Chimney and Foundation Removal: Costs and What to Expect

These are among the more specialized jobs on the demolition menu, and the prices reflect that. As always, the figures below are typical ranges for the area, not quotes.

Chimney removal

Removing a masonry chimney typically runs between $500 and $4,000. The big variable is how much of it comes out. Taking a chimney down to the roofline and patching the roof is the lower-cost option and solves most leaning-and-shedding problems. Removing it in full — through the house and down to the footing — is more involved, since the crew has to protect the interior, work in stages, and repair everything the chimney passed through.

Either way it's careful, staged work and it's permitted. A crew that does this protects the roof and interior, takes the masonry down in controlled sections, and hauls the brick and block out rather than dropping it.

Foundation removal

Removing an old foundation typically runs between $2,000 and $12,000. This comes up after a structure has already come down, when a crumbling foundation is being cleared for a rebuild, or when buried concrete turns up during a project. The work means breaking out the walls, footings, and slab with heavy equipment, pulling the rebar, hauling the concrete off for recycling, and backfilling with engineered fill so the ground is buildable again.

On tight shore lots, access and staging drive the cost up; near the water, a high table means the excavation takes on groundwater and needs careful backfill.

Both need a permit

Chimney and foundation removals are permitted work pulled by a registered demolition contractor through your municipal construction office. If you're clearing ground to build, tell the crew — how clean and how deep the footprint needs to be changes the plan and the price.