from one of three places:

Our own gate data for what customers actually pay at 245 Brookdale Rd.
Published rates from Blount County Landfill and neighboring facilities.
Contractor quotes we see attached to tear-out jobs coming through the yard.

None of it is invented. If you're pricing a job and something looks off, call (865) 999-0857 and we'll walk through your specific slab.

Getting a real quote

Two paths:

Self-serve: use the tear-out calculator. Enter length, width, thickness, and material type. It returns weight, yards, container recommendation, and county-priced haul cost.
Call: (865) 999-0857 during business hours. We'll ask you the same questions the calculator asks, plus any access or timing wrinkles, and give you a firm number.

If you're also pricing new aggregate for the rebuild (base rock, RCA, crusher run), use the gravel calculator to size that side, and see our materials list for current inventory.