The hot tub came with the house. It sat on a concrete pad behind the garage, under a cover that had gone green on top, and in two and a half years we opened it exactly once, to look inside and close it again. This spring I finally got rid of it, and the hot tub removal cost us $690 all in, and $75 of that was a fee I handed them for no reason.
Below is the full receipt, what the national price ranges look like, the two jobs that have to happen before any crew shows up, and the cheapest routes I tried (one of them for three weeks, for nothing).
What our hot tub removal cost, line by line
Ours was a standard above-ground tub, roughly seven feet square, no deck built around it, sitting on its own slab. The crew could reach it through the side gate without a single step. That is close to the easiest job these companies see.
Here is what we paid:
- Flat-fee removal crew, cut up and hauled away, disposal included: $450
- Electrician to disconnect the 240-volt line at the panel and cap it at the wall: $165
- Rescheduling fee, because the crew arrived before the electrician had come: $75
- Draining: $0, with a submersible pump our neighbor lent us
Total: $690. The crew took about an hour and a half. They cut the shell into pieces right on the pad with a reciprocating saw, carried the pieces and the cabinet panels out through the gate, and swept up the foam crumbs before they left. I had expected them to wheel it out whole. Crews rarely bother with a tub headed to the dump.
Hot tub removal cost: the national numbers
Before I called anyone, I looked up what normal looked like. HomeGuide’s cost guide puts hot tub removal at $200 to $600, with a national average of $400, a low of about $120 and a high around $800. Movers who charge by the hour run $100 to $200 an hour.
Our $450 crew fee sat right in the middle of that. The things that push a quote toward the top of the range are the same ones any hauler will ask you about on the phone:
- size and weight (HomeGuide says even an empty tub weighs 400 to 1,000 pounds)
- stairs, tight corners or a narrow path, with many companies adding $100 to $130 for stairs alone
- a tub set into concrete or built into a deck, which means saws or a jackhammer first
- whether disposal is in the bid or billed on top
Watch that last one. Two of the three quotes I got said “removal” and meant it literally. The dump fee was extra, and one of them couldn’t tell me how much until they weighed the load.
The electrical disconnect comes before anything else
This is the step I got wrong. A hardwired hot tub runs on a 240-volt circuit, and flipping the breaker isn’t the same as a safe disconnect. The wire has to come out of the tub’s control box and get capped or removed back at the house.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s page on pool and spa electrical safety says to have a qualified electrician do this kind of work to local code and the National Electrical Code. Our crew said the same thing on the phone, in fewer words: they don’t touch live wiring, and if it’s still connected when they arrive, they leave.
Ours cost $165 for one trip. The electrician pulled the line, capped it in a box on the garage wall and turned the breaker into a spare. Some cities want a permit for that. Ask the electrician; they’ll know.
Draining it without breaking your city’s rules
I assumed draining meant running a hose to the street. It doesn’t, at least not in a lot of places. Hot tub water is warm and full of chlorine or bromine, and storm drains usually go straight to a creek.
Portland’s guide to draining pools and hot tubs is the clearest version I found. It wants the water in the sanitary sewer or soaking into your own ground. The storm drain is a last resort, and only after the water has cooled, sat for at least two weeks to get chlorine down to 0.1 mg/l or less, been tested, and gets let out at under 50 gallons a minute. Bromine and saltwater never go to the storm drain at all. Your city’s rules may differ, so look them up.
What we did: stopped adding chemicals, left the cover off for two weeks, checked it with a test strip, then pumped it onto the back lawn over two afternoons, moving the hose every half hour so nothing ran toward the driveway. The manual said the tub held about 350 gallons. The grass was very green for a while.
The cheapest way to get a hot tub gone
You have four routes. I tried two of them.
- Sell it or give it away. Only works if it still runs. A working tub can go for free to someone who hauls it, which costs you nothing but the electrician.
- A junk removal company. Priced by how much of the truck it fills. HomeGuide puts the hot tub part at $100 to $150 on average, but that assumes someone has already broken it down or it fits whole. Our junk removal cost breakdown explains how truck fractions get priced.
- Cut it up yourself and rent a dumpster. HomeGuide lists dumpsters at $280 to $500 a week. Makes sense only if you’re clearing other stuff too.
- A flat-fee hot tub removal crew. What we used. One price, they cut, carry and dump.
If you’re clearing a whole property, like a parent’s house before a sale, fold the tub into that quote. Crews that do estate cleanouts usually price a spa as one more line item, and it often comes out cheaper than booking it alone.
Hot tub removal cost by line item
Our line items, next to the national ranges, and which ones you can skip.
| Line item | National range (HomeGuide) | What we paid | Can you skip it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Removal crew, cut up and hauled | $200 to $600 (avg $400) | $450, disposal included | No, unless you sell it or DIY |
| Electrician disconnect | Not listed; local rates | $165 | No, if the tub is hardwired |
| Stairs fee | $100 to $130 extra | $0 (side gate, no steps) | Only if there’s a flat path |
| Dumpster for DIY | $280 to $500 a week | Not needed | Yes, if a crew hauls it |
| Yard regrading after | $0.40 to $2.00 per sq ft | $0 (we kept the pad) | Yes, if you reuse the pad |
| Rescheduling fee | Varies by company | $75 | Always, with the right order |
What didn’t work: three weeks on Marketplace
Before I paid anyone, I listed the tub for free. “Free hot tub, you haul.” I got fourteen messages in two days and felt very clever.
Two people said they’d come on a Saturday and didn’t. One man did come, with a pickup truck and one friend, looked at it, tried to lift a corner, and left. Nobody had told him an empty tub still weighs several hundred pounds. Also, ours didn’t heat anymore. I had put that in the listing, in small letters at the end, and nobody read it.
Three weeks later I took the post down and called the crew. Then I made the second mistake: I booked them for a Tuesday and figured I’d get the electrician in “sometime before.” He couldn’t come until Wednesday. The crew showed up Tuesday, saw the live conduit, and rebooked us for Thursday for $75.
Three hot tub removal mistakes worth avoiding
- Booking the crew before the electrician. Get the disconnect done and confirmed first, then schedule the removal. That order would have saved us $75.
- Listing a broken tub as free. A tub that doesn’t heat is junk to most people. Save the weeks and go straight to a removal quote.
- Not asking what “removal” includes. Get it in writing: cutting, hauling and disposal fees in one number, plus any charge for stairs or a deck.
Grab the free printable: my one-page Hot Tub Removal Checklist, with the right order (drain, disconnect, remove), the questions to ask every crew, and a spot to compare three quotes side by side. Get the free checklist →
What we did with the space after
We kept the concrete pad. Tearing it out would have been a separate job, and it’s a good flat spot. It now holds two folding chairs, a small fire bowl and a big pot of rosemary. My daughter draws on it with chalk. It is the most we’ve used that corner of the yard since we moved in.
If you’re doing this as part of helping a parent downsize, the tub is often the last big thing nobody wants to deal with. Our guide to senior move services covers how to hand the heavy stuff off without it landing on one family member’s weekend.
FAQ
How much does hot tub removal cost?
HomeGuide puts it at $200 to $600, with a national average of $400 and a range from about $120 to $800. Stairs, a deck built around the tub, or a tub set in concrete push it toward the top. We paid $450 for the crew plus $165 for the electrician.
Do I need an electrician to remove a hot tub?
If it’s hardwired, yes. Flipping the breaker isn’t a disconnect. The CPSC recommends a qualified electrician for pool and spa wiring, and most removal crews won’t start while the line is still connected. A plug-in tub only needs unplugging.
Can I drain a hot tub into the street?
Often not. Many cities, Portland among them, want the water in the sanitary sewer or soaking into your own yard, and only allow the storm drain after the water has cooled and sat long enough for the chlorine to drop. Bromine and saltwater aren’t allowed in storm drains there at all. Check your city’s rules.
If yours is sitting under a cover you haven’t lifted in a year, start with two phone calls this week: an electrician for the disconnect, then three crews for written quotes. Book them in that order.
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