Residential · Port St. Lucie & Treasure Coast
Hot Tub Removal.
The spa nobody's used since 2019, sitting on the lanai full of green water. We drain it, cut it down where it sits, carry it out in pieces, and leave you a clean pad. No dragging it across your pavers, no renting a dumpster, no calling four companies who don't do hot tubs.
What hot tub removal includes
- Draining the tub before we start
- Cutting the shell down in place — no crane, no fence panels removed
- Cabinet, frame, cover & steps
- Pumps, heater and plumbing pulled out
- Pad swept clean when we're done
- Hauled to the county facility on Glades Cut-Off
How hot tub removal works here
Most Treasure Coast hot tubs are inside a screened lanai or tucked against the house on a pool deck, which means there is no path to walk one out whole. That's fine — cutting it apart in place is the normal way this job goes, and it's why a hot tub isn't a two-guys-and-a-dolly situation.
Sun does the rest of the work for us. After a few Florida summers the acrylic goes brittle and the cover soaks up rain until it weighs more than the tub did empty. A waterlogged cover alone can run over 150 pounds — that part surprises people every time.
Send photos first. A shot of the tub, a shot of the path out, and roughly how deep it is. That's enough to price it before anyone drives out.
Before we roll
Power and permits — the two things to sort first
The electrical
Most hot tubs down here are hardwired 240V running off a GFCI disconnect box on the wall nearby. That has to be killed and disconnected before anybody cuts into the cabinet.
We're haulers, not electricians, and we won't pretend otherwise. If yours is hardwired, get a licensed electrician to disconnect it and cap the line — it's usually a short, cheap visit. If your tub plugs into a regular outlet, unplug it and we're good to go.
The permit question
Worth a phone call before you book anything. St. Lucie County's list of work that doesn't need a permit covers portable and manufactured spas less than 24 inches deep — and a lot of tubs sit deeper than that. The Florida Building Code covers removal and demolition, not just building, so it can apply on the way out too.
Which office you call depends on where you live, not who you hire:
- Port St. Lucie city limits — (772) 871-5132
- Fort Pierce city limits — (772) 467-3000
- Unincorporated St. Lucie County — (772) 462-1553
- Martin County addresses (Stuart, Palm City, Hobe Sound, Jensen Beach) — call Martin County Building
Ten minutes on the phone beats a stop-work order. The county's penalty for working without one is a $100 stop-work fee plus double the permit cost after the fact.
Where it ends up
A hot tub comes apart into three different piles, and they don't all go the same place. The shell and cabinet are construction debris. The frame, heater and pump housings are scrap metal. The cover is usually soaked foam and vinyl, and it's just heavy.
All of it runs to the St. Lucie County Solid Waste Baling & Recycling Facility at 6120 Glades Cut-Off Road in Fort Pierce, which handles construction and demolition material. Metal gets pulled for recycling rather than buried.
The scale house runs Monday through Friday 7am to 5pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm, closed Sunday. That matters for scheduling — a Saturday afternoon teardown means the load sits on the truck until Monday, so we'd rather start you early in the day.
A few local wrinkles
Gated communities. If you're in St. Lucie West, Tradition, PGA Village or similar, check whether your HOA wants exterior work approved in advance, and let the gate know we're coming. Some communities restrict work-truck hours.
Island addresses. On Hutchinson Island salt air eats heaters and steel frames faster than it does inland. Frames that look solid can be rotted through, which usually makes the job quicker, not slower.
Before hurricane season. An unused hot tub with a loose cover is a wind problem waiting to happen. If you already know it's going, going in spring beats going in September.
Pricing
Hot tub removal pricing
Your price is based on how much space your junk takes up in the truck — measured on site, agreed before we lift a thing. For scale, Wetland Junk Removal counts a cubic yard as about one front-load washer — so a full truck is roughly fifteen of them.
¼ Load
$225
about 3.75 cubic yards
- A few furniture pieces
- Small appliance pickup
- Garage corner cleanup
½ Load
$400
about 7.5 cubic yards
- Room's worth of junk
- Multiple large items
- Small shed clear-out
¾ Load
$550
about 11.25 cubic yards
- Multi-room cleanup
- Large furniture sets
- Big yard-debris jobs
Full Load
$650
about 15 cubic yards
- Whole-garage cleanout
- Moving leftovers
- Best per-item value
A full load is about 15 cubic yards — roughly six pickup truck loads. A cut-down hot tub takes up more room in the truck than it looks like it will — shell, cabinet, frame and a soaked cover add up. Send photos and we'll tell you which load size yours lands in before we start. Price includes labor, teardown, hauling, and disposal fees.
Where
Hot Tub Removal across the Treasure Coast
FAQ
Hot tub removal questions
Does the tub need to be drained before you arrive?
Yes, ideally. A full spa holds hundreds of gallons and none of it can go on the truck. Most people run a garden hose or a submersible pump out to the lawn the day before. If you cannot manage it, say so up front rather than on the day, so we can plan around it instead of losing the slot.
Do you disconnect the electrical?
We can pull a plug-in unit, but a spa on a hardwired 240-volt circuit needs an electrician to disconnect it at the breaker first. That is not us being cautious for the sake of it — it is a licensed trade job and it protects you. Once it is dead and disconnected, the removal itself is straightforward.
Will I need a permit?
Often not, but check before you book. St. Lucie County’s no-permit list exempts portable and manufactured spas under 24 inches deep, and Florida Building Code 102.2 covers removal and demolition work. Rules differ by municipality, so call your building department — the numbers are on this page — because working without one is a $100 stop-work order plus doubled permit fees.
How much of a load is a hot tub?
Once it is cut down, a typical spa runs about a half to three-quarter load, so $400 to $550. Larger swim spas and anything with a surround or decking built around it go higher. The cover, steps and old chemicals are usually part of the conversation too — the chemicals we cannot take, those go to household hazardous waste.
Ready to get it gone?
Free quotes. Upfront prices. Your patio back.