Tear-out and haul-away: what it costs and why it is on the estimate

A laminate top glued straight to a particle board subtop takes far longer to pull than one screwed down from below, and there is often no way to tell which kind a kitchen has until the old counter starts coming up. That is the short answer to why tear-out and haul-away is not simply folded into the install.

Tear-out and haul-away is priced on its own because the old top's condition, not the new one's material, is what actually drives that part of the job.

What tear-out and haul-away covers

This covers removing your existing countertop, protecting your cabinets and floors during removal, and hauling the old material off site rather than leaving it for you to dispose of. We or your plumber disconnect the sink and faucet before the old top comes up, and your plumber reconnects them once the new sink is set. Tear-out happens at the start of the install visit, so the old top comes out and the new one goes in on the same visit; an early tear-out is available on request.

Why it is its own line on the estimate

The material and size of your new countertop tells us almost nothing about how hard the old one will be to remove, since a glued-down laminate top, a heavy older stone slab or a tiled counter each come out differently. Pricing tear-out separately keeps the estimate accurate to what is actually in your kitchen rather than folding a guess into the new countertop price.

What drives the cost up or down

The number of separate pieces, whether the old top is glued or screwed down, how many sink and cooktop cutouts need disconnecting, and how far the material has to travel to get hauled out of the house all affect the total. A straight run of counter in an easily accessible kitchen costs less to remove than an L-shaped layout with a heavy old granite top that has to come out in sections through a narrow hallway.

A 2026 Houston planning range

As a general 2026 Houston planning range, tear-out and haul-away for a typical kitchen counter tends to run from roughly 150 to 500 dollars, with a simple laminate top toward the lower end and a heavy stone or tiled counter with multiple cutouts toward the top. A single bathroom vanity top usually falls well under that range, since there is less material and fewer connections to deal with.

What we protect while we work

We lay down floor protection and pad the cabinet openings before anything comes out, since the biggest risk during tear-out is not the counter itself but scratching a floor or chipping a cabinet edge while maneuvering a heavy piece out of the kitchen. If your sink or faucet is being reused, it comes out with care so we can set the sink in the new top and your plumber can reconnect the faucet.

Why it is worth having us handle it

A homeowner can sometimes pull a light laminate top on their own, but a heavier granite or quartzite counter is difficult and genuinely risky to move without the right equipment, and a plumbing disconnect done incorrectly can leave you with a leak once the water is turned back on, which is why we or your plumber disconnect and your plumber reconnects. Having tear-out done at the start of the install visit also means one crew takes out the old top and sets the new one, sink included, rather than coordinating separate trips.

What happens to the old material

Once your old counter is out, we haul it away rather than leaving it in your driveway or garage for you to deal with, which is part of what the line item covers. There is nothing for you to arrange separately, no dumpster to rent and no trip to a disposal site, since removal and disposal are both handled as part of the same visit.

If you have an old counter that needs to come out as part of your project, send the estimate form or call us and we will price tear-out and haul-away alongside the new install.