What decides the price of hot tub removal in South Florida is almost never the size of the tub. It is whether the shell can come out whole or has to be cut down where it sits. In Broward and Palm Beach it usually has to be cut down, because the tub is inside a screened pool cage or behind a side gate about three feet wide. After that it is the pad, the surround, and whether anything else in the yard goes in the same truck. Quoted free on site before a saw comes out: (954) 774-0277.
The access problem that basically only exists here
National hot tub cost guides price a tub in an open back yard with a clear path to the driveway. Dolly it out, strap it down, done. That yard barely exists here. Nearly every 1970s and 80s single-family home in Coral Springs, Sunrise, Margate and Pompano Beach has a screened pool cage over the patio and a narrow side gate as the only route to the truck. The tub went in before the cage did, or through a gap that is now a wall.
So the shell gets cut into sections in place and carried out in pieces. That is the single biggest variable in the job, it has nothing to do with how many seats the tub has, and no national guide mentions it.
What actually sets the number
| What you are dealing with | What it does to the job |
|---|---|
| Tub in an open yard, clear path to the driveway | Drained, disconnected and moved out mostly whole. The easiest version of this job |
| Tub inside a screened pool cage or behind a narrow side gate | Cut down in place and carried out in sections. The normal case in Broward |
| Raised deck, surround or second-floor balcony | The decking or surround comes apart first, then it is a stair carry |
| Concrete pad or paver surround going too | Weight, not volume. Dense material hits the truck limit long before it fills the bed |
| Tub plus the rest of the yard cleared the same day | Volume pricing takes over for everything that is not the tub |
| Swim spa or an oversized shell | More cutting, more carries, and sometimes more than one load |
None of that can be worked out from a description, which is why the quote is free, on site and in writing before a saw comes out, and why you pay once the shell is in the truck. Full detail on the hot tub and spa removal page, and the volume mechanic is in how junk removal pricing works.
Do you have to drain it first?
Yes, and start earlier than you think. A garden hose on the drain valve takes hours; a submersible pump takes a fraction of that. Water is heavier than anything you have ever put on a bar, and a tub with water in it cannot be lifted or cut safely. Some companies charge for showing up to a full tub. We would rather you knew the night before.
Run the pump until the shell is dry, then pull the drain plug on the pump housing and let the plumbing empty too. There is always another few gallons hiding in the jets and the heater.
The electrical step, which is not a hauler’s job
Most tubs here are hardwired to a 240-volt breaker with an exterior disconnect box on the wall. Turn the breaker off first, then have a licensed electrician disconnect the whip. A plug-in 110-volt tub you just unplug. This is the one part of the job nobody should improvise on a Saturday.
Can you just cut it up yourself?
You can. Here is the loop every DIY article leaves open. A cut-up acrylic or fiberglass shell packed with rigid foam is construction and demolition debris, not household bulk. Which means:
- Pompano Beach bars construction debris from bulk collection entirely. Four cubic yards a week of household bulk, and none of it can be your shell.
- Coral Springs allows 2 cubic yards of C and D inside its 6-yard cap. One shell plus the frame will eat all of it and then some.
- Boynton Beach allows one cubic yard of C and D per week. One.
- Sunrise refuses construction, remodeling and demolition debris outright, and takes no contractor-generated debris at all.
- Lighthouse Point takes no construction material and can charge the homeowner a disposal fee for contractor debris left at the curb.
- Coconut Creek allows minor home remodeling only and names roofing, tile, concrete, brick and stone as excluded.
So the Saturday with the reciprocating saw ends with a driveway full of jagged shell and wet foam your city will not touch, and you still need a truck. If you have already cut one up, that is construction debris removal. Every cap in the service area is in bulk trash pickup limits in Broward County.
The plywood underneath comes too
One of the reviews on this site is exactly this job: an old hot tub taking up the yard, gone within a few hours of the call, and the crew took the plywood sitting under it at no charge. If there is a rotted platform, decking or a pile of pavers under your tub, it goes in the same truck.
Where the tub actually ends up
- Shell and foam. Acrylic or fiberglass bonded to rigid insulation. There is no recycling stream for it in this market, so it goes to disposal as C and D.
- Cabinet and frame. Pressure-treated lumber or synthetic panelling and a steel or wood sub-frame.
- Pump, heater, blower, jets and plumbing. Scrap metal, separated out.
- Cover. Waterlogged vinyl over saturated foam, and usually the heaviest single piece of the whole tub. Landfill.
The nearest large-volume disposal site to the Coconut Creek base is Monarch Hill on Wiles Road in Pompano Beach, the one everybody calls Mount Trashmore, about five minutes away. Short haul, which is why north Broward jobs run the way they do.
How to get a firm number in one text
- A photo of the tub, straight on.
- A photo of the whole path from the tub to where a truck can park. That is the shot that sets the price.
- The width of the narrowest gate or gap on that path.
- Whether the breaker is off and whether it is hardwired or plug-in.
- Whether the pad, the decking or the surround is going too.
That is enough for a real quote. We drain it, cut it down and haul it. You do not have to uninstall anything before we arrive. Same-day and next-day across Coral Springs, Boca Raton and the rest of the service area.
Free quote, no obligation
Send a photo of the tub and the path out to (954) 774-0277 and get a real number back the same day. Licensed and insured, quoted in writing before the first cut, and you pay once the shell is in the truck. Get a free quote.
Rather have it gone than read about it?
This one is our hot tub & spa removal department. Send a photo to (954) 774-0277 and you will have a ballpark before you finish this page. Free quote in writing, and you pay after it is loaded.
