Removal is honest work with a dishonest reputation for being easy to price. Per square foot works fine as the base, as long as you know what multiplies it and what passes through.
The base: dollars per square foot of demo
Measure the slab, multiply by your demo rate, and that is the starting number. At the example removal rate of $5 per square foot, breaking out a 400 square foot driveway is $2,000 for demo, loading, and haul-off. That example assumes the normal case: plain or lightly reinforced flatwork a machine can reach.
The normal case is exactly what you need to define in your own rate, because everything off-normal multiplies the labor.
The three multipliers: thickness, rebar, access
Thickness. A 4 inch patio breaks up almost politely. A 6 inch driveway is half again the material, and it fights back. Ask, or bring a drill bit and check, because you cannot see thickness from the truck.
Reinforcement. Rebar and mesh turn breaking into breaking plus cutting, and the pieces come out big and tangled. If you hit unexpected rebar mid-job on a flat quote, that is your afternoon gone. Ask the age of the slab and price the risk, or write the quote with a reinforcement contingency.
Access. A skid steer loading a truck parked next to the slab is one job. A backyard slab behind a 36 inch gate is jackhammers, wheelbarrows, and a whole different labor count. Walk the path from slab to truck before you commit to a number.
Dump fees pass through, they do not disappear
Concrete disposal is a real cost that varies by facility, load size, and whether the material is clean. Get your dump’s current pricing, then either show fees as their own pass-through line or bake them into the rate. What you cannot do is forget them; on a big tear-out the disposal bill is real money. If you pass costs through, markup vs margin for contractors covers how to do it without shorting yourself.
Bundle it with the re-pour
Most removal exists because something new is going in. Quote both, itemized: the demo line plus the new slab or driveway. Bundled tear-out can price a bit friendlier than standalone demo, since the trip is shared, and the itemized quote shows the customer exactly why.
Test the demo math on the concrete removal cost calculator. PriceDesk carries your removal rate right next to your pour rates, so demo plus re-pour quotes itemize themselves from your phone. Free 14-day trial, no card.