What hot tub removal costs in Portland

The short answer

$322 includes the crew, the breakdown, the carry and the disposal. There is no access surcharge, no stair charge, and no sales tax in Oregon.

Why Portland hot tubs are heavier than they look

A hot tub is an acrylic shell over a plywood or timber frame, wrapped in foam insulation and a cabinet skirt. In a dry climate, an old one is mostly air.

In this one it is not. Nine months of rain plus a cover that cracked three winters ago means the foam is saturated and the frame has taken on water. A spa that weighed a manageable amount new can be substantially heavier by the time it gets retired here, and the cabinet panels are usually soft at the base where they met the deck.

That is also why so many Portland hot tubs get retired in the first place. They sit under a fir, the cover gets covered in needles and moss, the pump seizes, and the owner decides not to spend the money. By the time anyone deals with it the thing has been a wet planter for two years.

The access problem, which is the real job

Almost no hot tub in inner Portland can be reached by a truck. The standard situation:

• A deep, narrow lot — the classic pre-war Portland platting — with the house filling the width.
• A 30 to 36 inch side gate between the house and the neighbor's fence, with a hose bib and a downspout in it.
• The tub on a back deck, sometimes raised, sometimes with a pergola over it.
• The truck parked on the street, out front, past the neighbors' cars.

There is no lifting a whole tub through that. It comes apart in place — cabinet off, shell cut down, frame dismantled, foam bagged — and the pieces come out through the gate and down the side of the house. That is the work, and it is what the $322 covers.

If you are in the suburbs with a gate to a driveway — Beaverton, Tigard, Happy Valley, Gresham, Hillsboro — the job is faster. Same price.

Before the crew arrives

• Drain it. A tub full of water is not going anywhere. Run it out well in advance — in a wet Portland winter the ground will not absorb it fast, so plan where it is going and give it time.
• Disconnect the power. Hot tubs are on a dedicated 240V circuit through a spa panel or disconnect box. Have an electrician kill and disconnect it. This is not an improvise situation.
• Clear the path. Move the bikes, the bins and the recycling out of the side gate. On a 34-inch side yard there is no room to step around anything.
• Deal with the moss. A north-facing deck in February is genuinely slippery. If the route runs across one, a quick scrub or a scatter of grit makes the day safer for everyone.
• Say if there is a pergola or a surround. A lot of Portland tubs are boxed into a deck with a built-up bench and a roof. That has to come apart too, so mention it when you book.

What is underneath it

Two things people find when the tub goes.

First, if the tub sat on a deck, the deck boards under it have not dried out since it was installed. Expect rot. Budget for repair, and if boards have to come out, deck debris can go on the same visit — construction debris is $120, or price the volume ladder at $241 for a quarter load.

Second, if it sat on a pad, you have a concrete pad and often a conduit stub. Concrete and masonry debris is priced separately at $219 per quarter truck, because it is dense and weight-driven.

Neither is a surprise charge. Both are published, and you decide whether they are part of the job before anyone starts.

Worked totals

Addition shown:

• Hot tub + patio table + four patio chairs: $322 + $89 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $531
• Hot tub + above-ground pool: $322 + $145 = $467
• Hot tub + deck debris as a quarter load: $322 + $241 = $563
• Hot tub + outdoor heat pump unit: $322 + $115 = $437
• Cold plunge tub + hot tub: $271 + $322 = $593

Back-garden clearances tend to bundle like this in Portland, because whatever else is out there has also been rained on for years and is going at the same time.

Can it be sold or given away instead?

Occasionally, and it is worth one attempt if it still runs. A working spa listed locally will get interest. Be realistic though: the buyer has to move it, which means the same side-gate problem in reverse, and most people who say they will take a free hot tub have not thought that through.

If it does not run, or the shell is cracked, or the foam is waterlogged — which after a few Portland winters under a broken cover it usually is — nobody is taking it. Give it a week, not a month.

Timing

Any month works and the price does not change. The dry window is easier: firmer ground for wheeling pieces out across a lawn, no mud track down the side yard, and a deck that is not slick.

The one genuinely bad time is right after a hard freeze, when a tub that was not properly winterised has ice in the plumbing and the ground is solid. If you are in that situation, wait for the thaw.

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