A swing set is two jobs. Taking it down is one. Getting the pile out of your yard is the other. Full-service crews sell both together, quote on site, and land in the hundreds. If you do the teardown yourself, curbside pickup of the pile is from $129 depending on the size of the set. Book by 2 PM and it goes today where same-day pickup is running.
First, decide who is doing the teardown
That is the whole cost question. Everything else is detail.
If you are not going to spend a Saturday with a reciprocating saw, stop reading here. What you want is a full-service crew that dismantles the set in your yard and takes it away in one visit. Get them on site, get the number in writing, and ask one specific question before you sign: are the concrete footings included? That is where those quotes move.
Dropcurb does not do teardown. We haul what is already outside. If the set is still standing, hire the crew and skip the rest of this page.
A metal A-frame and a wooden playset are not the same job
A metal A-frame
- •50 to 150 pounds of steel tube, bolted together
- •A socket set, an adjustable wrench, and penetrating oil, because the bolts will be rusted
- •45 to 90 minutes, one person
- •One load once it is apart
- •Scrap yards buy light iron by weight. Call for the day's price, because at recent scrap prices it is a small check, not a payday
- •Many city bulk programs take metal, though the rules vary by city and change
A wooden playset
- •500 to 2,000 pounds for a full set with a deck and a slide
- •Lag bolts sunk into pressure-treated 4x6s. A wrench will not finish this
- •A reciprocating saw, spare blades, a pry bar, and someone to hold the other end
- •Three to six hours. More if there is a clubhouse or a rock wall
- •Two to four vehicle loads once it is down
- •The legs are usually set in concrete
If yours is the metal one, the free routes are real and you should take one. The rest of this page is about the wooden one.
The pile is the part people underestimate
The set comes down and you are standing next to it. Nothing about it got smaller. It is a few hundred pounds of treated lumber with bolts still in it, plus the slide, the deck boards, and the swings.
That pile is where the free routes stop, and it is usually not about money. It is about what you can physically move.
Self-haul means renting a vehicle, loading it, driving it, unloading it at a transfer station, and doing that two to four times. Transfer stations charge by weight and most have a minimum. A deck section is a two-person lift over a tailgate. So the free plan quietly requires a truck you may not own and a friend who is free on a Saturday.
Yard waste will not take it. Yard-waste collection is for organics. Treated and painted lumber is excluded almost everywhere, and so is anything with hardware in it. Check your own city's list before you count on it.
Bulk collection is the other free route, and the rules vary by city, cap by size and quantity, and change without much notice. Three limits usually decide it: a maximum piece length, often around four feet, a weight or bundle limit, and a set number of collections a year. Cutting a playset down to four-foot bundles is another two hours of sawing, and the next date might be weeks out.
Curbside pickup is the version where the pile is the end of your job. You carry the pieces out to the driveway whenever you feel like it, one board at a time if you want. Nothing goes over your head. Nothing goes into a vehicle. Nobody has to hold the other end.
You stack it outside. We do the rest. A full-size swing set or playset with a deck and a slide is $159. A smaller set is $129. Each additional structure is $79. Both sizes are in the list when you open it, so pick the one that matches yours. Your price is locked when you book and it does not change at the curb. Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today where same-day pickup is running, seven days a week. Almost half of pickups are done by noon. You get a text with the ETA before they arrive and photos once it is gone. You do not need to be home and nobody goes inside your house.
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Book it before you pick up a tool
The most common mistake on this job is waiting.
People tell us they will book once everything is out at the curb. On a couch that is fine. On a playset it costs you a day. A wooden set takes three to six hours to bring down. Start at nine and you are stacking the last of it at three or four, and the 2 PM cutoff for same-day has already passed. Now the pile spends the night on your lawn, which is exactly the thing you were trying to avoid.
Book in the morning, before you pick up a tool. Your price is set the moment you book and it does not move at the curb. Then go work. Haulers head out between 8 and 10 in the morning. Almost half of pickups are finished by noon and about three in four by 2 PM. You get a text with the ETA before yours arrives and photos once it is gone. You do not need to be home, and nobody goes inside your house.
The concrete footings
Most wooden playsets have their legs set in concrete. Some are anchored with metal stakes instead, which pull straight out. You will know which one you have about a minute into digging.
If it is concrete, each leg usually comes up with 60 to 120 pounds attached. Dig a ring around the plug, get a pry bar under it, and lever it out. If that fails, a sledgehammer breaks it in place and you backfill the hole with dirt.
Concrete is the one material every free route rejects. It is not yard waste and bulk programs exclude it. Sort it out before you book. If you dig the plugs out, they are their own line in the item list, so search concrete when you build your pickup and add them. If you break them up in the hole and fill it with dirt, there is nothing to haul and nothing to add.