What has to happen before the crew arrives
A hot tub is wired and plumbed, so it has to be handled differently from any piece of furniture. The electrician handles the disconnect, and the drain follows. The sections below cover what the crew looks at before the shell comes apart.
1. Power first
An electrician disconnects the tub from the circuit, makes the circuit safe, and confirms it is off before the crew arrives. Nobody on the crew opens the panel, cuts a wire or pulls the service. You keep hands off the disconnect, because wet wood and live power are how people get hurt in a back yard. If you do not know who put the circuit in, call an electrician before you call us.
2. The water
An electrician makes the circuit safe first, then the tub gets drained before removal. A drained shell is also much lighter and much safer to cut.
3. Where it sits
Hot tubs end up in a few places: a raised wooden deck, a concrete patio, a pad built for the tub, or a graveled square cut out of the lawn. On a deck tub, the shell is often set into the deck surface with the cover flush. Each site changes the pull-out, and that comes up on the call: a deck tub may need deck boards lifted, and a pad tub lifts at ground level.
4. The path
A gangway between buildings can be narrow, and a back gate, an alley fence or a side yard with a utility meter all shape how a shell leaves. About 26 percent of Chicago's housing units are single-family detached homes.1 The gangway and the tightest point get looked at first.
5. Whole or in sections
Whether the shell leaves whole or in sections depends on the gangway and the tub itself. Cutting is crew work, and you stay inside while the saw is running.
6. The cover, the steps and the base
The cover and the steps leave with the tub. The deck or pad under the tub stays. If the deck is also leaving, that is a different scope: shed and deck removal covers the structure itself. Yard waste removal hauls what is already cut or dug around a torn-up spot. A tub coming out as part of a patio tear-out is a construction debris removal call.
| Item or situation | What the crew checks |
|---|---|
| Drained acrylic hot tub on a deck | Deck boards, lift clearance, path to the gate |
| Inflatable or portable spa | Fittings, pump, cover |
| Tub with its cover and steps | Fasteners, step hardware |
| Tub on a concrete pad | Pad clearance, shell footprint |
| Tub with power still connected | Stop. Electrician first; crew does not touch |
| Tub behind a narrow gangway | Measurement at the tightest point |
When a tub might be reused
- A newer tub with service records
- Pump, blower and heater still working
- Shell clean, with no cracks or deep gel-coat damage
- Cover not soaked through
- Pathway for a mover to take it out whole
When it is done
- Any shell with a cracked seam or a soaked cover
- A pump that has not run this year
- A tub left outside through winters with no cover
- Anything with a known leak at the plumbing
- A shell too big for the path, by measurement
A piece on the first list sometimes finds a new owner. A piece on the second gets cut and goes to the truck in sections. We make no promise about where the pieces land; ask any hauler how it handles the load.
What this service covers
Carrying out the drained shell, cover, steps and loose plumbing is part of the job. A tub set into a raised deck may need boards lifted; whether and how those are put back comes up on the call. We do not patch finish or re-stain boards.
A saw and a shell are a bad combination for a homeowner alone in a gangway.
From the call to a cleared pad
- You call (312) 847-2454 and tell us where the tub sits, who disconnected the power, and whether the tub is drained. If you have not had the electrician yet, that comes first.
- On the day, the crew asks whether an electrician has made the power safe and stops if not, then looks at the deck boards, the gangway and the alley.
- The crew carries and loads the truck.
Chicago back yards, gangways and alley gates
About 57 percent of Chicago's housing units sit in buildings of one to four units,1 and about 26 percent are single-family detached homes.1 A tub that got dropped in through a crane does not leave the yard the same way, and the measurements that mattered at install still matter now.
The garage it shares a yard with might be the next call, and if the deck is going too, that is a scope question. For big yard jobs, a crew against a rented dumpster is worth comparing.
What to describe on the call
- Who disconnected the power at the panel, and when
- Whether the tub is already drained, and where the water went
- The gangway width at its tightest point
- Deck boards above the tub, if any, and whether the tub is set into a deck surface
- A gate at the alley, its width, and whether it swings open fully
- The cover, the steps and any built-in step hardware
- Loose plumbing, pumps or a heater that may have been pulled out already