Cost to Remove and Replace Concrete in Chicago, by Job

$8 to $20 per square foot is the range a Chicago repair firm says full removal and replacement is commonly quoted at across the suburbs. Inside that total it splits the work: removal and demolition at roughly $1 to $5 per square foot, which it puts at about $1,000 to $3,000 for many two-car driveways, and new concrete placement at about $7 to $15 per square foot for standard finishes.

For settled concrete specifically, a Chicago contractor quotes $9 to $16 per square foot to remove and replace it, which is the figure worth holding next to any lifting quote. Both numbers are published ranges rather than bids for your address, and how we price explains where they come from.

Roughly $5,100 to $12,800 or more on a 640-square-foot driveway, which is the total a Chicago firm gives for a standard two-car replacement depending on thickness, finish, access and haul-off. A Wood Dale contractor comes at it from the other direction and prices a basic grey driveway in the northwest suburbs at $7 to $16 per square foot once tear-out, stone base, forming, finishing, control joints and haul-off are all included, putting a small one-car pour under $4,000 and a normal two-car replacement between $4,500 and $10,000 before decorative upgrades.

A Lockport price list sets driveways at $13 to $16 per square foot and states that tear-out, haul-away and sealing are in that price. Three local firms, three ways of writing the same job. The slab itself is covered on the concrete driveways page, and concrete removal on its own handles demolition without a new pour.

Per square foot, the small jobs cost the most.

• Patio. A Lockport list prices patios at $13 to $23 per square foot with tear-out, excavation, gravel base, rebar, pouring, finishing and sealer included, against $7 to $14 for a plain broom finish where the old slab is not in the price. A 16x20 lands at $2,200 to $4,500 installed.
• Sidewalk and walkway. $8 to $18 per square foot in the Chicago area, higher per foot than a driveway because a small pour carries the same mobilisation as a large one. Two squares of about 50 square feet run $700 to $1,400 and a full 40-foot lead walk $1,600 to $3,800, while most contractors price minimum jobs at $600 to $1,000 regardless of footage. For the public walk out front there is a cheaper route: the city's Shared Cost Sidewalk Program.
• Garage slab. One Chicago cost model puts a 400 to 600 square foot garage floor at $4,000 to $8,400, or $8 to $14 per square foot. Another, built from state highway bid data with a residential adjustment, puts a slab foundation at $6.80 to $10.45. Both are models rather than contractor quotes and neither takes an old floor out, so the tear-out range goes on top. More on garage slabs and foundations.

Because published prices cover different work, and the difference is thousands. The Lockport list says all of its pricing includes full tear-out, haul-away and disposal of old concrete. The Chicago repair firm quotes new placement at $7 to $15 and lists removal as its own $1 to $5 line. A Wood Dale contractor puts tear-out of an old driveway at $1 to $2 per square foot for breaking, hauling and disposal, while a Plainfield contractor puts demolition and hauling at $2 to $4.

So ask for tear-out, haul-away and grading as three separate lines before you compare anything. Once they are broken out, two quotes that looked thousands apart often turn out to be pricing different jobs. Every change to the ranges on this site is dated in the price updates log.

Thickness, steel, access and the calendar. Expect 4 inches of concrete for passenger cars and up to 6 inches for heavy-use areas, and on a 600-square-foot driveway a thickness upgrade might add $800 to $1,500. Reinforcement runs $0.50 to $2.50 per square foot depending on the method. Where alley clearances stop a ready-mix truck reaching a rear slab, a pump adds $400 to $800, or you pay short-load surcharges on smaller loads. Chicagoland work also wants a 4-inch compacted CA-6 stone base over the region's clay soil, and cold-weather pours outside roughly May to October add $2 to $5 per square foot.

The steel cuts both ways. The mesh or rebar that made the old slab last is also what makes it slow to break up and awkward to get rid of, which is the next section.

Nothing at the gate, if the slab is clean. A recycling plant in Northlake takes clean broken concrete at no charge by the semi-tractor, six-wheel, four-wheel or one-ton load, on a price list effective April 13, 2026, with a $25 minimum charge.

The conditions are the real story. Only clean, broken concrete with no steel is accepted. Any load containing wood, grass, trees or mixed material is rejected, and a rejected load carries a $100 reloading fee. Heavy reinforced concrete, cinder block and brick are not taken at all. Clean fill and asphalt are charged by the load instead: $225 for a four-wheel or smaller truck, $250 for a six-wheel and $275 for a semi-tractor. So the disposal part of a Chicago tear-out line is mostly trucking and crew hours rather than a tipping fee, right up until the slab turns out to be heavily reinforced or the pile has a fence post in it.

The same plant sells the result back as base stone, and the gap is worth knowing: crushed concrete at IDOT CA-6 gradation runs $16.00 a ton against $35.00 a ton for CA-6 limestone. A quote that puts recycled base under your new slab is not cutting a corner, it is using the cheaper half of a local market.