2026 prices

How Much Does Hot Tub Removal Cost?

Hot Tub Removal typically runs $350–$900. What moves the price, what the city will take for free, and how to see real quotes before anyone drives out.

Typical hot tub removal cost

$350 – $900

A national range, not a quote. Your actual prices come from local pros bidding on your job.

A hot tub that has stopped working is one of the hardest things to get rid of from a back yard in your city. It is too heavy to lift, too wide for most gates, and no municipal service will collect it.

An average shell weighs 500 to 900 pounds empty, and it is built as a single moulded piece — which means removal almost always involves cutting it apart where it stands.

Why it usually has to be cut up

A tub goes in before the fence and the landscaping do, and by the time it comes out there is no longer a path wide enough for it. Crews cut the shell into sections with a saw and carry it out in pieces. That is labor, not truck space, and it is where most of the cost sits.

What changes the price

Access decides it. A tub on a ground-level patio next to a wide gate is straightforward; one on a raised deck behind a narrow side return, or on a roof terrace, is a different job entirely. Drain it beforehand if you can — several hundred gallons of water is weight nobody needs to carry.

What it costs, item by item

Service	Typical market price	JunkerClub estimate
Small tub, easy access	$380 – $550	$300 – $450
Standard tub, cut and carry	$550 – $850	$440 – $700
Large or difficult access	$850 – $1,300	$680 – $1,070

How we build these ranges — and why a real quote can land outside them →

FAQ

Hot Tub Removal — common questions

How much does Hot Tub Removal cost?

Most people pay $350–$900. That is a national band, not a quote — the real number depends on how much there is, how easy it is to reach, and what local pros bid.

Can I get a price without an on-site visit?

Yes. Post the job with a photo and local pros bid on it, so the quotes reach you before anyone drives out. The national chains price by truck volume and only give a firm number once a crew arrives.

Will my city take it for free instead?

Often, yes — most cities collect bulky items at the curb, though limits and booking rules differ a lot. Check your city before you pay anyone.

Do I need to drain the hot tub first?

Yes, and it saves you money. A full tub holds several hundred gallons — well over a ton of water — and no crew will move that. Drain it a day ahead so the shell is dry when they arrive.

Will they disconnect the electrics?

A hot tub is usually on a dedicated high-amperage circuit and that is an electrician’s job. Have it isolated before the removal date. Crews will handle the plumbing side and the physical removal, but hard-wired power is not something they should be cutting.

Will removing it damage my deck or lawn?

Cutting the shell in place is precisely what avoids that — it means nothing oversized has to be dragged across the yard. Ask how the crew plans to route it out when they quote; a pro who has thought about the path is the one to book.

What the city will do instead — 45 we checked

Before you pay anyone, it is worth knowing what your own city already does with bulky items, because the answer is nowhere near the same everywhere. These are read from each city’s own pages, with the source and the date on the city page behind each link.

Philadelphia — Four bulk items per appointment.
Irvine — Four items per pickup and four pickups a year — sixteen items in total. Free. The sixteen items a year are part of the service the city contracted.
Los Angeles — Unlimited. There is no cap on how many pickups you can book in a year. Free — no additional charge for city-serviced homes.
San Francisco — Up to 10 items per appointment. Buildings of five units or fewer get two collections a year at no extra charge; in buildings of six units or more, each unit gets one. Included in your service — the yearly collections carry no additional charge.
San Jose — Unlimited — there is no cap on free junk pickups in a year. Free for residents.
Oakland — One pickup per unit per year, up to four cubic yards. Single-family homes can get a second curbside pickup at no extra cost, 45 days after using one bulky drop-off and one curbside pickup. Free for Oakland residents.
Sacramento — Two pickups a calendar year for household junk, and two more for appliances and e-waste. Free, but seasonal — collection runs from February through October only.
Raleigh — One Bulky Load is four cubic yards, about the size of two couches or three queen-sized mattresses. $35 for each Bulky Load Collection, in effect since April 1, 2026.
Albuquerque — No more than a standard pick-up load may be collected. Free. Appliances and other large items are collected throughout the year at no charge on residential customer request.
Chicago — The city publishes no item count; the ward superintendent decides what will be taken.
Washington — No more than seven items per appointment. More than seven means additional appointment dates.
Atlanta — Twelve bulk collections a year. Free up to twelve a year. Past twelve the charge is $343.10 — which is where hiring a hauler usually stops being the expensive option.
Anaheim — Three pickups per calendar year, and up to twenty items each time. That is sixty items a year, the widest allowance in Orange County. Free for Anaheim households.
Orange — Four items per collection, six collections a year — the city adds it up on its own page as twenty-four items a year. Free with a City of Orange residential account. Multi-family complexes on bin service may have the service too.
Garden Grove — Three pickups per calendar year, up to ten items each time, by appointment only. Free, with one written exception: refrigerators and air conditioners carry a small charge for refrigerant recovery.
Laguna Beach — Four collections each calendar year with up to ten items a time. Free — and unusually, businesses get the same four free collections, not just households. Anything past four is charged.
Lake Forest — Three pickups free of charge per calendar year, and one pickup may combine up to ten large items. Free up to the three. Extra pickups can be arranged for a nominal charge.
Mission Viejo — Up to five large items at the kerb, three times a year. No additional charge.
Laguna Niguel — Two free bulky item pickups per calendar year — the fewest of any Orange County city in this ledger. The city does not publish a per-pickup item count. The two are free; further pickups are arranged at a nominal charge.
San Clemente — Four pickups per calendar year, each up to four large items or four bags of material. Free four times a year; additional pickups are provided for a small fee.
Tustin — Up to four bulky item collections a calendar year, and one collection is up to four items. No additional cost for single-family customers. In a multifamily complex it is collected for a fee, and only the person named on the account — usually the property manager — can request it.
Santa Ana — Four pickups a year, up to four items each time. Complexes of three or more units get a combined ten items per unit per calendar quarter instead. Free for residents with curbside trash collection.
Costa Mesa — Three complimentary pickups a year with ten items each time. Nothing may exceed 8 by 4 feet or 150 pounds — the working test is whether two people can lift it. Free for CMSD solid waste customers. Households on dumpster service are not eligible at all and have to call their own contracted hauler.
Huntington Beach — Four collections a year, up to ten items each time. Free for residents on weekly cart service.
Newport Beach — Five pickups a year with a maximum of five items each time, and everything has to be manageable by a two-person crew. The first five collections a year are free for households on the city residential contract. Past those five the city will still arrange a pickup, but at extra cost.
New York — Free, and residents only. A business that books one may be issued a Notice of Violation and has to hire a private carter instead.
Austin — Three collections per service each calendar year, for single-family homes and buildings up to a fourplex. No separate charge — on-demand collection is part of the residential service.
Phoenix — Four collection opportunities a year, and a single pile no larger than ten cubic yards per residence. Included with regular trash service at no extra charge.
San Antonio — Priced by the size of the pile against the city's published rates, so there is no single figure — the estimate comes before you pay.
Mesa — A load is about 4 ft by 8 ft by 4 ft, and four loads is the maximum collected on one scheduled pickup. From $31.00 a load for Mesa trash and recycling customers, and from $39.59 a load for everyone else.
Columbus — No yearly cap is published. What the city does publish is what counts as bulk: furniture, carpet, mattresses, and appliances that have no refrigerant in them. Free for city refuse customers.
Kansas City — Up to 15 items an appointment, and no single item over 500 lbs. The service covers single family homes and apartment buildings of six units or fewer. Free for eligible households — there is no per-pickup charge.
Virginia Beach — No item count is published. What the city does cap is the item itself: a rug up to 9 ft by 12 ft, rolled and tied, and fencing up to ten eight-foot sections.
Tampa — $18.12 a cubic yard for a special pickup — a cubic yard being about the size of an oven.
Baltimore — Up to three bulk items a month, on your address's scheduled Saturday.
Boston — Ten mattress items a calendar year, and only for buildings of six units or fewer — above that the property manager arranges disposal.
Milwaukee — Six cubic yards is the ceiling. Above it — and for loose material or mixed loads such as construction waste, recyclables, tires or brush — the city does not run a special pickup at all; the property is referred to the Department of Neighborhood Services as a violation. $75 for one to four cubic yards, and $225 for four to six.
El Paso — The published price covers five cubic yards or less; beyond that each additional cubic yard is charged on top. From $35.00 for five cubic yards or less, plus a further charge for each additional cubic yard, and tax on top. The charge is billed to your El Paso Water Utilities account rather than paid at the door.
Long Beach — Twelve special collections a calendar year for each city-serviced account, and up to eight large items — or twenty-five bags, bundles or boxes — on each one. Two of the free pickups may be used on the same day. No additional cost for the twelve yearly collections, though a regulatory fee may be charged for items needing special handling.
Portland — The service covers single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. Renters go through the landlord, who holds the account, and apartment residents ask the property manager. An $18 pickup fee for the trip plus a charge per item by category: $29 extra large (a king mattress with its box spring, a sectional couch), $21 large (a queen or full mattress, a three-cushion couch, a dresser), $14 medium (a twin mattress, a desk, a chair). Appliances, electronics and anything holding coolant have their own categories. The city publishes the rate sheet and a cost calculator.
Tucson — The city charges for a special collection but does not publish the amount on this page.
Seattle — The large-item category covers anything bigger than 2 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft, and nothing may exceed 300 pounds, eight feet in height or four feet in diameter. $31 per large item — furniture, appliances and TVs bigger than 2 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft — with older refrigerators and freezers priced separately. One battery pickup a year is free; further ones carry a small charge.
Tulsa — Remodelling debris only counts if you did the work yourself at the address being served, and it has to be containerised and under one cubic yard in total. There is a limit of four monitors or televisions, four tires without rims, and ten gallons of latex paint. Large yard waste has to be cut under six feet long and under eighteen inches across. Ten dollars per eight cubic yards collected, and another ten for each additional eight cubic yards. The city has published an increase: from October 1, 2026 both figures become twenty dollars.
Bakersfield — Two bulky items per pickup, once every three months. No separate charge — it is covered by the basic refuse fee you already pay. Businesses can use the same service, starting at $60.75 per appointment.
Louisville — Up to four large items per appointment, and you can book once a week. A pile of small items is not a large item, however it is bagged or boxed. The city does not publish a charge for Large Item Pickup. Fees do turn up on the routes it sends you to instead: construction material, tree debris and oversized yard waste are charged at the Waste Reduction Center, as are electronics beyond a three-item load.

Two patterns show up across the list. The first is the cap: most cities take a set number of items or collections a year and charge — sometimes heavily — past it. The second is the eligibility line, and it catches more people than the caps do: several cities give no bulky collection at all to buildings above a certain number of units, which means a large share of flat-dwellers have never had the free option in the first place.

Hot Tub Removal prices by city

Every city has its own page with local disposal rules alongside the price.

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