Removing an Old Fence in Massachusetts: What It Really Costs

Removing an old fence in Massachusetts runs about $4 to $10 per linear foot all in, which works out to roughly $600 to $1,500 on a typical 150-foot suburban perimeter. That spread is not really about labor. It is about what the fence is made of, whether the posts are sunk in concrete, and where the wood ends up. The last piece is the one that catches most homeowners by surprise, because any pre-2004 pressure-treated fence in this state probably contains CCA (chromated copper arsenate), which the EPA phased out of residential use by December 31, 2003, and which MassDEP rules will not let your hauler send to a regular landfill or a backyard burn pile. The "free old-fence removal" line on a replacement quote is often where the budget breaks.

How Much Does It Cost to Remove an Old Fence in Massachusetts?

For a typical wood or chain-link residential fence in MA, expect $4 to $8 per linear foot for the removal labor alone, plus $1 to $4 per linear foot for disposal. Concrete-set posts add somewhere between $25 and $150 per post on top, depending on how deep they go and whether the contractor needs a mini-excavator. These are market-typical contractor numbers (not a regulatory figure), so use them to sanity-check quotes, not as a guarantee.

Material + condition	Removal labor (per linear foot)	Disposal add (per linear foot)	What drives the high end
Chain-link, soil-set posts	$3–$5	$1–$2	Tangled vines, brush overgrowth
Chain-link, concrete-set posts	$4–$7	$1–$2	6 to 10 concrete footings to break out
Wood / stockade, soil-set	$4–$6	$2–$4	Heavy panels, longer haul
Wood / stockade, concrete-set, pre-2004	$6–$10	$3–$6	CCA-treated boards (more on this below) and concrete extraction
Vinyl / PVC	$4–$7	$2–$3	Brittle in cold; messier teardown
Aluminum / ornamental	$5–$9	$1–$2	Sections often salvageable, but heavy
Wrought iron or masonry-base	$10–$20	$4–$8	Concrete cap or footing chase

A few Massachusetts-specific cost drivers worth flagging before you take the cheapest bid:

• Labor inside Route 128 runs noticeably above the state average. The same 150-foot wood teardown in Newton or Brookline can land 25 to 40 percent higher than in Worcester or Springfield.
• Concrete-set posts in MA are typically buried 40 to 48 inches per the State Building Code (780 CMR), because that is the frost depth a contractor has to set new posts to. Old footings tend to be set to the same depth, which is why pulling them is real work, not a quick yank with a tractor.
• A contractor's "free removal with new install" line is real, but it almost always assumes the wood is clean enough to drop at a C&D transfer station as ordinary debris. If it is CCA-treated, the disposal economics flip and that "free" suddenly becomes a $300 to $900 surprise on the final invoice.

For what a new fence costs to put back, see our Massachusetts fence cost guide. For when to time the demo so the replacement install starts the same week, see the best time to install a fence in Massachusetts.

The CCA-Treated Wood Problem Nobody Warns You About

If your fence was put in before 2004, your wood is probably CCA-treated. CCA stands for chromated copper arsenate, an arsenic-based wood preservative that gave pressure-treated lumber its greenish tint for about three decades. Per the EPA's chromated arsenicals page, manufacturers voluntarily stopped producing CCA-treated wood for residential uses in December 2003, and as of December 31, 2003, you could no longer buy it new for decks, playsets, or residential fencing. Anything green-tinged from the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s in a Massachusetts backyard is almost certainly CCA.

That matters because CCA leaches arsenic and chromium when it burns or rots in the wrong place. Per EPA guidance, you do not burn this wood, you do not chip it into mulch, and you do not toss it in a backyard brush pile. The MassDEP open-burning rules (310 CMR 7.07) reinforce the federal warning by explicitly prohibiting open burning of any treated or painted wood, regardless of whether you have a burn permit for the season. Burning fence pickets in a fire pit because they are "just old wood" can get you a citation from the local fire department on top of the air-quality problem.

How to tell what you have without a lab test:

• A green or grey-green cast on the wood, especially where it has not weathered to silver, points to CCA.
• Small slit marks (incisions) along the length of each board are the dead giveaway of pressure treatment.
• Build date is the cleanest test. If the house has owned the fence since the 1980s or 1990s, assume CCA and price accordingly.

Newer ACQ and copper-azole treatments (the post-2003 chemistries) are not arsenic-based, but MassDEP still treats them as treated wood for solid-waste purposes, which matters in the next section.

What Massachusetts Actually Lets You Do with the Old Fence Wood

Here is where the national fence-removal pages quietly miss the MA reality. Under MassDEP's solid-waste regulations at 310 CMR 19.017, wood (including treated wood) has been banned from disposal at Massachusetts landfills and transfer facilities since July 1, 2006. The ban is part of the construction and demolition (C&D) waste-ban package along with asphalt, brick, concrete, and metal. There is a 20 percent de minimis carve-out (a load can contain up to 20 percent banned material by volume), but a stripped-out fence load is almost always 100 percent banned material, so the de minimis rule does not save you.

So what does happen in practice? A few legal pathways:

1. The fence wood goes to a permitted C&D processing facility, where it gets sorted, ground, and shipped out as fuel chip to a biomass or waste-to-energy plant, or pulled out as treated wood and routed to a lined landfill out of state. Your hauler or contractor handles this. Tip fees at MA C&D processors typically run $100 to $300 per ton (market typical, not a primary-source number), and a 150-foot wood stockade tear-out usually weighs in around half a ton to a ton.
2. Treated wood specifically goes to a lined landfill, which in MA usually means an out-of-state landfill since the in-state ones cannot accept it. The EPA and MA solid-waste district guidance both name lined landfill as the right destination for CCA wood, and explicitly rule out incinerators because the arsenic ends up concentrated in the ash.
3. Untreated, clean wood (the rare case) can go to a different chip stream and is cheaper to dispose of. Cedar split-rail and untreated picket fencing often qualify. Pressure-treated stockade does not.

What you cannot legally do in Massachusetts:

• Burn it in your yard. Treated wood is on the MassDEP never-burn list under 310 CMR 7.07, and the local fire department enforces it.
• Stuff it into your weekly trash. Most curbside haulers will refuse it and many towns explicitly post wood as a transfer-station-only item.
• Drop it at your town transfer station without checking. Some towns will take small quantities of pressure-treated wood with a sticker fee; others bounce it entirely. A quick call to the DPW before the contractor arrives saves an argument later.

If a contractor tells you removal and disposal are free, ask a flat question: "where is the wood going and what is your tip fee per ton?" A real answer (a named C&D facility, a number) is fine. A vague "we take care of it" usually means they were planning to dump it on you when the math caught up.

For the broader picture on what triggers a permit on the replacement side, see our Massachusetts fence permit guide. If you share the fence with a neighbor, removal can also be a property-line conversation before it is a contractor conversation; see Massachusetts fence laws on the property line before swinging a sledgehammer.

How Do You Remove a Concrete Fence Post in Massachusetts?

Concrete-set posts are where the labor budget goes. In MA the concrete plug is usually a tapered cylinder 8 to 12 inches across and 40-plus inches deep (because new posts have to clear frost, the old ones almost always do too). You have three options, in order of cost:

1. Cut and abandon. Saw the post off at grade with a reciprocating saw, leave the concrete footing in the ground, and set the new post a few inches off the old footprint. Cheapest. Works when you are replacing with a fence on a slightly different line. Does not work when the new fence has to land in the same hole.
2. Pull the whole plug. A high-lift jack rated for fence work, a length of chain, and a strong chain anchor will lift most footings clean out of MA glacial-till soil. Bank on 20 to 45 minutes per post if you are doing it yourself with the right tool. Contractors charge $50 to $150 per concrete-set post for this (market typical), more on posts that hit ledge.
3. Mini-excavator. For a long run with many concrete-set posts, a small machine pays for itself by lunch. Most MA fence contractors carry a mini-ex or sub it from a rental house. Expect the line item to land $300 to $700 per day, often split across multiple jobs in the same neighborhood.

The DIY trap: pulling a wet, frozen, or partially decayed post by hand the wrong way is how people throw their backs out. If the fence has more than a half-dozen concrete-set posts, the time and pain math favors paying a pro.

What a Fair Fence-Removal Scope Sheet Looks Like

The cleanest way to avoid the disposal surprise is to make the contractor write down what is included. A scope sheet for a fence-removal-and-replace job in MA should itemize:

• Linear feet to remove, measured at the fence, not estimated off a plot plan.
• Post count and post type (soil-set vs. concrete-set), with a separate per-post line for concrete-footing extraction or abandonment.
• Treatment status of the existing wood. The contractor should say in writing whether the wood will be handled as treated (CCA-era) or untreated, because that determines the disposal stream.
• Named disposal destination (a C&D processor, a lined landfill, a town transfer station with a permit).
• Disposal allowance in dollars or tons. A scope that just says "removal and disposal included" without a cap is fine if the contractor sticks to it, but a change-order clause that lets them invoice extra for "actual disposal costs" is where the surprise lives.
• Site protection plan: lawn paths, where the dump trailer parks, how they will keep the haul off your neighbor's driveway.
• Who pulls the permit on the replacement install (this is a town-by-town question in MA; some towns also want a demo permit on a substantial run).

Red flags to push back on:

• "We dispose of it for you, no extra charge" with no destination named.
• A removal quote that is much lower than the others on the same scope. The cheap bid often plans to skip the C&D processor and tip the wood somewhere it should not go, which becomes your problem if the town traces it back.
• A contractor who does not know what CCA is, on a pre-2004 fence job. That is a tell about how the wood will actually be handled.

How to Tell If You Need a Permit Just to Take Down a Fence

Most Massachusetts towns do not require a permit to demolish a residential fence on its own, as long as the property line and any historic-district overlay are not in play. The permit usually attaches to the replacement install, not the demo. Two situations where the demo itself needs a paper trail:

• The fence is in a historic district or part of a historically designated property. The local historic commission may have to sign off before the boards come down.
• The fence sits on or directly along a wetlands buffer zone. The Wetlands Protection Act (and your local conservation commission) treats ground disturbance inside the buffer as work that needs a Notice of Intent. Pulling concrete footings counts as ground disturbance.

When in doubt, call the building department before the contractor arrives. A two-minute call beats a stop-work order.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to remove an old fence in Massachusetts? Plan on $4 to $10 per linear foot all in for a typical residential teardown, including labor and disposal. A standard 150-foot suburban perimeter usually lands in the $600 to $1,500 range. Concrete-set posts and pre-2004 CCA-treated wood push the number toward the top of the band.

Can I burn my old fence wood in my backyard fire pit? No, not legally. MassDEP open-burning rules (310 CMR 7.07) prohibit burning painted or treated wood, and almost any pressure-treated fence built before 2004 contains CCA, which the EPA specifically warns against burning because of arsenic emissions. Burn permits do not override the treated-wood ban.

What do I do with old pressure-treated fence boards in Massachusetts? They cannot go in your trash and they cannot go to a regular MA landfill or transfer facility because of the 310 CMR 19.017 wood disposal ban. Workable options are a permitted C&D processing facility (the contractor's usual route), a town transfer station that explicitly accepts treated wood with a sticker fee, or a hauler who will route the load to a lined landfill out of state.

Is fence removal included when a contractor installs a new fence? Sometimes, but read the fine print. "Free removal" usually assumes the old wood is cheap to dump. On a pre-2004 CCA-treated fence with concrete footings, the disposal economics get expensive enough that the contractor will often quote removal as a separate line, or back-charge you under a change-order clause. Ask for the destination and the per-ton tip fee in writing.

How do I tell if my old fence is CCA-treated? Build date is the cleanest signal: if the fence was up before 2004, assume CCA. A green or greenish-grey cast under the weathered surface, plus small treatment incisions along each board, confirm it. After December 31, 2003, manufacturers stopped producing CCA-treated wood for residential uses per the EPA phase-out, so anything newer than that is almost certainly ACQ or copper-azole instead.

Will my town transfer station take old fence wood? Maybe, maybe not, and small loads only. Some MA towns will take limited quantities of treated wood with a sticker or per-bag fee; others refuse it because it is on the C&D banned list. Always call the DPW before you load the truck.

Plan the Removal and the Replacement Together

The cheapest, cleanest path is almost always to scope the demo and the new install as one job, with one contractor, on one paper trail. That way the disposal numbers are out in the open before you sign, and the new posts go in the same week the old ones come out (so the yard is not open for a month). Get a few MA-licensed fencing contractors on the same scope and compare line by line.

Ready to get matched with vetted MA fencing pros who will quote the removal honestly? Start a free estimate request and tell us the fence age, length, and post type. We will route it to contractors who handle CCA-era wood by the book.