The short answer
Professional fence removal around Lafayette runs $3–$6 per linear foot including haul-off and disposal. A typical 120-foot backyard: $360–$720 as a standalone job. Bundled with a new fence install, the effective number drops because the crew, driver, and trailer are already mobilized — which is why "tear out the old one too" is usually the cheapest moment you'll ever get for removal.
I'm Dave Rogers, owner-operator of Get Fenced! — licensed and insured. Most companies bury removal in a vague "site prep" line. We price it per foot, we itemize the concrete when it matters, and here's the whole math so you can check anyone's quote, including ours.
What moves removal cost, by material
- Chain link — the easy end ($3–$4/ft). Fabric unrolls, rails unbolt, and bare steel posts either pull clean or cut at grade. Old chain link is also the one fence with scrap value; clean fabric and posts go to metal recycling instead of the landfill scale.
- Wood privacy — the middle ($4–$6/ft). Heavy panels, hundreds of fasteners, and posts that snap at the rot line leaving the stump in the ground (or in the concrete — see below). Treated lumber can't be burned and the transfer station charges by weight, so disposal is a real fraction of the price.
- Vinyl — middle of the range. Panels come apart fast, but vinyl is bulky to trailer and worth nothing as scrap. The posts hide the same question as wood: what's in the ground?
- Farm and wire fence — priced by the run. Long runs of T-post and wire move quick ($2–$3/ft equivalent); woven wire grown through with a fence row of brush is a different job and we quote it after walking it.
The concrete footing wildcard
The single biggest swing in any removal quote is what the old installer left underground. A post set in concrete means a 50–150 lb plug per post that has to come out of the clay and onto a trailer — a dozen of those is honest work, and it's the line item that pushes a removal from the low end of the range to the top of it. When we quote a tear-out we probe a couple of posts first so the number you get reflects your fence, not an average.
Two related notes. First: if the old posts snapped at the rot line and the stumps-in-concrete are staying put, a new fence line can often be offset a few inches and run past them — we'll tell you when that saves money and when it just moves the problem. Second: this is exactly why we don't put concrete in the ground on the replacement. Our driven steel posts pull cleanly if they're ever removed, decades from now — nobody inherits the jackhammer job from us.
When removal is (almost) free
If you're replacing the fence, tear-out is at its cheapest bundled into the install: one mobilization, one trailer, one disposal run. It's a standard line on our quotes — see the full Lafayette pricing breakdown for how it stacks with the per-foot install numbers. Storm-damaged fences are their own case: if insurance is involved, removal and disposal belong on the same documented scope as the repair — our fence repair page covers how we paper that for adjusters.
The DIY math, honestly
Chain link: genuinely DIY-able with a truck, gloves, and a free Saturday. Wood privacy: heavier than it looks — awkward panels, a few hundred screws or ring-shank nails, stumps in concrete, and a transfer-station bill at the end. The realistic DIY savings on a 120-foot wood tear-out is a couple hundred dollars against a full weekend and a sore back, and it drops to nearly nothing if a crew is coming to install anyway. If you do it yourself: call 811 before digging out any post, wear eye protection cutting old wire under tension, and don't burn treated lumber.
Want the number for your yard? The instant estimate prices the new fence in about a minute, and if there's an old one in the way, note it — we'll fold the tear-out into the same visit and the same quote.