CONCRETE DEBRIS REMOVAL REVIEWS

Every other junk removal job is priced by volume — how much space it takes in the trailer. Concrete is priced by weight, because that's how the landfill charges us, and because a trailer rated for 7,000 lbs fills up with concrete long before it looks full.

Here's the math that most companies won't put in writing:

• Concrete weighs roughly 150 lbs per cubic foot, or about 4,050 lbs per cubic yard.
• A 4"-thick slab weighs about 50 lbs per square foot. Your 12' x 20' patio (240 sq ft) is 12,000 lbs — six tons.
• A standard 20' x 20' two-car driveway at 4" thick is roughly 10 tons. At 5" or 6", which is common on Pueblo West properties built for RV parking, it's 12.5 to 15 tons.
• A pickup truck rated for a 1,500 lb payload holds about 11 cubic feet of broken concrete before it's over its own axle rating. That's a 3' x 3' square of slab. One square.

That last number is the one that changes minds. People imagine six truckloads. It's closer to sixty.

> A 20' x 20' driveway is not a weekend project with a friend's truck. It's ten tons — and at 1,500 lbs a trip, that's thirteen round trips to the transfer station on a Saturday.

Real numbers from real Pueblo County jobs:

• Small load, under 2 tons — a patio slab, a set of steps, a scattered pile of broken sidewalk: $180–$420.
• Medium load, 2–5 tons — a walkway plus a landing, a small shed pad, a retaining wall: $420–$780.
• Full driveway, 8–12 tons, breakout included: $900–$2,400 depending on thickness, rebar, and access.
• River rock and decorative gravel removal — extremely common in Pueblo West xeriscape yards: $300–$650 for a typical front-yard field, because rock is dense and slow to shovel.
• Concrete already broken and stacked by you: subtract roughly 20–30% off the numbers above. Labor is the biggest line item, not the dump fee.

Disposal itself is a smaller slice than people expect. Clean concrete recycling in the Pueblo area typically runs $12–$30 per ton at a recycler, versus $45–$70 per ton at a standard landfill for mixed debris. Clean loads are cheaper to dump, which is why we separate on-site. Contaminated loads — concrete mixed with dirt, sod, wood, plastic sheeting, or asphalt — get rejected at the recycler and have to go to the landfill, which can add $150–$400 to a mid-size job.

Rebar changes the price. Reinforced slab takes about 40% longer to break out and load, and heavily reinforced concrete may need shearing before a recycler will take it. Wire mesh is minor. #4 rebar on 18" centers is not.

This is the part a brochure leaves out. There are clear cases where calling ClearPath is the wrong financial decision.

1. You have less than about half a ton and a truck. If you've got a broken 6' x 6' patio slab already busted into chunks, that's around 1,100 lbs. You can move that yourself in two careful pickup trips. Disposal at a recycler might cost you $15–$40 total. Our minimum is $180. We'd be charging you $140 for labor you're physically capable of doing in three hours. Do it yourself. [Yard debris removal](/services/yard-debris-removal-pueblo) has a similar break-even.

2. You're doing a large renovation over several weeks. If you're pouring a new driveway, doing a garage addition, or reworking your whole yard over 3–6 weeks, a 10-yard roll-off dumpster is the better tool. A concrete-only roll-off in the Pueblo area typically runs $350–$550 for a 7–14 day rental with a weight allowance. You load it at your own pace at 6 a.m. or 9 p.m. Our model — a crew shows up, works, leaves — is built for one decisive day, not a month of trickle. If your project is spread out, the dumpster wins on cost and on convenience. We'll tell you that on the phone.

3. The concrete is structural and still doing a job. We remove debris and we demolish flatwork. We are not a structural engineer. If we're talking about a foundation wall, a footing under a load-bearing wall, or a retaining wall over 4 feet holding back a real slope, you need an engineer's opinion before anyone swings a hammer, and possibly a permit from Pueblo County Planning & Development. Pulling a 5-foot retaining wall out of a Pueblo West hillside without understanding what's behind it is how a driveway ends up in a ditch. We will decline that job.

Other honest limitations:

• We can't always give a firm price sight-unseen. For concrete specifically, a phone quote can be off by 30–50% because we can't see thickness or rebar. We'll give a range, then confirm on-site before starting. If a company gives you a firm concrete price over the phone without asking about thickness, they're guessing, and someone eats the difference.
• Access can add 25–40%. Backyard slab with a 36" gate and no equipment path means wheelbarrows. On a half-acre Pueblo West lot with an RV gate, our [skid steer](/services/skid-steer-services-pueblo) drives right in and the same job costs less.
• We don't repour. We haul out, we grade rough, and we're done. Base prep and new concrete is a concrete contractor's work. Budget $8–$15 per square foot for the new pour separately.
• Asphalt is not concrete. Different recycler, different rate. Don't mix them in one pile.
• Weather stops us. Frozen ground in a Pueblo West January makes breakout slower and rougher. Prices in December–February can run 10–15% higher for the same slab.

Since you searched for reviews, here's how to actually evaluate them instead of counting stars.

• Ignore aggregate rating; read the 3-star reviews. 5-star reviews say "great guys, fast." 1-star reviews are often a scheduling conflict. The 3-star reviews are where you learn that the final price came in $300 over the quote.
• Search the reviews for the word "quote," "estimate," or "more than." A company with a pattern of upcharging on concrete will show it there. This is the single highest-signal filter.
• Check whether reviews mention concrete at all. A hauler with 200 reviews for mattresses and couches may have never broken out a slab. Weight jobs and volume jobs are different businesses.
• Look at the dates. Twelve glowing reviews in one week is a review-drive, not a track record. Steady reviews over 18–24 months is a real operation.
• Verify they carry insurance and ask for the certificate. Heavy equipment on your property with no coverage means damage to your sprinkler line, gas service, or sewer lateral is your problem. Ask. A real company emails a COI in ten minutes.

A typical 400 sq ft driveway removal runs about 5–7 hours with a two-person crew and a skid steer with a hydraulic breaker:

1. Utility locate first. Call 811 at least 2 full business days ahead — it's free, it's Colorado law, and it's non-negotiable. Hitting an unmarked gas service is a five-figure mistake. 2. Breakout — 90 minutes to 3 hours depending on thickness and rebar. 3. Load and separate — clean concrete in one pile for the recycler, rebar in another for scrap. 4. Haul — 3 to 6 loads on a dump trailer for a job that size. 5. Rough grade the exposed subgrade so it's walkable and drains away from the house.

Same-day service happens when we have a crew opening; realistically, book 2–5 days out for anything over 3 tons. Spring — March through May — is our tightest window, and lead times stretch to 7–10 days.

Concrete is usually one piece of a bigger cleanup. If you're clearing a property, it's often cheaper to combine trips than to book separately — a same-visit combination typically saves $100–$250 versus two mobilizations. Common pairings in Pueblo West:

• Slab plus old fence posts set in concrete — see [deck and fence removal](/services/deck-fence-removal-pueblo).
• Shed pad plus the shed on top of it — [shed demolition and removal](/services/shed-demolition-removal-pueblo).
• Hot tub pad plus the hot tub — [hot tub removal](/services/hot-tub-removal-pueblo).
• New-build or remodel leftovers — [construction debris removal](/services/construction-debris-removal-pueblo).
• Full property clear before a sale — [junk removal in Pueblo](/services/junk-removal-pueblo).

If you have under half a ton and a pickup, do it yourself and save $150. If you have a multi-week project, rent a roll-off. If you have a structural wall or a footing, call an engineer before you call anyone else.

If you have one to fifteen tons of broken concrete or rock, a defined start and finish, and you'd rather not spend three Saturdays and a rental breaker on it — that's exactly the job we're built for, and you'll have a fixed number before we start.

Text or call for a range over the phone and a firm price on-site. More detail on service boundaries lives on our [areas](/areas) page.